[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3475-S3476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6351. Mr. FETTERMAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle B of title III, add the following:
SEC. 320C. PILOT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE INTEGRATED CONNECTIVITY
SERVICE.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Defense, acting
through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy,
Installations, and Environment, shall establish and carry out
a pilot program (in this section referred to as the ``pilot
program'') to provide integrated connectivity service to a
covered population--
(1) stationed at five covered military installations, as
determined by the Secretary; and
(2) at no cost to such covered population.
(b) Program Requirements.--
(1) Service provisioning and ensuring.--To carry out the
pilot program, the Assistant Secretary shall enter into a
contract with an American contracted entity to act as
telecommunications operator for the covered military
installation--
(A) to provide the integrated connectivity service with a
private network management system or a hybrid-capable network
management system;
(B) to ensure the integrated connectivity service can
support multiple tenant commands, or activity present on such
covered military installations with individualized
commitments, such as separate network slices and security
policies that can be tailored to the tenant command
requirements; and
(C) to provide and ensure operation of the integrated
connectivity service.
(2) Integrated connectivity service requirement.--The
integrated connectivity service provided under the pilot
program shall--
(A) provide broadband internet access service as the
baseline service and meet or exceed any speed benchmarks
established by the Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission for broadband internet access services,
including--
(i) a minimum download speed of 100-Mbps; and
(ii) a minimum upload speed of 20-Mbps; and
(B) support the integration of P5G data services with
broadband internet access service over a common integrated
connectivity service, where such mobile services are
identified as required by the tenant command of the covered
military installation.
(3) Goods procured under contract.--Any goods procured
under the contract described under paragraph (1) shall be the
property of the Department of Defense.
(4) Standard.--Infrastructure setup and operation of the
integrated connectivity service shall--
(A) be based on National Institute of Standards and
Technology standards specified in Special Publication 800-171
Revision 3, or successor standards, including any future
revisions, updates, or successor publications to ensure the
availability and security of such integrated connectivity
service; and
(B) exclude hybrid-capable network management systems with
availability and security risks, such as pure public cloud
only network management systems.
(5) Cost.--In carrying out the pilot program, the Assistant
Secretary shall account for the full lifecycle costs of such
pilot program, including--
(A) the initial build and setup;
(B) a refresh, every five years during the period the
authority to carry out the pilot program is effective, of the
integrated connectivity service, including a refresh of the
underlying infrastructure of the entire integrated
connectivity service, to ensure long-term--
(i) availability;
(ii) security; and
(iii) usability; and
(C) monthly recurring costs, including services provided
by--
(i) the host nation carrier for bandwidth; and
(ii) the telecommunications operator.
(6) Methodology.--When carrying out the pilot program, the
Assistant Secretary shall use industry standard lifecycle
methodologies and broadly adopted practices, including the
National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity
Framework, Special Publication 800-53, Information Technology
infrastructure library and the Plan, Prepare, Design,
Implement, Operate, Optimize methodology to deliver a cost-
effective, secure, sustainable, right-sized network
infrastructure.
(7) Equipment procurement.--Notwithstanding section
8302(a)(2)(A) of title 41, United States Code, for the
purpose of providing integrated connectivity service, as
described under paragraph (1), the American contracted entity
shall procure any necessary articles, materials, or supplies
in the United States pursuant to section 8302 of title 41,
United States Code.
(c) Report.--Not later than five years after the date of
the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the
Assistant Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the
pilot program, including--
(1) an analysis of the cost; and
(2) a determination of which additional military
installations located outside the contiguous United States
should be provided with integrated connectivity service.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2027 through 2032.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``5G'' means fifth generation mobile network
technology, including higher-speed and lower latency device
connectivity over mobile radio networks.
(2) The term ``Assistant Secretary'' means the Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and
Environment.
(3) The term ``American contracted entity'' means an
entity--
(A) organized in the United States and with its principal
place of business located within the United States;
(B) majority-owned and controlled by a United States
citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or publicly traded on a
United States stock exchange and subject to United States
laws and jurisdiction;
(C) that employs primarily personnel based in the United
States to perform management, engineering, operations, and
customer support functions, including staffing key
operational and decision-making roles within the United
States;
(D) that procures equipment and technology through a supply
chain compliant with sections 889 and 1260H of the William M.
(Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283), including the
avoidance of prohibited or restricted telecommunications and
video surveillance equipment and services; and
(E) that complies with section 8302 of title 41, United
States Code, whenever practicable, prioritizing United States
manufactured products, United States sourced components, and
United States based subcontractors and suppliers wherever and
whenever possible, consistent with project requirements,
availability, and cost reasonableness.
(4) The term ``broadband internet access service'' has the
meaning given such term in section 8.1(b), title 47, Code of
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
(5) The term ``cloud only deployment model'' means a
deployment model in which the network management system is
delivered solely as a vendor-managed software-as-a-service
offering, with no option for self-hosted, on-premises, or
private cloud deployment.
(6) The term ``covered military installation'' means a
military installation as defined in section 2801 of title 10,
United States Code, under the jurisdiction of the Secretary
of the Army, the Secretary of the Air Force, or the Secretary
of the Navy and located in the Middle East.
(7) The term ``covered population'' means active duty
members of the Armed Forces, as defined in section 101(d)(1)
of title 10, United States Code, but may be expanded to
include employees of a Defense Agency as defined in section
101(a)(11) of title 10, United States Code, by the tenant
command of a covered military installation through the
telecommunications officer of the covered military
installation.
(8) The term ``host nation carrier'' means a
telecommunications provider that is--
(A) licensed or authorized to operate in the foreign nation
in which the covered military installation is located; and
(B) provides broadband internet access, data, or mobile
communication services within the foreign nation.
(9) The term ``hybrid-capable network management system''
means a common architectural framework that supports both
broadband internet access service and private or hybrid
public and P5G mobile connectivity services, as required and
is not limited to a public only deployment model or a cloud
only deployment model.
(10) The term ``integrated connectivity service'' means a
fixed, high-speed broadband internet access service, and may
include private or hybrid mobile connectivity, including P5G,
as required by the Secretary of Defense to meet operational
requirements.
(11) The term ``Mbps'' means one million bits per second.
(12) The term ``P5G'' means a private mobile network
service using 5G mobile network technology and available only
to members of the Armed Forces stationed on covered military
installations participating in the pilot program.
(13) The term ``private network management system'' means a
network management system that is--
[[Page S3476]]
(A) compliant with the requirements for a cyber security
maturity model certification; and
(B) not cloud-based.
(14) The term ``public only deployment model'' means a
deployment model in which the network management system is
hosted exclusively in a third-party public cloud environment,
including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and cannot be
deployed or operated on customer-owned or on-premises
infrastructure.
(15) The term ``pure public cloud only network management
system'' means a network management platform hosted and
operated exclusively within a third-party public cloud
environment and delivered solely as a cloud-based service,
with no capability for deployment, operation, or control
within on-premises or private cloud infrastructure.
(16) The term ``telecommunications operator'' means an
American contracted entity responsible for the design,
installation, and ongoing operations and maintenance of the
broadband internet access service and P5G mobile network
access to be provided on a covered military installation.
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