PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 599.
Congressional Research Service
Version 01 · Reported to Senate with amendment(s) · Nov 17, 2014
Transportation Security Acquisition Reform Act - (Sec. 3) Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to:
develop and update biennially a strategic five-year technology investment plan, which may include a classified addendum to report sensitive transportation security risks, technology vulnerabilities, or other sensitive security information; and
publish the plan in an unclassified form in the public domain. Directs the Administrator, before acquiring any security-related technology, to analyze whether acquisition is justified. Requires the Administrator, 30 days before any TSA award of a contract for acquisitions exceeding $30 million, to report to Congress the results of the analysis and certify that the transportation security benefits justify the contract cost.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Requires the appropriate TSA acquisition official to establish certain performance baseline requirements before any TSA security-related technology acquisition. Requires that official to review and assess each acquisition for meeting the baseline requirements and to report the results to Congress.
Requires the Administrator, before procuring additional quantities of equipment to fulfill a TSA mission need, to utilize, to the extent practicable, any existing units in the TSA's inventory to meet that need.
Directs the Administrator to report annually to Congress on TSA's performance record in meeting its goals for contracting with small businesses.
Directs the Administrator to execute all responsibilities set forth in this Act in a manner consistent with the Federal Acquisition Regulation and TSA policies and directives.
(Sec. 4) Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to: (1) assess TSA's implementation of GAO recommendations regarding the acquisition of security-related technology made before enactment of this Act, and (2) evaluate TSA's progress in implementing this Act.
(Sec. 5) Directs the Administrator to report to Congress on the feasibility of tracking TSA security-related technology, including software solutions, through automated information and data capture technologies.
(Sec. 6) Directs the GAO to evaluate TSA's testing and evaluation process relating to security-related technology.
(Sec. 7) Requires this Act to be carried out using amounts otherwise available. Declares that no additional appropriations are authorized to carry out this Act.
People & committees
Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH] · R–NH
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 599.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-274.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-274.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1893 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1893 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1893 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1893 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.