HR706-119

What This Bill Does

The DHS Biodetection Improvement Act directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess how DHS has used Department of Energy national laboratories and sites for research and development supporting DHS missions. Within 180 days, the Secretary must submit that assessment to the House Homeland Security Committee and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, together with a strategy for conducting DHS biodetection R&D in coordination with DOE labs and sites.

The required strategy must identify biodetection technologies that can meet DHS capability and requirements documents, informed by GAO studies such as the November 2021 Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office BioWatch collector-network reassessment. It must develop an acquisition and procurement plan to provide those technologies to existing BioWatch jurisdictions under federal acquisition rules and DHS procurement directives. It must require periodic external evaluations to identify gaps and failure points and recommend contingency plans if technologies fail. It also must support future environmental biodetection requirements in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal governments, universities, and private-sector partners. DHS must provide Congress a one-year update on the assessment, strategy, and implementation challenges.

Who Benefits and How

BioWatch jurisdictions, DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office staff, DOE national laboratories, biodetection technology vendors, state public-health agencies, local emergency-management agencies, tribal governments, research universities, private-sector biodefense partners, House Homeland Security Committee staff, and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staff benefit because the bill forces DHS to connect lab research, procurement planning, external evaluation, and contingency planning to real biodetection mission needs.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of Homeland Security, DHS biodetection program managers, DHS acquisition officials, DOE laboratory liaison staff, external evaluators, BioWatch program administrators, and participating government partners bear compliance burdens because they must complete the assessment, write the strategy, identify technologies, develop procurement plans, conduct evaluations, define future requirements, and brief Congress on implementation challenges.

Key Provisions

• Requires DHS to assess its use of DOE national laboratories and sites for biodetection research and development.
• Requires a congressional assessment and strategy within 180 days.
• Requires identification of biodetection technologies that meet DHS mission needs and BioWatch-related requirements.
• Requires an acquisition and procurement plan for existing BioWatch jurisdictions.
• Requires periodic external evaluations, gap identification, failure-point analysis, and contingency plans.
• Requires partnership with federal, state, local, tribal, university, and private-sector partners on future environmental biodetection requirements.
• Requires a one-year congressional update on the strategy and implementation challenges.