NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE PROGRAMS.

SEC. 121. NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE PROGRAMS. (a) Amounts Authorized From SCN Account.— (1) Of the amount authorized to be appropriated by section 102(a)(3) for fiscal year 1997— (A) $699,071,000 is available for continued construction of the third vessel (designated SSN–23) in the Seawolf attack submarine class, which shall be the final vessel in that class; (B) $296,186,000 is available for long-lead and advance construction and procurement of components for construction of a submarine (previously designated by the Navy as the New Attack Submarine) beginning in fiscal year 1998 to be built by Electric Boat Division; and (C) $701,000,000 is available for long-lead and advance construction and procurement of components for construction of a second submarine (previously designated by the Navy as the New Attack Submarine) beginning in fiscal year 1999 to be built by Newport News Shipbuilding. 110 STAT. 2442 (2) In addition to the purposes for which the amounts under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1) are available, such amounts are also available for contracts with Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding to carry out the provisions of the “Memorandum of Agreement Among the Department of the Navy, Electric Boat Corporation (EB) and Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company (NNS) Concerning the New Attack Submarine”, dated April 5, 1996, relating to design data transfer, design improvements, integrated process teams, and updated design base. (b) Amounts Authorized From Navy RDT&E Account.— (1) Of the amount authorized to be appropriated by section 201(2), $487,611,000 is available for the design of the submarine previously designated by the Navy as the New Attack Submarine. (2) (A) Of the amount authorized to be appropriated by section 201(2), $60,000,000 is available for obligation under contracts with Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding and other entities to address the inclusion on future nuclear attack submarines of the core advanced technologies that are identified by the Secretary of Defense (in the report of the Secretary entitled “Report on Nuclear Attack Submarine Procurement and Submarine Technology”, submitted to Congress on March 26, 1996) as those technologies the maturation of which the Submarine Technology Assessment Panel recommended be addressed in its March 15, 1996, final report to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, as follows: hydrodynamics, alternative sail designs, advanced arrays, electric drive, external weapons, and active controls and mounts. (B) Of the amount available under subparagraph (A), $20,000,000 shall be equally divided between Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding for the purpose of ensuring that those shipbuilders are principal participants in the process of addressing the inclusion of technologies referred to in subparagraph (A) on future nuclear attack submarines. Contracts with the shipbuilders under this subparagraph shall provide the shipbuilders with wide latitude to pursue submarine-wide, integrated systems approaches to the inclusion of such technologies. The Secretary of the Navy shall ensure that those shipbuilders have access for such purpose (under procedures prescribed by the Secretary) to the Navy laboratories and the Office of Naval Intelligence and (in accordance with arrangements to be made by the Secretary) to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (3) Of the amount authorized to be appropriated by section 201(2), $38,000,000 is available to begin funding those Category I and Category II advanced technologies described in Appendix C of the report of the Secretary of Defense referred to in paragraph (2)(A). The Secretary of the Navy shall ensure that Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding are also principal participants in the technology initiatives pursued with such funds to ensure submarine-wide, integrated systems approaches to the inclusion of such technologies on future nuclear attack submarines. (4) In addition to the purposes for which the amounts under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) are available, such amounts are also available for contracts with Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding to cany out the provisions of the memorandum of agreement referred to in subsection (a)(2) for research and development activities under that memorandum of agreement. 110 STAT. 2443 (c) Amount From Fiscal Year 1996 Funds for National Defense Sealift Fund.— (1) Section 132 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104–106; 110 Stat. 210) is repealed. (2) The amount referred to in section 132 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (as in effect immediately before the repeal by paragraph (1)) shall be available to the Secretary of the Navy for activities relating only to advanced submarine technology that involve the construction of large scale vehicles for purposes of hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic research on developmental designs for hulls and propulsion systems. (d) Contracts Authorized.— (1) The Secretary of the Navy is authorized, using funds available pursuant to subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subsection (a)(1), to enter into contracts with Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding, and suppliers of components, during fiscal year 1997 for— (A) the procurement of long-lead components for the fiscal year 1998 submarine and the fiscal year 1999 submarine under this section; and (B) advance construction of such components and other components for such submarines. (2) The Secretary may enter into a contract or contracts under this section with the shipbuilder of the fiscal year 1998 submarine only if the Secretary enters into a contract or contracts under this section with the shipbuilder of the fiscal year 1999 submarine. (e) Limitations.