H.R. 4969 — Introduced in House

I 115th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4969 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 7, 2018Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To improve the design and construction of diplomatic posts, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Improving Embassy Design and Security Act of 2018. 2. Improving embassy construction (a) Findings Congress finds that the decision by the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) to transition from Standard Embassy Design to Design Excellence has in many cases— (1) increased the cost of building new embassies and consulates; (2) delayed the move of thousands of staff from facilities that do not meet current security standards to new, secure facilities; (3) exacerbated certain deficiencies in the quality of the Bureau’s program management; (4) been a factor in reduced competition for capital construction projects; and (5) been a complicating factor in achieving the Department’s own security requirements. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that the OBO should give appropriate consideration to Standard Embassy Design, in which each new embassy and consulate starts with a standard design and keeps customization to a minimum. (c) Delivery (1) Design-build project delivery Except in cases in which the Secretary of State determines that such would not be appropriate, the Secretary shall make use of the design-build project delivery system at diplomatic posts that have not yet received design or construction contracts as of the date of the enactment of this Act. (2) Standard design The Secretary of State shall give preference to the use of a standard design, together with design-build delivery under paragraph (1). (3) Vertical standard design The Secretary of State shall develop a vertical standard design that can be implemented according to the Department of State’s requisite security and spatial needs for diplomatic posts that are to be situated on a smaller plot of land. (4) Bridging The Secretary of State shall make use of bridging to adapt the standard design under paragraph (2) with design-build project delivery under paragraph (1) at diplomatic posts that require a more customized design due to climatic, geographic, or functional requirements. (5) Other application (A) In general The Secretary of State may make use of design-bid-build delivery with non-standard design in limited instances of particular diplomatic importance as determined by the Secretary. (B) Limitation The Secretary of State may not delegate the authority of the Secretary under subparagraph (A) to make use of design-bid-build delivery with non-standard design. (d) Consultation regarding non-Standard designs The Secretary of State shall carry out any new diplomatic post project that is in the design phase or pre-design phase as of the date of the enactment of this Act and that utilizes bridging or non-standard design under subsection (c) only after notification to and consultation with the appropriate congressional committees. Such notification and consultation shall include provision to the appropriate congressional committees, for each such project, of the following documentation: (1) A comparison of the estimated full lifecycle costs of the project at issue to the estimated full lifecycle costs of such project if such project were to use a standard design. (2) A comparison of the estimated completion date of such project to the estimated completion date of such project if such project were to use a standard design. (3) A comparison of the security of such completed project to the security of such completed project if such completed project were to use a standard design. (4) A justification for the Secretary’s selection of a non-standard design over a standard design for such project. (e) Performance evaluation Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall report to the appropriate congressional committees regarding performance evaluation measures in line with GAO’s Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government that will be applicable to the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations of the Department of State. (f) Definitions In this section: (1) Appropriate congressional committees The term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. (2) Bridging The term bridging means a delivery method for construction projects that is a hybrid of the traditional design-bid-build and the design-build methods, whereby the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations of the Department of State first contracts with a design firm to develop a project-specific, partial design that a construction contractor and its design firm then complete, the objective of which is to retain the best features of the design-bid-build and design-build methods for the project owner and eliminate those aspects of each such method that often cause problems for such owner. (3) Design-bid-build The term design-bid-build means a method of project delivery in which a design entity is first contracted to provide a design and a construction entity is subsequently contracted to build the awarded design contract. (4) Design-build The term design-build means a method of project delivery in which one entity, such as the design-build team, works under a single contract with the project owner to provide design and construction services. (5) Non-standard design The term non-standard design means a new diplomatic post design that does not utilize a standardized design template for the structural, spatial, and security requirements of such post. (6) Standard design The term standard design means a diplomatic post design that utilizes a standardized design template for the structural, spatial, and security requirements of such post.