WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by Chairman Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Ranking Member Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems today released their proposals for the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Subcommittee will meet at 10:00am ET on Wednesday, July 28 in Rayburn 2118 and via the WebEx platform. The markup will be live streamed on the committee’s website. The Subcommittee's mark is available here.  

Specifically, this year's proposal:

Improves S&T Transition Across the Valley of Death      

  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to carry out a 5-year pilot program to help foster transition of the Department’s science and technology programs, projects, and activities into full scale implementation through the support of qualified intermediaries that provide technical assistance to technology producers to better participate in the Department’s procurement programs and acquisition processes.

  • Directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments to carry out pilot programs to transition Small Business Innovation Research programs and Small Business Technology Transfer programs more effectively into Phase III through selection of Entrepreneurial Innovation Projects.

  • Directs the Deputy Secretary of Defense to submit a report evaluating the barriers preventing the Department from quickly and successfully scaling innovative technologies to support the warfighter and the Department’s critical operational needs, including requirements, acquisition, programming, and culture. 

Strengthens the Department’s Digital Engineering and Testing

  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to expand survivability testing of covered systems to include testing against non-kinetic threats, and to develop digital technologies to test those systems against threats throughout the system’s lifecycle.

  • Amends section 139(h)(2) of title 10, United States Code, by removing the sunset date for the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation's annual report to Congress.

  • Directs the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to provide a briefing on current and contemplated efforts to invest in and improve Gaming, Exercising, Modeling, and Simulation innovation across the analytical community within the Department.

  • Directs a report on the state of digital twin practices in the Department, the existing verification, validation, and accreditation body of work, and recommendations on how adequacy can be developed and determined in a more agile process as the digital twin evolves.  

Improves Access to Innovative Talent

  • Enables the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to pay for travel, transportation, and relocation expenses and services when hiring up to 15 individuals in any fiscal year. 

  • Expands the mechanisms for expedited access to technical talent and expertise at academic institutions by adding a 31st mission area called "spectrum activities."

  • Authorizes the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Modernization Act of 2021 for the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. 

  • Directs the Chief of Space Operations to provide a briefing on the effectiveness of the Space Force’s higher education strategy in creating long-term, strategic relationships; in developing talent; and in providing access to expertise and engineering, research, and development capability, and what role the University Partnership Program plays in that strategy.

  • Directs a report on the Defense Innovation Unit’s authorities, size, and composition of personnel to ensure it can accomplish its mission.

Maintains Rigorous Oversight of Department Cyberspace Activities

  • Mandates each service to identify and inventory all legacy information technologies to be sunset.  

Ensures Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority

  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to appoint a senior official to lead the Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy implementation.

Prepares for Competition in the Information Environment

  • Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate how the Department measures the effectiveness of information operations.

  • Tasks the Comptroller General with reviewing how the Department prepares leaders to operate in a contested information environment.

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