Sec. 865. QUALIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES
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## SEC. 865 QUALIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES ###
(a)Establishment of Process Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with each Secretary of a military department and the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, shall establish a process to rapidly qualify and approve alternate or additional sources of supply for industrial capabilities identified in subsection
(b)for use in combat. ###
(b)Identification With respect to the process required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall seek to expand industrial capability and capacity to— ####
(1)produce energetic materials, solid rocket motors, unmanned systems, space systems, or electrical components; ####
(2)supply castings and forgings; ####
(3)produce all critical readiness items of supply, including those identified as having sole-source dependencies, excessive lead times, unreasonable pricing, or other supply chain deficiencies; and ####
(4)use additive or other advanced manufacturing techniques. ###
(c)Application The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that process required by subsection
(a)is applied in a manner in which one or more documented supply chain deficiencies in the acquisition or sustainment of a weapon system of the Department of Defense is addressed. ###
(d)Elements In developing the process required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that— ####
(1)not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, policies implementing such process are established to encourage and support the delegation of material review board authorities, processes, and approvals to the contractor or subcontractor (at any tier) with respect to non-safety critical items for industrial capabilities covered in subsection (b); ####
(2)commercial processes and procedures for the evaluation and qualification of vendors, including manufacturers and distributors, that are part of the process required by subsection
(a)are examined and implemented where feasible and advisable, including forms and templates such as Sources Approval Requests and Alternative Offers; ####
(3)the process required by subsection
(a)includes processes that are implemented and, if necessary, military specifications or other similar requirements documents are developed to pre-qualify vendors to supply safety critical items or mission critical items for industrial capabilities based on— #####
(A)an assessment of the vendor’s material and process controls to assure conformance to specification and contractual requirements; and #####
(B)audit and inspection requirements of the Department of Defense; ####
(4)test reports are reviewed and notice of an approval decision is provided to requesting member of the acquisition workforce (as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code) not later than 45 days after the date on which a test is completed; ####
(5)processes for qualification of safety critical or flight critical end items produced through advanced processes and technologies, such as additive manufacturing, are established; ####
(6)alternative material types that could be a viable replacement or an interchangeable source of material are considered for evaluation and qualification using streamlined requirements to streamline qualification requirements; ####
(7)processes are developed, where appropriate, for qualification of a system or subsystem by a designated approval authority within a military department to avoid the need for qualification of individual parts while ensuring the performance of parts and the interactions of the parts in the system or subsystem; and ####
(8)pathways are developed to streamline and consolidate the approval authority of the process established in subsection (a). ###
(e)Expedited Processes for Military-Unique Specifications and Test Procedures To support successful implementation of the process required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall— ####
(1)to the maximum extent practicable, reduce the need for military-unique specification and test procedures; ####
(2)develop a process to streamline and expedite the drafting and approval of military specifications (including military performance specifications) and technical publications that— #####
(A)details the performance or functions required by the industrial capabilities described in subsection
(b)or the weapon system described in subsection
(c)and do not constrain implementation of such process; #####
(B)is completed, upon request by a member of the acquisition workforce— ######
(i)not later than 30 days after the date of such request, for unmanned items, non-safety critical items, or non-mission critical items; and ######
(ii)not later than 180 days after the date of such request, for safety critical items or mission critical items; and #####
(C)accounts for resource constraints by prioritizing requests for inclusion in the process established in subsection (a); and ####
(3)develop a process to develop, produce, and test parts described in subsection (b), and may test through failure, to create data to support the drafting of specifications and test procedures. ###
(f)Expedited Qualification Panels ####
(1)Each Secretary of a military department shall establish an Expedited Qualification Panel within the military department under the jurisdiction of that Secretary. Each Expedited Qualification Panel shall— #####
(A)develop standardized templates for expedited Source Approval Requests; and #####
(B)not later than 14 days after receiving an expedited Source Approval Request— ######
(i)review the request; and ######
(ii)based on tiered risk criteria, make a determination with respect to the request which shall consist of— ######
(I)conditional approval, which may be valid for up to 12 months; ######
(II)full approval; or ######
(III)disapproval of the request. ####
(2)In reviewing and making determinations with respect to Source Approval Requests under paragraph (1), an Expedited Qualification Panel may use the services of designated engineering representatives or equivalent third-party certified engineers when appropriate. ###
(g)Exemptions Industrial capabilities approved under the process required by subsection
(a)that do not present a safety risk to human life— ####
(1)shall be exempt from Class A and Class B mishap investigations, as defined by the Secretary of Defense; and ####
(2)shall be subject to streamlined investigation procedures, as determined by the Secretary of Defense, with respect to a mishap. ###
(h)Protections Approval authorities responsible for the process required by subsection
(a)shall not be held liable by the Department of Defense for mishaps with respect to industrial capabilities approved pursuant to the process required by subsection
(a)without evidence of willful misconduct, gross negligence, or intentional fraud. ###
(i)Interim Briefing Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with each Secretary of a military department and the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, shall provide to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a briefing with a detailed plan to implement the process required by subsection (a), including definitions and processes related to time limitations for drafting and approval of military specifications and technical publications in subsection (d)(1)(B). ###
(j)Investment Roadmap Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with each Secretary of a military department and the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, shall provide to the congressional defense committees a report on the resourcing and investment required to modernize the infrastructure and personnel for materials and process development, certification, and qualification. ###
(k)Report Not later than September 30, 2027, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with each Secretary of a military department and the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the progress, challenges, and lessons learned in carrying out the requirements of this section, including the viability of applying the process required by subsection
(a)more broadly across additional industrial capabilities. ###
(l)Definitions In this section: ####
(1)The term “**critical readiness items of supply**” has the meaning given the term in section 1733 of title 10, United States Code. ####
(2)The term “**non-safety critical items, or non-mission critical items**” includes the following items: #####
(A)Major risk parts or systems the failure of which is likely to cause structural damage or significant mission degradation and requires finite element modeling, fracture analysis, comparison to similar parts, or similar methods. #####
(B)Minor risk parts and systems that only have form, fit, and function requirements verified by dimensional coordinate measuring machines, go/no-go gauges, or similar methods. #####
(C)Low risk parts and systems that are consumable or non-critical, requiring material certification, visual inspections, or similar methods. ####
(3)The term “**safety critical items or mission critical items**” means parts or systems the failure of which is likely to cause loss of control, catastrophic failure, or loss of life, and require full qualification, simulation, and physical testing with Engineering Support Activity witnessing.