COMPETITIVE ALTERNATIVE SOURCE REQUIREMENT

SEC. 805. COMPETITIVE ALTERNATIVE SOURCE REQUIREMENT Section 2438 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “§ 2438. Major programs: competitive alternative sources “(a) (1) Before full-scale development under a major program begins, the Secretary of Defense shall prepare an acquisition strategy for the program. “(2) The Secretary shall ensure that contracts for each major program and each major subsystem under such major program are awarded in accordance with the acquisition strategy for such program. “(b) (1) The acquisition strategy prepared under subsection (a)(1) shall ensure that the Secretary will have the option to use competitive alternative sources for major programs and for major subsystems under the major programs throughout the period from the beginning of full-scale development through the end of procurement in any case in which the establishment and maintenance of two or more sources— “(A) would— “(i) likely reduce technological risks associated with the program; “(ii) likely result in reduced costs for such program; or “(iii) likely result in an improvement in design commensurate with the additional cost; “(B) would not result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the needs of the Department of Defense; and “(C) is otherwise in the national security interests of the United States. “(2) In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary may provide that the requirement for competitive alternative sources of a major program or subsystem is satisfied even though the sources for that major program or subsystem do not develop or produce identical systems if the systems developed serve similar functions and compete effectively with each other. “(c) In this section: “(1) The term ‘major program’ means a major defense acquisition program, as such term is defined in section 2430 of this title. “(2) The term ‘major subsystem’, with respect to a major program, means a subsystem of the system developed under the program, that is purchased directly by the United States and for which— “(A) the amount for research, development, test, and evaluation is 10 percent or more of the amount specified in section 2430(2) of this title as the research, development,104 STAT. 1592 test, and evaluation funding criterion for identification of a major defense acquisition program; or “(B) the amount for procurement is 10 percent or more of the amount specified in section 2430(2) of this title as the procurement funding criterion for identification of a major defense acquisition program.”.