— (1) (A) Of the amounts specified in subsection (a)(1), not more than $100,000,000 may be obligated until the Secretary of Defense certifies in writing to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives that procurement of nuclear attack submarines described in subparagraph (B) will be under one or more contracts that are entered into after competition between Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding in which the Secretary of the Navy solicits competitive proposals and awards the contract or contracts on the basis of price. (B) The submarines referred to in subparagraph (A) are nuclear attack submarines that are to be constructed beginning— (i) after fiscal year 1999; or (ii) if four submarines are to be procured as provided for in the plan required under section 131(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104–106; 110 Stat. 208), after fiscal year 2001. (2) Of the amounts specified in subsection (a)(1), not more than $675,000,000 may be obligated until the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology submits to the congressional committees specified in paragraph (1) a report in writing detailing the following: (A) The Under Secretary’s oversight activities to date, and plans for the future, for the development and improvement of the nuclear attack submarine program of the Navy as required by section 131(b)(2)(C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (110 Stat. 207). (B) The implementation of, and activities conducted under, the program required to be established by the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency by section 131(i) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (110 Stat. 210) for the development and demonstration of 110 STAT. 2444advanced submarine technologies and a rapid prototype acquisition strategy for both land-based and at-sea subsystem and system demonstrations of such technologies. (C) A description of all research, development, test, and evaluation programs, projects, or activities within the Department of Defense which, in the opinion of the Under Secretary, are designed to contribute to the development and demonstration of advanced submarine technologies leading to a more capable, more affordable nuclear attack submarine, specifically identifying ongoing involvement, and plans for future involvement, in any such program, project, or activity by either Electric Boat Division or Newport News Shipbuilding, or by both. (3) Of the amount specified in subsection (b)(1), not more than $100,000,000 may be obligated or expended until the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) certifies in writing to the congressional committees specified in paragraph (1) that— (A) funds specified in subsection (c)(2) have been made available for obligation; and (B) to the extent that funds specified in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b) have been appropriated for the purposes specified in such paragraphs, such funds have been made available for obligation. (f) Acquisition Simplification.— In furtherance of the direction provided by subsection (d) of section 131 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (110 Stat. 209) to the Secretary of Defense regarding the application of acquisition reform policies and procedures to the submarine program under that section, the Secretary shall direct the Secretary of the Navy to implement for the submarine programs of the Navy acquisition reform initiatives similar in intent and approach to the initiatives begun by the Secretary of the Air Force in May 1995 and referred to as the “Lightning Bolt” initiatives. The Secretary of the Navy shall, not later than March 31, 1997, submit to the congressional committees specified in subsection (e)(1) a report on the results of the implementation of such initiatives. (g) Design Responsibility.— (1) The Secretary of the Navy shall carry out the submarine program described in section 131 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 in a manner that ensures that each of the two shipbuilders involved in the design and construction of the four submarines described in that section be allowed to propose to the Secretary any design improvement that the shipbuilder considers appropriate for the submarines to be built by that shipbuilder as part of those four submarines. The Secretary shall ensure that both shipbuilders have full and open access to all design data concerning the design of the submarine previously designated by the Navy as the New Attack Submarine. (2) The designs proposed by the shipbuilders should proceed from, but not be limited to, the specific advanced technologies referred to in subsection (b)(2)(A), especially technologies involving hydrodynamics and hydroacoustics concepts. (3) The Secretary shall require both shipbuilders to submit to the Secretary an annual report on the progress of the design work on the submarines referred to in paragraph (1) and shall transmit each such report to the committees specified in subsection (e)(1). 110 STAT. 2445 (4) The Secretary shall also submit an annual report to the committees specified in subsection (e)(1) on the design improvements proposed by the two shipbuilders under paragraph (1) for incorporation on any of the four submarines and on the degree to which design information on the base design and design improvements has been shared between the shipbuilders. Each annual report shall set forth each design improvement proposed and whether that proposal was— (A) reviewed, approved, and funded by the Navy; (B) reviewed and approved, but not funded; or (C) not approved, in which case the report shall include the reasons therefor and any views of the shipyard making the proposal. (5) The reports referred to in paragraphs (3) and (4) shall be submitted concurrently with the annual revisions to the Secretary of Defense’s nuclear attack submarine plan required by section 131(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104–106; 110 Stat. 209). (h) Serial Production.— The Secretary of Defense shall modify the plan relating to development of a program leading to production of a more capable and less expensive submarine than the New Attack Submarine that was submitted to Congress pursuant to section 131(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 in order to provide in such plan the option for selection of a design for a next submarine for serial production not earlier than fiscal year 2002 (rather than fiscal year 2003, as provided in paragraph (3)(B) of such section 131(c)). (i) References to Shipbuilders.— For purposes of this section— (1) the shipbuilder referred to as “Electric Boat Division” is the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation; and (2) the shipbuilder referred to as “Newport News Shipbuilding” is the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. (j) Submarines Defined by Reference to Fiscal Year.— For purposes of this section— (1) the term “fiscal year 1998 submarine” means the submarine referred to in subsection (a)(1)(B); and (2) the term “fiscal year 1999 submarine” means the submarine referred to in subsection (a)(1)(C).