NATIONAL SECURITY CUTTER.

SEC. 818. [14 U.S.C. 1133 note] NATIONAL SECURITY CUTTER. (a) Standard Method for Tracking.—The Commandant of the Coast Guard may not certify an eighth National Security Cutter as Ready for Operations before the date on which the Commandant provides to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate— (1) a notification of a new standard method for tracking operational employment of Coast Guard major cutters that does not include time during which such a cutter is away from its homeport for maintenance or repair; and (2) a report analyzing cost and performance for different approaches to achieving varied levels of operational employment using the standard method required by paragraph (1) that, at a minimum— (A) compares over a 30-year period the average annualized baseline cost and performances for a certified National Security Cutter that operated for 185 days away from homeport or an equivalent alternative measure of operational tempo— (i) against the cost of a 15 percent increase in days away from homeport or an equivalent alternative measure of operational tempo for a National Security Cutter; and (ii) against the cost of the acquisition and operation of an additional National Security Cutter; and (B) examines the optimal level of operational employment of National Security Cutters to balance National Security Cutter cost and mission performance. (b) Conforming Amendments.— (1) [14 U.S.C. 573 note] Section 221(b) of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 (126 Stat. 1560) is repealed. (2) [14 U.S.C. 504 note] Section 204(c)(1) of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2016 (130 Stat. 35) is repealed.