S.Amdt. 1810

SA 1810. Mr. HATCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 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 appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ___. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEFINITION OF AND
POLICY REGARDING SOFTWARE SUSTAINMENT.

(a) Report on Assessment of Definition and Policy.--Not
later than March 15, 2016, the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to the congressional defense committees and the
President pro tempore of the Senate a report setting forth an
assessment, obtained by the Secretary for purposes of the
report, on the definition used by the Department of Defense
for and the policy of the Department regarding software
maintenance, particularly with respect to the totality of the
term ``software sustainment'' in the definition of ``depot-
level maintenance and repair'' under section 2460 of title
10, United States Code.
(b) Independent Assessment.--The assessment obtained for
purposes of subsection (a) shall be conducted by a federally
funded research and development center (FFRDC), or another
appropriate independent entity with expertise in matters
described in subsection (a), selected by the Secretary for
purposes of the assessment.
(c) Elements.--
(1) In general.--The assessment obtained for purposes of
subsection (a) shall address, with respect to software and
weapon systems of the Department of Defense (including space
systems), each of the following:
(A) Fiscal ramifications of current programs with regard to
the size, scope, and cost of software to the program's
overall budget, including embedded and support software,
percentage of weapon systems' functionality controlled by
software, and reliance on proprietary data, processes, and
components.
(B) Legal status of the Department in regards to adhering
to section 2464(a)(1) of such title with respect to ensuring
a ready and controlled source of maintenance (sustainment) on
software for its weapon systems.
(C) Operational risks and reduction to materiel readiness
of current Department weapon systems related to software
costs, delays, re-work, integration and functional testing,
defects, and documentation errors.
(2) Additional matters.--For each of subparagraphs (A)
through (C) of paragraph (1), the assessment obtained for
purposes of subsection (a) shall include review and analysis
regarding sole-source contracts, range of competition, rights
in technical data, public and private capabilities,
integration lab initial costs and sustaining operations, and
total obligation authority costs of software, disaggregated
by armed service, for the Department.
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