S.Amdt. 2740

SA 2740. Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. Gardner) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 5515, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 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 end of subtitle B of title I, add the following:

SEC. 112. REPORT ON BENEFITS OF MULTIYEAR PROCUREMENT
AUTHORITY FOR ARMY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM
PLATFORMS (ABCT).

(a) Findings.--The Senate finds the following:
(1) There have been concerns with the Army's strategy and
timeline to modernize its Armored Brigade Combat Teams
(referred to in this section as the ``ABCT''). These concerns
include the modernization rate of ABCT combat vehicle
platforms, such as Bradley and Abrams, being too slow and not
keeping pace with modernization efforts of peer competitors.
As a result, the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate
took action in the National Defense Authorization Act for
FY2018 (Public Law 115-91) to increase modernization to a
rate of approximately 1.5 brigades per year for certain
platforms.
(2) The Army's budget request for fiscal year 2019 is
encouraging and builds on the previous year's momentum by
proposing continued modernization at a rate of approximately
1.5 brigades per year. Given this increased investment for
ABCT modernization, the Army should examine the cost benefits
of using multiyear procurement contracts for all ABCT
platforms.
(3) The Senate supports the Army's plan to pursue a Next
Generation Combat Vehicle (referred to in this section as the
``NGCV'') and encourages further acceleration of the NGCV
development effort. With an accelerated program timeline,
significant time is required to successfully develop, test,
build, and fully field a new NGCV vehicle. As a result, the
Senate supports the Army's decision to pursue the Bradley A4
upgrade program as a bridge to NGCV.
(4) Section 809 of the National Defense Authorization Act
for FY2016 (Public Law 114-92) established the Advisory Panel
on Streamlining and Codifying Acquisition Regulations in
order to advise Congress on ways to improve the Department of
Defense's acquisition processes. In its May 2017 Interim
Report, the panel concluded, ``If the Army acquired [ABCT]
vehicles at the rate of two brigades annually, however, the
production efficiencies would save approximately $11 billion
during the life of the program.''.
(b) Report Required.--Not later than December 1, 2018, the
Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional
defense committees a report on the benefits of multiyear
procurement contracts for all Army Brigade Combat Team (ABCT)
platforms, including a detailed cost-benefit analysis and an
examination of the costs and benefits of further increasing
modernization to two brigades per year.
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