[Pages H1198-H1201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PASSPORT SYSTEM REFORM AND BACKLOG PREVENTION ACT

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 6610) to provide for the modernization of the passport
issuance process, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 6610

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Passport
System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 4. Standards for passport issuance process.
Sec. 5. Enhanced information technology solutions to improve the
passport issuance process.
Sec. 6. Research on commercially available information technology
solutions.
Sec. 7. GAO Report.
Sec. 8. Rule of construction.
Sec. 9. Definitions.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States
experienced a major backlog of passport applications and
passport processing wait times of up to 13 weeks, exclusive
of shipping times.
(2) Over the past several years, the Department has
experienced repeated delays in its attempts to modernize the
passport issuance process.
(3) The adoption of additional commercially available
information technology solutions at several stages of the
passport issuance process could greatly enhance and
accelerate such process.
(4) The United States passport is a widely recognized and
trusted identity and travel document that is of tremendous
importance to its bearer around the globe.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) as a routine matter, an adult who has submitted a
routine new or renewal passport application should be
reliably able to expect that such application will be
adjudicated by

[[Page H1199]]

the Department, at a reasonable cost, in a time frame which
is conducive to international travel;
(2) the Department should seek to further modernize and
streamline the passport issuance process to enable a decrease
in processing times below pre-pandemic levels of six-to-eight
weeks, specifically for routine adult passport renewals with
respect to which the Department should seek to decrease
average processing times to less than 30 days; and
(3) the Department should take all reasonable steps,
including the use of available technology and best practices,
to protect the integrity of the passport issuance process,
the privacy of passport holders, and the efficiency of
processing passport issuance requests.

SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR PASSPORT ISSUANCE PROCESS.

In administering and modernizing the passport issuance
process, the Assistant Secretary shall evaluate the
performance of such process against the following criteria:
(1) To maintain a service standard of processing a routine
new or renewal adult passport application from document
submission until mailing of final documents in an expeditious
and reliable timeframe.
(2) To maintain affordable passport fees and surcharges.
(3) To ensure world-class technical, security, and
cybersecurity standards for United States passports and the
passport issuance process.
(4) To minimize downtime for the Travel Document Issuance
System.
(5) To minimize the suspense rate resulting from
typographical, clerical, or picture-based errors, including
by enabling such suspensions to be resolved electronically.
(6) To provide a streamlined customer experience for
passport applicants.
(7) To provide reasonably convenient passport services to
United States citizens and nationals living a significant
distance from a passport agency, particularly residents in a
significant population center more than a 5-hour drive from a
passport agency.

SEC. 5. ENHANCED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE
THE PASSPORT ISSUANCE PROCESS.

