REQUIREMENT FOR FOCUS ON URGENT OPERATIONAL NEEDS AND RAPID ACQUISITION.

SEC. 902. REQUIREMENT FOR FOCUS ON URGENT OPERATIONAL NEEDS AND RAPID ACQUISITION.(a) Designation of Senior Official Responsible for Focus on Urgent Operational Needs and Rapid Acquisition.—(1) In general.—The Secretary of Defense, after consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments, shall designate a senior official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the principal official of the Department of Defense responsible for leading the Department’s actions on urgent operational needs and rapid acquisition, in accordance with this section.(2) Staff and resources.—The Secretary shall assign to the senior official designated under paragraph (1) appropriate staff and resources necessary to carry out the official’s functions under this section.(b) Responsibilities.—The senior official designated under subsection (a) shall be responsible for the following:(1) Acting as an advocate within the Department of Defense for issues related to the Department’s ability to rapidly respond to urgent operational needs, including programs funded and carried out by the military departments.(2) Improving visibility of urgent operational needs throughout the Department, including across the military departments, the Defense Agencies, and all other entities and processes in the Department that address urgent operational needs.(3) Ensuring that tools and mechanisms are used to track, monitor, and manage the status of urgent operational needs within the Department, from validation through procurement and fielding, including a formal feedback mechanism for the Armed Forces to provide information on how well fielded solutions are meeting urgent operational needs.(c) Urgent Operational Needs Defined.—In this section, the term “urgent operational needs” means capabilities that are determined by the Secretary of Defense, pursuant to the review process required by section 804(b) of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (10 U.S.C. 2302 note), to be suitable for rapid fielding in response to urgent operational needs.126 STAT. 1866