US Congress House Bill 193 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on January 3 2019 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-01-03 - Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Pending: House Foreign Affairs Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Amends procedures related to Department of State overseas construction to reduce costs. For any new embassy or consulate compound construction projects, the State Department may use a non-standard design only after consulting Congress. The State Department shall justify the choice to use such a design and provide documentation of the full lifecycle costs and the project's completion date, compared to the project if it used a standard design. The State Department shall report to Congress quarterly on overseas capital construction projects; currently it is required to report annually on embassy construction costs. The bill also expands the required information for such reports, including the value of all requests to adjust the contract amount (such as a request for equitable adjustment or a certified claim). The bill also directs the State Department to complete all contractor performance evaluations by October 1, 2021. The State Department shall use the design-build project delivery method (where a single firm is responsible for both designing and construction) for all diplomatic posts and shall notify Congress if it seeks to use a different method for a project. The bill directs the State Department to report to Congress on various topics, including a six-year Long-Range Overseas Building Plan, a Long-Range Overseas Maintenance Plan, and a report detailing steps to expand the embassy construction contractor base to increase competition.

Improving Embassy Design and Security Act

Rep. Michael McCaul [R-TX]

Rep. Robin Kelly [D-IL]

Date	Chamber	Action
2019-01-03	House	Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
2019-01-03	House	Introduced in House

HB3352 (Related) 2019-09-09 - Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/193/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr193/BILLS-116hr193ih.pdf