EXPANSION OF GOALS AND MODIFICATION OF PILOT PROGRAM FOR ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SERVICES.

SEC. 1612. EXPANSION OF GOALS AND MODIFICATION OF PILOT PROGRAM FOR ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SERVICES. (a) Carrying Out of Pilot Program.—Subsection (a) of section 1605 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck”McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113-291; 128 Stat. 3623; 10 U.S.C. 2208 note) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by striking “may develop” and all that follows through “funds by the Secretary” and inserting “shall develop and carry out a pilot program”; and (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(4) Methods.—In carrying out the pilot program under paragraph (1), the Secretary may use a variety of methods authorized by law to effectively and efficiently acquire commercial satellite communications services, including by carrying out multiple pathfinder activities under the pilot program.” . (b) Goals.—Subsection (b) of such section is amended— (1) in paragraph (3), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon; (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(5) demonstrates the potential to achieve order-of-magnitude improvements in satellite communications capability.” . (c) Reports and Briefings.—Subsection (d) of such section is amended— (1) in the heading, by striking “Reports.—” and inserting “Reports and Briefings.—”; (2) in paragraph (1)— (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “90 days” and inserting “270 days”; (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking “; or” and inserting “; and”; and (C) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows: “(B) a description of the appropriate metrics established by the Secretary to meet the goals of the pilot program.” ; (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new paragraph (2): “(2) Briefing.—At the same time as the President submits to Congress the budget pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2020, the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the pilot program.” ; and (5) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by paragraph (3) of this subsection)— (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking “expanding the use of working capital funds to effectively and efficiently acquire” and inserting “the pilot program and whether the pilot program effectively and efficiently acquires”; and (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking “working capital funds as described in subparagraph (A)” and inserting “the pilot program”.