Streamlining Of Safety Act And Anti-Terrorism Technology Procurement Process

STREAMLINING OF SAFETY ACT AND ANTI-TERRORISM TECHNOLOGY PROCUREMENT PROCESSES -- (House of Representatives - January 23, 2007)

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Langevin.

Today I rise to support a bill that reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that safe and effective antiterrorism technologies are being deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

This bill, offered by my colleague Mr. Langevin, will provide much-needed reforms to the SAFETY Act process within the Department.

In conducting oversight over the Department's implementation of the SAFETY Act over the last several years, it was apparent that there was several significant disconnections within the Department.

It became clear that the Office of SAFETY Act Implementation and the private sector were working on separate wavelengths. The right hand simply was not speaking to the left.

The private sector struggled to fulfill the lengthy paperwork requirements of the SAFETY Act, while the SAFETY Act office often seemed nonresponsive to private sector requests.

While the Department's adoption of final regulations this summer implementing the SAFETY Act appears to be an encouraging step forward, still more must be done to ensure that the government is being responsive to developments in the private sector.

This bill would require that the Secretary employ a sufficient number of analysts in the Office of SAFETY Act Implementation who can deal with the ever-growing number of applications. This will ensure that applications are being processed in a timely fashion to bring more technologies to the table earlier than ever.

Perhaps more importantly, this bill will also ensure the proper coordination between the Department's procurement and implementing offices and raise the awareness of SAFETY Act risk management provisions among procurement officers across Federal, State and local government, and throughout the private sector.

In order to generate revolutionary breakthroughs in antiterrorism technologies, the Department must actively promote awareness of SAFETY Act protections not only among private sector, but across government procurement agencies. This legislation will help achieve those goals.

I congratulate Mr. Langevin for offering this legislation and strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. We must enable the private sector to deliver the revolutionary, breakthrough technologies that will help win the Nation's fight against terrorism.

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