(a) In General.--The Assistant Secretary, in consultation
with the Chief Information Officer, shall implement the
information technology solutions described in subsection (b)
in accordance with the timelines described in such
subsection.
(b) Enhanced Information Technology Solutions and Timelines
Described.--The enhanced information technology solutions and
timelines described in this subsection are the following:
(1) Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with
the Chief Information Officer, shall, including if necessary
through the awarding of a contract or expanding an existing,
establish a tool to enable congressional offices to monitor
the status of individual passport applications being handled
as casework by such offices.
(2)(A) Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in
consultation with the Chief Information Officer, shall take
all reasonable steps, including if necessary the awarding of
a contract for the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a
service to provide to passport applicants automated,
voluntary proactive communications, by email or text message,
for each progress point in the passport issuance process, and
for the notification of application errors, and delivery of
mail tracking numbers, and reminders of renewal eligibility.
(B) Applicants shall be provided the choice of whether to
use the services described in subparagraph (A) and data
gained as a result of participation in such services shall
not be transferred to any third party outside the Department
or its contract awardees.
(C) The services described in subparagraph (A) shall
provide separate options for email and text message
notification, as well as separate options for processing-
related notifications and renewal eligibility notifications.
(3)(A) Consistent with the Bureau's modernization plans and
timelines, and subject to the availability of funds, the
Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the Chief
Information Officer, shall seek to enter into a contract or
contracts as appropriate, for the establishment and
maintenance of a mobile application to allow for the
centralization of applicant communication with the
Department, including document submission, application status
tracking, virtual appointments, access to the notification of
application errors, and allowing for passport holders to
receive messages from the Department and communicate
emergencies to the Department.
(B) The Assistant Secretary shall provide each passport
applicant with the option of whether to use the mobile
application described in subparagraph (A) or another service
of the Department.
(C) As a condition for awarding any contracts described in
subparagraph (A), the awardee shall demonstrate that it can
begin tests on the solution within one year of the award of
the contract and complete implementation, including bug
fixes, cybersecurity audits, and customer service testing,
not later than two years from the award of the contract.
(4)(A) Consistent with existing law, the Assistant
Secretary, in consultation with the Chief Information
Officer, shall expand the online passport renewal system,
including to accommodate electronic acceptance of routine
first-time adult applications as applicable, in addition to
adult renewal applications in sufficient volume to be able to
accommodate most applications by the date that is four years
from the date of enactment of this Act.
(B) Planning carried out to implement subparagraph (A)
shall prepare the Bureau to verify applications without
recourse to the information gained through appearance in
person described in section 1 of the Act of June 15, 1917 (22
U.S.C. 213), subject to any additional authorities required.
(C) To meet the objectives described in subparagraphs (A)
and (B), the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the
Chief Information Officer, shall, to the maximum extent
practicable, make use of commercially-available technology
solutions, including by seeking to enter into a contract or
contracts for the expansion and maintenance of the online
passport renewal system to accommodate the functionality
described in such subparagraphs.
(D) In expanding the online passport renewal system
pursuant to subparagraph (C), the following services should
be included or otherwise accounted for:
(i) A customer-friendly, user-friendly internet website or
portal to facilitate internet-based submission of passport
applications by adults.
(ii) To the extent possible, remote document verification
tools and infrastructure, to allow for a passport transaction
to be completed entirely remotely.
(iii) To the extent possible, information technology
infrastructure not already maintained by the Department.
(5)(A) The Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the
Chief Information Officer, shall take all reasonable steps
and to the maximum extent practicable make use of
commercially-available technology solutions to implement
additional rules-based tools, including by seeking to enter
into a contract or contracts for such tools and their
maintenance, to adjudicate online passport renewal
applications in which no biographical information was changed
for citizenship, identity, and entitlement against internal
and commercial databases.
(B) The tools described in subparagraph (A) shall be fully
operational within 4 years of the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(C) The Chief Information Officer shall ensure that the use
of the tools do not make passport adjudication more
vulnerable to cyberattack.
(D) The Assistant Secretary, in consultation with the Chief
Information Officer, shall ensure that the tools described in
subparagraph (A) are implemented consistent with the
maintenance of standards appropriate to ensuring the
integrity of the United States passport.
(E) For purposes of using the tools described in
subparagraph (A), the requirement that a passport be issued
by the personnel described in the first section of the Act
entitled ``An Act to regulate the issue and validity of
passports, and for other purposes'', approved July 3, 1926
(22 U.S.C. 211a), shall be satisfied provided that such
personnel oversee the tools described in such subparagraph
consistent with the requirements in subparagraph (D).
(c) Certification.--In addition to other requirements in
this section, not later than 30 days before the Assistant
Secretary begins work to procure internally any of the
information technology solutions described in subsection (b),
the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the Chief
Information Officer, shall certify to the appropriate
congressional committees that--
(1) the reasons for procuring such service internally;
(2) the Bureau has sufficient capacity to implement and
maintain such services; and
(3) the Bureau cannot procure such services for
significantly reduced cost externally.
(d) Preference.--In procuring and implementing the
information technology solutions described in subsection (b),
preference should be given to entities with the technical
expertise necessary for the project and capacity to deliver
timely solutions.
(e) Role of Chief Information Officer.--
(1) In general.--The Chief Information Officer's
concurrence shall be required before the Assistant Secretary
awards a contract pursuant to this section.
(2) Relating to systems.--With respect to the contracting
and implementation of the systems described in subsection
(b), the Chief Information Officer shall have--
(A) final decision making authority on the technical
feasibility and specifications, cybersecurity requirements,
compatibility with existing Department information technology
infrastructure, and the feasibility of timelines from a
technical standpoint; and
(B) final approval of all technical matters before full
implementation.
(3) Evaluation of proposals.--In selecting the services
described in subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary and the
Chief Information Officer shall include in the criteria for
selection--
(A) the ability of the proposal to maintain security,
including the cybersecurity, standards appropriate to the
United States passport and to protect personally identifiable
information;
(B) scalability to accommodate current and future passport
demand; and
(C) long-term viability and upgradability.
(f) Interim Action Plan.--

