Leaders of the Armed Services Committees from both the House and Senate completed their conference on the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2012, Senate Committee Chairman Carl Levin‘s office (D-Mich.) announced Monday.
The lawmakers said they hope to bring the bill before the full House and Senate Wednesday.
According to the announcement from Levin’s office, the bill authorizes $554 billion in base funding for national defense, which is not limited to the Pentagon, and $115.5 billion for “overseas contingency operations.”
The Defense Department will receive $530 billion and the Energy Department‘s National Nuclear Security Administration will receive $11.1 billion.
The conference bill reduces defense spending $19 billion from the fiscal 2011 authorization, as required under the August debt ceiling agreement, and cuts $24.1 billion from President Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2012, according to a summary from the House committee.
The authorization bill also includes key provisions for contractors on monitoring the supply chain. The Pentagon and contractors, whenever possible, must purchase electronic parts from the original manufacturer and authorized dealers, or trusted suppliers.
Pentagon officials and contractors must provide written notification to the government if counterfeit parts are discovered.
Contractors will also be addressed in the Quadrennial Defense Review, a Pentagon study of strategic objectives and threats, as well as the National Military Strategy, a document from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that outlines the military’s strategic goals.
Those documents, plus other key military planning documents, would address the expected roles and responsibilities of contractors in military operations and associated risks.
