119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 706
AN ACT
To improve the biodetection functions of the Department
of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 706 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Biodetection Im-2
provement Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. DHS UTILIZATION OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NA-4
TIONAL LABORATORIES AND SITES FOR CER-5
TAIN BIODETECTION RESEARCH AND DEVEL-6
OPMENT RELATING TO THE MISSIONS OF 7
THE DHS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-9
rity shall conduct an assessment of how the Department 10
of Homeland Security has utilized Department of Energy 11
national laboratories and sites regarding research and de-12
velopment in carrying out the missions of the Department 13
of Homeland Security, in accordance with section 309 of 14
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 189). 15
(b) S
TRATEGY ON BIODETECTIONRESEARCH AND 16
D
EVELOPMENT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 17
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 18
Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se-19
curity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 20
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 21
Senate the assessment required under subsection (a), to-22
gether with a strategy for how the Department of Home-23
land Security will conduct research and development in co-24
ordination with Department of Energy national labora-25
tories and sites to address biodetection research and devel-26 3
•HR 706 EH
opment of the Department of Homeland Security, includ-1
ing the following: 2
(1) Identifying biodetection technologies that 3
can, either individually or together, meet the bio-4
detection mission needs as outlined in Department 5
of Homeland Security capabilities analysis and re-6
quirements documents and informed by studies pro-7
duced by the Comptroller General of the United 8
States, such as the National Re-Assessment of the 9
BioWatch Collector Network to Increase the Frac-10
tion of Population Covered, as developed by the 11
Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of 12
the Department in November 2021, and other such 13
future studies as applicable. 14
(2) Developing an acquisition and procurement 15
plan to acquire and provide, in accordance with Fed-16
eral law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and 17
Department of Homeland Security acquisition and 18
procurement management directives, the biodetection 19
technologies referred to in paragraph (1) to existing 20
BioWatch jurisdictions. 21
(3) Conducting periodic external evaluations to 22
identify gaps and potential failure points with re-23
spect to such biodetection technologies, and recom-24
mending contingency plans in the event such bio-25 4
•HR 706 EH
detection technologies do not perform as expected or 1
intended. 2
(4) Assisting, as appropriate and in partnership 3
with Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, 4
institutions of higher education (as such term is de-5
fined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 6
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), and the private sector, with 7
the development of clearly defined program and 8
technical requirements for future Department of 9
Homeland Security environmental biodetection pro-10
grams, including any related transformational pro-11
gram of research and development. 12
(c) R
EPORTS TOCONGRESS.—Not later than one 13
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-14
retary of Homeland Security shall provide to the Com-15
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-16
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-17
ernmental Affairs of the Senate an update of the assess-18
ment and strategy required under this section, including 19
any challenges to implementing such strategy. 20
Passed the House of Representatives March 11,
2025.
Attest:
Clerk. 119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 706
AN ACT
To improve the biodetection functions of the De-
partment of Homeland Security, and for other
purposes.