Sec. 801. Establishment of acquisition pathways for software applications and software upgrades
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Not later than March 1, 2020, the Secretary of Defense shall establish guidance authorizing the use of acquisition pathways described in subsection
(b)for the rapid acquisition of software applications and software upgrades that are intended to be fielded within one year. A contract awarded under this section— shall be in an amount equal to or less than $50,000,000; and may be entered into for a period of not more than one year. The guidance required by subsection
(a)shall provide for the use of the following two acquisition pathways: The applications pathway shall provide for the use of rapid development and implementation of software applications to be used with commercially available hardware. The upgrades pathway shall provide for the rapid development and insertion of software upgrades for embedded weapon systems or another hardware system solely used by the Department of Defense. The guidance required by subsection
(a)shall provide for— the use of proven technologies and solutions to continuously engineer, update, and deliver capabilities in software; and a streamlined and coordinated requirements, budget, and acquisition process that results in the rapid fielding of software applications and software upgrades. An acquisition conducted under the guidance required by subsection
(a)shall not be subject to the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System Manual and Department of Defense Directive 5000.01, except to the extent specifically provided in such guidance. The guidance required by subsection
(a)shall provide that the requirements for acquisition of software applications and software upgrades— are developed, refined, and prioritized on an iterative basis through continuous participation and collaboration by users, testers, and requirements authorities; include an identification of the need for, and users of, the software to be acquired and a rationale for how the software will support increased efficiency of the Department of Defense; are stated in the form of a summary-level list of vulnerabilities in existing software systems and desired features or capabilities of the software to be acquired; and consider issues related to lifecycle costs, systems interoperability, and logistics support if the developer of the software to be acquired stops providing support. The Secretary shall ensure that— an acquisition conducted under the guidance required by subsection
(a)is supported by an entity capable of regular automated testing of the source code of the software to be acquired and that such entity is authorized to buy storage, bandwidth, and computing capability as necessary; the Department of Defense can collect and analyze the testing data described in subparagraph
(A)to make decisions regarding software acquisition and oversight; the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and the project manager appointed under paragraph
(5)design test cases to ensure that the entity described in subparagraph
(A)can test the software to be acquired to ensure such software meets the requirements of the contract; the project manager appointed under paragraph
(5)closely monitors the progress of an acquisition conducted under the guidance required by subsection (a); an independent cost estimate is conducted that considers— the iterative process of the development of the software to be acquired; and the long-term value of the software to be acquired to the Department of Defense, not based on the value of individual lines of source code of the software; the performance of fielded versions of the software to be acquired are demonstrated and evaluated in an operational environment; and performance metrics of the software to be acquired, such as metrics relating to when the software can be fielded, delivery capabilities of the software (including speed of recovery from outages and cybersecurity vulnerabilities), and assessments and estimations of the size and complexity of such software, are automatically generated on a continuous basis and made available to the Department of Defense and the congressional defense committees. The guidance required by subsection
(a)may provide for the use of any of the following streamlined procedures: The service acquisition executive of the military department concerned shall appoint a project manager for each acquisition of software applications and software upgrades, as determined by the service acquisition executive. Such project manager shall be appointed from among civilian employees or members of the Armed Forces who have significant and relevant experience in current software processes. Each project manager shall report with respect to such acquisition directly, and without intervening review or approval, to the service acquisition executive of the military department concerned. The service acquisition executive of the military department concerned shall evaluate the job performance of such manager on an annual basis. In conducting an evaluation under this paragraph, a service acquisition executive shall consider the extent to which the manager has achieved the objectives of the acquisition for which the manager is responsible, including quality, timeliness, and cost objectives. The project manager shall be authorized staff positions for a technical staff, including experts in software engineering to enable the manager to manage the acquisition without the technical assistance of another organizational unit of an agency to the maximum extent practicable. The project manager shall be authorized, in coordination with the users and testers of the software to be acquired, to make tradeoffs among lifecycle costs, requirements, and schedules to meet the goals of the acquisition. The service acquisition executive or the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, as applicable, shall serve as the decision authority for the acquisition. The project manager of a defense streamlined acquisition shall be provided a process to expeditiously seek a waiver from Congress from any statutory or regulatory requirement that the project manager determines adds little or no value to the management of the acquisition. A contract entered into pursuant to the guidance required by subsection (a)— may be awarded within a 90-day period after solicitation on the basis of— statements of qualifications and past performance data submitted by offerors; and discussions with two or more qualified offerors without regard to price; may be a time-and-materials contract; shall be treated as a contract for the acquisition of commercial services (as defined in section 103a of title 41, United States Code, as in effect on January 1, 2020); shall identify the individuals to perform the work of the contract, and such individuals may not be replaced without the advance written consent of the contracting officer; and may allow for a contractor performing the work of the contract to review existing software in consultation with the user community and incorporate user feedback to— define and prioritize software requirements; and design and implement new software applications and software upgrades. A contract entered into pursuant to the guidance required by subsection
(a)may contain an option to extend the contract once, for a period not to exceed one year, to complete the implementation of one or more specified software applications and software upgrades identified during the period of the initial contract. Such an option may not be in an amount greater than $100,000,000 and— if the option is a time-and-materials contract, it shall be treated as a contract for the acquisition of commercial services (as defined in section 103a of title 41, United States Code); and if the option is a fixed-price contract, it shall be treated as a contract for the acquisition of commercial products (as defined in section 103 of title 41, United States Code). Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent the use of other methods of acquisition to procure software applications and upgrades. Section 2430(a)(2) of title 10, United States Code, is amended— in subparagraph (A), by striking or at the end; in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or ; and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: an acquisition program for software applications and software upgrades carried out using the acquisition guidance issued pursuant to section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. .