In General .—
The Secretary of Defense shall take such action as is necessary to reform the Department of Defense to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the Department, and to improve the ability of the Department to prioritize among and assess the costs and benefits of covered elements of reform.
Policy .—
The Secretary shall develop a policy and issue guidance to implement reform within the Department and to improve the ability of the Department to prioritize among and assess the costs and benefits of covered elements of reform.
Framework for Reform.—
In general .—
Not later than , the Secretary shall establish policies, guidance, and a consistent reporting framework to measure the progress of the Department toward covered elements of reform, including by establishing categories of reform, consistent metrics, and a process for prioritization of reform activities.
Scope .—
The framework required by paragraph (1) may address duties under the following:
Consultation .—
The Secretary shall consult with the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Performance Improvement Officer of the Department of Defense, the Chief Data Officer of the Department of Defense, the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, the Director for Administration and Management of the Department of Defense, and the financial managers of the military departments in carrying out activities under this subsection.
Covered Elements of Reform .—
For purposes of this section and the policies, guidance, and reporting framework required by subsection (c), covered elements of reform may include the following:
Business systems modernization.
Enterprise business operations process re-engineering.
Expanded and modernized collection, management, dissemination, and visualization of data to support decision-making at all levels of the enterprise.
Improvements in workforce training and education and increasing capabilities of the Department workforce to support and execute reform activities and business processes.
Improvements to decision-making processes to enable cost savings, cost avoidance, or investments to develop process improvements.
Development and implementation of a uniform methodology for tracking and assessing cost savings and cost avoidance from reform initiatives.
Implementation of reform-focused research to improve management and administrative science.
Tracking and implementation of technological approaches to improve management decision-making, such as artificial intelligence tools.
Such other elements as the Secretary considers appropriate.
Annual Report .—
section 1105 of title 31At the same time the budget of the President for a fiscal year is submitted to Congress pursuant to , the Secretary shall, using the policies, guidance, and reporting framework required by subsection (c), submit to the congressional defense committees a report, including detailed narrative justifications and tradeoff analyses between options, on the actions of the Department as follows:
The activities, expenditures, and accomplishments carried out or made to effect reform under this section during the fiscal year in which such budget is submitted.
The proposed activities, expenditures, and accomplishments to effect reform under this section, and consistent with priorities established by the Secretary, during the fiscal year covered by such budget and each of the four succeeding fiscal years.
Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, § 911(a)(1)134 Stat. 3800Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title IX, § 911136 Stat. 2750(Added , , ; amended , , .)
Editorial Notes
Amendments
Pub. L. 117–263, § 911(1)(A)2022—Subsec. (c)(1). , substituted “2023” for “2022”.
Pub. L. 117–263, § 911(1)(B)Subsec. (c)(3). , inserted “the Director for Administration and Management of the Department of Defense,” after “the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense,”.
Pub. L. 117–263, § 911(2)Subsec. (d)(6) to (9). , added pars. (6) to (8) and redesignated former par. (6) as (9).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Strategic Management Dashboard Demonstration
Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title IX, § 916136 Stat. 2755
In General .—
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act [], the Secretary of Defense shall conduct a demonstration of a strategic management dashboard to automate the data collection and data visualization of the primary management goals of the Department of Defense.
Elements .—
The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the strategic management dashboard demonstrated under subsection (a) includes the following:
The capability for real-time monitoring of the performance of the Department of Defense in meeting the management goals of the Department.
An integrated analytics capability, including the ability to dynamically add or upgrade new capabilities when needed.
section 125a of title 10 Integration with the framework required by subsection (c) of , United States Code, for measuring the progress of the Department toward covered elements of reform (as defined in subsection (d) of that section).
Public Law 110–181 Incorporation of the elements of the strategic management plan required by section 904(d) of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2008 (; 10 U.S.C. note prec. 2201), as derived from automated data feeds from existing information systems and databases.
section 1115(b) of title 31 Incorporation of the elements of the most recent annual performance plan of the Department required by , United States Code, and the most recent update on performance of the Department required by section 1116 of that title.
Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to improve decision making and assessment relating to data analytics.
Adoption of leading and lagging indicators for key strategic management goals.
Authorities.—
In general .—
In conducting the demonstration required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense may use the authorities described in paragraph (2), and such other authorities as the Secretary considers appropriate—
to help accelerate the development of innovative technological or process approaches; and
to attract new entrants to solve the data management and visualization challenges of the Department.
Authorities described .—
The authorities described in this paragraph are the authorities provided under the following provisions of law:
Section 4025 of title 10 , United States Code (relating to prizes for advanced technology achievements).
Public Law 114–9210 U.S.C. 2222 Section 217 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (; note) (relating to science and technology activities to support business systems information technology acquisition programs).
Public Law 117–8110 U.S.C. 129a Section 908 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (; note) (relating to management innovation activities).
Use of Best Practices .—
In conducting the demonstration required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall leverage commercial best practices in management and leading research in management and data science.
Strategic Management Dashboard Defined .—
In this section, the term ‘strategic management dashboard’ means a system for dynamically displaying management metrics, performance goals, and other information necessary for Department of Defense leadership to make strategic decisions related to the management of the Department using modern, commercial practices for data visualization and drawn from existing automated information systems available to the Department.”
Implementing Policies, Guidance, and Reporting Framework
Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, § 911(b)134 Stat. 3801
Submittal to congress .—
section 125a of title 10Not later than , the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees [Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives] a report setting forth the policies, guidance, and reporting framework established pursuant to subsection (c) of , United States Code (as added by subsection (a) of this section).
Update .—
10 U.S.C. 132aNot later than 90 days after the date of the submittal to Congress of the report required by section 901(d) of this Act [ note], the Secretary shall update the reporting framework referred to in paragraph (1).”