Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act


The Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act is a bill that would require the Transportation Security Administration to develop a comprehensive technology acquisition plan. The Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General each found that the TSA's lack of a technology acquisition plan led to waste, excessive costs, and security failures. This bill was written in response to these findings. In addition to requiring the creation of a plan, the bill would also require the TSA to report what it does to Congress, including providing information about failures it makes. It passed the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.

Provisions of the bill

This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source.
The Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to develop, and update biennially, a strategic multiyear technology acquisition plan, which may include a classified addendum to report sensitive transportation security risks, technology vulnerabilities, or other sensitive security information.
The bill would direct the Administrator to analyze the TSA's acquisition of any security-related technology to determine if it is justified. It would require the Administrator, 30 days before any TSA award of a contract for acquisitions exceeding $30 million, to report to Congress the results of the analysis and certify that the security benefits justify the contract cost.
The bill would direct the Administrator to establish certain performance baseline requirements before any TSA security-related technology acquisition. It would require the Administrator to review and assess each acquisition for meeting the baseline requirements and to report those results to Congress.
The bill would require the Administrator, before the procurement of additional quantities of equipment to fulfill a TSA mission need, to utilize, to the extent practicable, any existing units in the TSA's inventory to meet that need.
The bill would direct the Administrator to report annually to Congress on TSA's goals for contracting with small and disadvantaged businesses.
The bill would direct the Comptroller General to evaluate, and report to Congress on, TSA's progress in implementing the plan.

Congressional Budget Office report

This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on October 29, 2013. This is a public domain source.
Based on information from the Department of Homeland Security and the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing H.R. 2719 would have no significant cost. Enacting H.R. 2719 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 2719 would specify procedures for the Transportation Security Administration to follow when planning, making, and evaluating acquisitions of security-related technology. The bill would require the agency to develop a multiyear investment plan to be transmitted to the Congress and updated every two years. The bill also would specify analyses and reports that TSA must complete to justify certain investments, evaluate the performance of technology acquired under the bill, and enhance its capacity to monitor and utilize existing inventories of security-related equipment. In addition, H.R. 2719 would direct the GAO to review and report on issues related to the TSA’s policies for procuring security-related technology.
According to the DHS, the bill’s requirements are largely consistent with existing DHS procurement policies that already apply to the TSA. The legislation would not affect the TSA’s underlying mission or responsibilities, and the CBO estimates that meeting new procedural requirements specified by H.R. 2719 would not impose any new significant costs on the agency. We also estimate that any increased costs to GAO to complete reports required under H.R. 2719 would be negligible, assuming the availability of appropriated funds.
H.R. 2719 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.

Procedural history

The Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on July 18, 2013, by Rep. Richard Hudson. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Homeland Security and the United States House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security. It was reported alongside . On November 27, 2013, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced the H.R. 1095 would be considered on the House floor on December 3, 2013. The House voted on December 3, 2013 in to pass the bill 416-0.

Debate and discussion

According to the House Homeland Security Committee, the bill was needed in part to address criticism that had been made of the TSA by private sector technology companies. These private sector businesses said that the lack of long-term investment plans and poor communication from the TSA made it difficult for them to determine what technologies they needed to invest in in order to meet the TSA's needs.
The bill's sponsors also criticized the TSA for having "repeatedly purchased and deployed equipment that was not properly tested or failed to meet performance objectives." Improving the acquisitions process, as this bill intends to do, will make better use of the TSA's budget and improve security, according to supporters.
An April 2013 report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General indicated that the TSA had 17,000 items with an estimated cost of $185.7 million stored in its warehouses on May 31, 2012. The auditors found that "TSA stored unusable or obsolete equipment, maintained inappropriate safety stock levels, and did not develop an inventory management process that systematically deploys equipment."