H.R. 5712 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5712 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 14, 2014 Mr. Clawson of Florida (for himself and Mr. McCaul) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To authorize the Private Sector Office of the Department of Homeland Security to improve private sector engagement in protecting the homeland, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the DHS Private Sector Office Engagement Act of 2014. 2. Private Sector Office (a) In general Subsection (f) of section 102 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 112) is amended to read as follows: (f) Authorization (1) In general There is within the Department an office to be known as the Private Sector Office (in this section referred to as the Office). The Office shall be headed by the Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Coordination, who shall be appointed by the Secretary. (2) Mission The mission of the Private Sector Office shall be to— (A) create and foster strategic engagement with the private sector to enhance the primary mission of the Department to protect the United States; and (B) conduct ongoing economic impact analysis to reduce the burden of Department decisions, regulations, and initiatives on the private sector and the United States economy. (3) Qualifications of the Assistant Secretary The Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Coordination shall have— (A) a minimum of ten years of professional experience working in the private sector; (B) a minimum of five years of management experience; and (C) a basic knowledge of the regulatory process. (4) Deputy Assistant Secretary The Office shall have a Deputy Assistant Secretary. Such position shall be part of the career civil service and the individual serving in such position shall satisfy the qualifications specified in paragraph (3) relating to the Assistant Secretary, except that the ten year professional experience requirement under subparagraph (A) of such paragraph may be satisfied by a combination of engaging with or working in the private sector. (5) Responsibilities The Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Coordination shall— (A) create a strategic plan for the Office, to be updated or affirmed at a minimum each time there is a new Assistant Secretary; (B) advise, inform, and assist the Secretary regarding the impact on the private sector of the Department’s policies, regulations, processes, and actions; (C) analyze and report to the Secretary and other appropriate Department officials regarding the economic impact of changes in homeland security policy, including all regulations originating from the Department before such regulations are available for comment in the Federal Register; (D) determine what actions, if any, are needed to reduce associated homeland security burdens on the private sector, including unnecessary barriers to private sector job creation; (E) create and foster strategic engagement with the private sector to improve homeland security; (F) coordinate private sector efforts, with respect to functions of the Department and throughout all components of the Department, to identify private sector resources and capabilities that could be effective in augmenting Federal, State, and local government agency efforts to prevent or respond to an incident; (G) in coordination with appropriate components of the Department, encourage and promote to the private sector best practices regarding cyber security and critical infrastructure protection; (H) provide information to the private sector regarding voluntary preparedness and the business justification for resilience; (I) advise the Secretary regarding the Department’s collective recommendation in evaluating commercial actions pending with other relevant Federal agencies with homeland security related functions; (J) provide technical assistance across the Department on issues related to international trade, aviation security, supply chain security, global customs modernization, trade facilitation, and intellectual property rights; (K) promote existing public-private partnerships and develop new public-private partnerships to provide for collaboration and mutual support to address homeland security challenges; (L) create and manage private sector advisory councils composed of representatives of industries and associations designated by the Secretary to advise the Secretary regarding— (i) private sector solutions as such relate to homeland security challenges; (ii) homeland security policies, regulations, processes, and actions that affect such industries and associations; and (iii) private sector preparedness issues, including effective methods for— (I) promoting voluntary preparedness standards to the private sector; and (II) assisting the private sector in adopting voluntary preparedness standards; and (M) collaborate with the Chief Human Capital Officer to facilitate the DHS Loaned Executive Program through which the Department can obtain ad hoc, unpaid, short-term expertise through appointment of appropriate individuals from the private sector to provide critical skills that, to be fully utilized, require an appointment as an employee and cannot be obtained through other existing hiring mechanisms. (6) Accountability (A) In general Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Office shall develop objective output and outcome-based performance metrics and measures that will be maintained over time. (B) Biannual assessments The Comptroller General of the United States shall perform biannual assessments of the Office’s performance metrics and measures referred to in subparagraph (A), including an evaluation of the accuracy of the economic impact analysis conducted under paragraph (2)(A). (C) Annual briefings The Assistant Secretary shall annually brief the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate on the activities and performance metrics and measures of the Office. (7) Sunset and reevaluation The authorization under this subsection shall expire on December 31, 2018. The Secretary shall conduct an assessment of the Office concurrently with the next Quadrennial Homeland Security Review required under section 707 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 347) that is required after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate information on the following: (A) Office performance against the performance metrics and measures referred to in paragraph (6)(A). (B) Office strategic plan. (C) The results of the biannual assessments under paragraph (6)(B). (D) Input from relevant private sector stakeholders and Congress. (8) Miscellaneous The Office shall not duplicate the functions of the Chief Procurement Officer as the Department’s primary liaison for industry or the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization regarding potential goods or services the Department may acquire. . (b) Prohibition on additional authorization of appropriations No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act. This Act and such amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise available for such purposes.