Producing Advanced Technologies for Homeland Security Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUEST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 9459, the Producing Advanced Technologies for Homeland Security Act. I am grateful to my colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee for advancing this bipartisan piece of legislation that I am proud to lead with my friend from Maryland, Congressman Glenn Ivey.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Homeland Security has a constantly evolving mission, and to meet these needs, the Department was previously granted authority to enter into other transactional agreements, or OTAs. These legally binding agreements allow the Department to engage with nontraditional contractors that would not normally do business with the Federal Government.

This authority allows the Department of Homeland Security to operate quickly and more efficiently. These agreements have allowed entities to produce prototypes of nonintrusive inspection technology that can detect illicit materials hidden inside vehicles crossing the border and has researched machine learning practices to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The usefulness of this authority has been demonstrated in my home State of Mississippi, as The University of Southern Mississippi was part of a project to develop sensors for unmanned vehicles used by both DHS and the United States Coast Guard.

It is critical that we pass this legislation before the authority expires on September 30.

This bill served as a companion to Senator Peters' Senate bill, which passed unanimously out of markup in the Senate in April of this year. It would extend the Department's OTA authority by 3 years to 2027.

Mr. Speaker, I am also glad to say that this bill provides additional accountability and places guardrails on the current program.

It would require advanced notification to Congress should the authority be used in any advancement of artificial intelligence technology.

It would amend the DHS Contract Reporting Act of 2021 to ensure greater--once again, greater--transparency by reducing the amount of a contract to be reported on the DHS website from $4 million to $1 million.

Again, I thank Mr. Ivey for his leadership on this important legislation, and I appreciate Chairman Green and the committee staff for their work on this timely and relevant issue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill.

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