National Defense Authorization Act FY2018

What is the status of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)?

As of July 14th, 2017 the House passed H. R As of July 14th, 2017 the House passed H.R. 2810, the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act.

Ranking Member Nydia M. Velázquez comments the following concerning the bill’s approval: “The NDAA bill contains a package of bipartisan, small business legislative proposals that will help small firms win their share of federal contracts, strengthen entrepreneurial development programs and assist cutting edge firms as they bring new technologies and products to market.”

the purpose of the NDAA This bill aims to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 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. Nine members of the Small Business Committee introduced contracting and entrepreneurial development bills this year which are included in the final draft of the NDAA.

Chairman Steve Chabot, of the Small Business Committee, comments the following: “I am proud that many of the bipartisan bills the House Small Business Committee has worked on were included in the bill. I thank Chairman Thornberry for his hard work putting together this year’s National Defense Authorization Act and for recognizing the vital role small business reforms play in our nation’s security. These provisions will ensure small businesses have a greater opportunity to compete for federal contracts, and bring entrepreneurial development programs up-to-date to better equip our small federal contractors.”

Part 1: changes found in the NDAA of the 2018 fiscal year H.R. 1773, the Clarity for America’s Small Contractors Act of 2017 — This act amends the Small Business Act to improve reporting on small business goals, achieve uniformity in procurement terminology, clarify the role of small business advocates, and for other purposes. Modernizes the Small Business Act to ensure that the language used is clear and consistent across federal procurement programs. The bill implements common sense reforms to ensure transparency and accountability by requiring that important information be provided that clearly shows where taxpayer dollars are being spent on which small business programs.

bills found within Within H.R. 1773: H.R.1597 - Commercial Market Representatives Clarification Act This bill amends the Small Business Act to specify the principal duties of Commercial Market Representatives, government contracting staff stationed at area Small Business Administration (SBA) offices and reporting to specified senior SBA officers. H.R.1641 - To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of Business Opportunity Specialists, and for other purposes. This bill amends the Small Business Act to declare that the exclusive duties of a Business Opportunity Specialist reporting to the senior official (or designee) appointed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) with certain SBA loan responsibilities, including the procurement program for small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans and the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program, shall be to implement specified SBA loan programs, and complete other duties related to contracting programs. H.R.1693 - Improving Contract Procurement for Small Businesses through More Accurate Reporting Act of 2017 This bill amends the Small Business Act to require the Small Business Administration to report to the President and Congress an analysis of the number and dollar amount of prime contracts awarded by federal agencies each fiscal year to small business concerns. H.R.1640 - To amend the Small Business Act to ensure uniformity in procurement terminology, and for other purposes.

part 2: changes found in the NDAA of the 2018 fiscal year H.R. 1774, Developing the Next Generation of Small Businesses Act of 2017 — This act aims to expand the entrepreneurial development programs to further the important work being done by the House Armed Services Committee on procurement reform by ensuring that SBA is effectively introducing the next generation of entrepreneurs to the opportunities afforded by federal procurement contracts.

bills found within Within H.R. 1774: H.R.1702 - Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Small Business Act with respect to the authority of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to use certain SBA programs, including the small business development center (SBDC) program, to provide grants, financial assistance, loans, export assistance, and subcontracting opportunities on federal contracts to specified small businesses, organizations, state governments, universities, companies, and other entities that assist smaller enterprises. H.R.1680 - Women's Business Centers Improvements Act of 2017 The bill revises the duties of the Office of Women's Business Ownership and declares it is the Office's mission to assist women entrepreneurs to start, grow, and compete in global markets by providing quality support with access to capital, access to markets, job creation, growth, and counseling. H.R.1700 - SCORE for Small Business Act of 2017 This bill amends the Small Business Act to reauthorize the SCORE program (Service Corps of Retired Executives) for FY2018-FY2019. The program is renamed as simply the SCORE program.

On September 18th, the Senate passed its own version of the NDAA.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain comments on the bill: “The decision of the Committee on Armed Services to authorize these additional resources was unanimous and bipartisan, and it is a significant statement on the troubling state of our military today. My friends, for too long, our nation has asked our men and women in uniform to do too much with far too little. Much of the blame lies over the last administration, but we in Congress cannot escape responsibility.” 

Overlap between house and senate bills Appropriations for military housing and construction Prohibition against another round of base realignment activities Heavy investments in missile defense system

Part 1: Differences BETWEEN THE HOUSE AND SENATE BILLS There are several disparities between the two chambers’ bills regarding what areas to give funding to and how much to propose. These issues include: The House version of the bill authorizes the creation of a new Space Corps. The Senate version does not authorize this, but does propose other plans targeting the nation’s space based defense system: Declares space as a warfighting, contested domain Requires the Commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center to maintain a watch list of contractors with a history of poor performance on space-related contracts. Supports hypersonic weapon technology The House version proposes buying 87 F-35s, while the Senate version budgeted for 94.

Part 2: Differences Between House and Senate Bills The House supported adding 17,000 soldiers to the Army. The Senate called for 6,000. The Senate bill declares a U.S. policy to use “all instruments of power” to deter, and respond to, any and all cyber attacks that target U.S. interests. The bill includes numerous Department of Defense mandates. The Senate bill proposes several changes to the SBIIR and STTR Programs: Amends the portion of the Small Business Act relating to Phase III awards by adding provision that explicitly states that agencies and prime contractors must construe any prior Phase I or Phase II award as satisfying any “full and open” or other competition requirements, and that a Phase III award can be made without further justification. 

Part 3: Differences BETWEEN THE HOUSE AND SENATE BILLS The Senate bill includes reforms to the procurement process including provisions requiring amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) that would implement procedures aimed at making “should-cost” reviews transparent and objective. The Senate bill also proposes to raise several threshold limits. In addition, the threshold for requiring contractors to submit cost or pricing data is raised.

Status of House-Senate Conference Committee As of Nov. 6th, the committee is going through the final stages of finishing the bill. After reviewing the final bill with the Congressional Budget Office to make sure everything lines up, the committee hopes to have the bill on the floor by next week or the week before Thanksgiving.