In the News

Today, the House of Representatives passed the conference report for the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act, which included two amendments offered by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA). The Connolly amendments would address the federal procurement process and security cooperation programs. The conference passed the House 359-54 and awaits action in the Senate.

Since coming to Congress, Connolly has had more than 30 amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act adopted in the House, including the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), which was enacted in law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014.

Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT) Amendment: Connolly’s amendment requires civilian agencies to define and track procurement administrative lead time. Connolly offered a similar successful amendment to the FY18 NDAA.

“This amendment is an important step toward greater efficiency and accountability in the federal procurement process,” Connolly said. “Given the number and costs of contracts and task orders issued by the federal government, it is important that the federal agencies collect information on the amount of time between when a solicitation is issued and the initial award of the contract or task order. By establishing a uniform definition and collecting this data, Congressional overseers, the contracting community, and other stakeholders can better analyze the data and use it as a tool to reduce unnecessary delays and save taxpayer dollars.”

Security Cooperation Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation Amendment: Connolly’s amendment, offered with Representative Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), provides a minimum of $12 million for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency to conduct assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of security cooperation programs.

“Each year, the United States spends as much as $10 billion on our security cooperation programs. This includes the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, the Counter-ISIL Fund, the cooperative threat reduction program, and other security programs that help build the capacity of foreign security forces,” Connolly said. “The United States trains, educates, advises, and equips our foreign partners all around the world. However, we have done next to nothing to understand the effectiveness of these programs at accomplishing their goals and advancing U.S. interests. I commend the Department of Defense for its work to establish an office tasked with creating a monitoring and evaluation framework for security cooperation programs and conducting evaluations.”