Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) leaders worked yesterday on clearing a package of amendments to the Pentagon policy bill for quick approval, as the chamber prepared to vote on advancing the bill today.
Also, the chamber passed yesterday one defense-industry-related amendment to fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill: a measure intended to improve the detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts in military systems.
SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday afternoon, during the fourth day of debating the policy-setting legislation, that he was working on a unanimous-consent agreement containing “approximately 40 cleared amendments, which we would then ask that be passed as cleared.” He and SASC Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) hoped to quickly clear the amendments as the chamber prepared to vote today on setting up a final vote on the massive and delayed policy bill this week.
The chamber will vote today at 11 a.m. on a cloture motion that, if approved by 60 senators, will set up a final vote on the legislation up to 30 hours later. The defense authorization bill, though, continued to stir controversy on the Senate floor yesterday over a military-detainee provision. The chamber by a 61-37 vote rejected an amendment to modify that language requiring military and not civilian custody for some al Qaeda suspects. The White House has threatened to veto the bill because of that language.
McCain issued a statement after that detainee amendment vote, predicting its outcome bodes well for the overall bill’s final passage in the Senate.
“Today’s vote reflects the broad bipartisan support for the detainee provisions in the Senate, which will help defend our nation against the threat posed by al Qaeda while upholding our values and honoring our constitution,” he argued. “I look forward to the Senate completing its vital work of providing for our nation’s defense and our men and women in uniform by passing the defense authorization bill by the end of this week.”
The Senate, meanwhile, passed by unanimous consent an amendment from Levin and McCain intended to thwart counterfeit electronic parts in the defense supply chain.
The measure is a reaction to a SASC investigation that found more than 1,800 instances of such fake components that ended up in Pentagon systems. Committee staff found more than 100 individual cases of counterfeit parts, with the vast majority coming from China. During a Nov. 8 SASC hearing, Levin quizzed U.S. defense contractors on the speed at which they notified the military when they found counterfeit parts in their systems (Defense Daily, Nov. 9).
The committee’s probe found counterfeit parts in the Navy’s SH-60B helicopter and P-8 Poseidon aircraft, the Air Force’s C-130J, C-27J and C-17 aircraft, and Army and Marine Corps helicopters including the AH-64 and CH-46.
“These counterfeit parts endanger our troops, harm national security and cost taxpayers,” Levin said yesterday in a statement. “The flood of counterfeit parts must stop, and this amendment provides tools and incentives that will help stop it.”
The successful amendment calls for prohibiting contractors from charging the Pentagon for fixing problems when counterfeit parts are discovered. It also would require larger contractors create systems for detecting and avoiding such parts, and allow reduced payments to companies that fail to do so. It includes several other provisions, including a requirement that the Pentagon and contractors aim to buy electronic parts from “original component manufacturers and their authorized dealers or trusted suppliers who meet established standards for detecting and avoiding counterfeit parts,” according to Levin’s office.
Amendments that were pending yesterday–which could be added to the unanimous-consent agreement Levin discussed–include measures from McCain to limit the use of cost-type contracts for major defense acquisition programs, require the Pentagon to report on probationary period of the Marine Corps’ variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and compel the Government Accountability Office to investigate sole-source contracts. Other amendments from SASC member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) would require the maintenance of a triad of strategic nuclear delivery systems, prevent the Navy from having fewer than 313 surface combatants, and compel a report on a missile-defense site on the East Coast of the United States. An amendment from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to limit taxpayer-funded salaries of defense contractors also was pending.
The Acquisition Reform Working Group (ARWG)–whose members include industry trade groups such as the Professional Services Council and Aerospace Industries Association–sent a letter to senators yesterday objecting to some of the defense authorization bill amendments. It finds fault with the successful counterfeit electronics parts amendments, as well as Boxer’s salary measure and McCain’s cost-type contract proposal, among others.
The working group, though, says it supports some of the proposed defense amendments, including one from SASC member Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) that would lift the temporary moratorium on public-private competitions and another from fellow committee member Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) that would have the defense secretary assess whether to create a commission to modify acquisition regulations. The industry group, though, suggests tweaks to Inhofe’s measure.
ARWG says it also supports an amendment, which the Senate approved yesterday, to reauthorize and improve the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) offered the amendment, which passed via a voice vote.