[[Page H1200]]

(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in
consultation with the Chief Information Officer, shall submit
to the appropriate congressional committees an action plan on
how the Bureau plans to complete the modernization described
in this section in conjunction with other related, ongoing
steps to modernize the passport issuance process.
(2) Elements.--The action plan required by paragraph (1)
shall include the following elements:
(A) Progress made on implementing the information
technology solutions described in subsection (b) within
specific timelines, and additional steps planned.
(B) The expected cost and timeline for implementation of
the information technology solutions described in subsection
(b).
(C) An evaluation of the information technology solutions
described in subsection (b) to determine whether the full
implementation of such solutions will require additional
funding or authorities, including budget estimates and a
description of such authorities, as appropriate.
(D) Efforts to ensure world-class cybersecurity standards
for protection of passport applicant data and the passport
issuance process infrastructure, particularly such
infrastructure involved in adjudication of passport
applications.
(E) Other specific planned steps that the Bureau will take
to achieve the criteria described in section 4.
(g) Final Report.--Not later than 4 years after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in
consultation with the Chief Information Officer, shall submit
to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the
following:
(1) Progress on each information technology solution
described in subsection (b).
(2) Additional information technology solutions the Bureau
intends to adopt.
(3) Changes in the cost for implementation of the steps
described in the action plan, if applicable.
(h) Form.--The plans and report required by this section
shall be submitted in an unclassified form and may include a
classified annex, if necessary.

SEC. 6. RESEARCH ON COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the enactment
of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with
the Chief Information Officer, shall establish a working
group of appropriate Department employees, and contractors as
appropriate, to liaise with the private sector for the
purposes of identifying commercially available technologies
that may be adopted by the Bureau to advance the criteria
described in section 4, evaluating proposed technological
solutions, and augmenting the Bureau's ongoing modernization
efforts.
(b) Composition.--The working group established pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be composed of personnel who can consult
on the policy, legal, and technical aspects of the passport
issuance process with entities that wish to provide such
technologies to the Department.
(c) Pilot Projects.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the working group established
pursuant to subsection (a) should consider piloting not fewer
than three commercial information technology systems with
potential to accelerate the passport renewal process, reduce
the backlog of requests, and backup legacy systems with
cloud-based software solutions.
(d) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in
coordination with the Chief Information Officer, shall submit
to the appropriate congressional committees a report--
(1) describing the usefulness of the working group to the
Department's ongoing modernization efforts and its reception
by private sector actors;
(2) containing a summary of each proposal made to the
working group pursuant to this section and whether the
Secretary intends to adopt each proposal;
(3) providing recommendations to scale successful
solutions.

SEC. 7. GAO REPORT.

(a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United
States shall conduct a comprehensive review of the passport
issuance process, including--
(1) the Bureau's goals for timeliness of passport issuance,
the basis for such goals, and its performance compared to
those goals;
(2) key factors affecting timeliness of passport issuance
and the extent to which the Bureau has addressed those
factors;
(3) key factors affecting the implementation of
technological solutions by the Bureau;
(4) the Bureau's efforts to implement the Travel Document
Issuance System (TDIS) and other related information
technology systems that support the passport issuance process
with a focus on--
(A) whether the Bureau is following leading practices for
developing, acquiring, and overseeing related system and
infrastructure investments and leveraging existing
technologies where appropriate;
(B) whether the program has the workforce to resolve
technical issues within the systems; and
(C) identifying any vulnerabilities and limitations of the
system that may impact performance, including single points
of failure;
(5) opportunities to streamline, expedite, and otherwise
enhance the Bureau's passport issuance processes, including
opportunities to reduce costs in the passport issuance
process;
(6) opportunities to partner with other Federal and State
agencies and leverage existing United States Government
information sources, such as biometric databases, in support
of the application and identity verification and resolution
components of the passport issuance process; and
(7) other matters as the Comptroller General may deem
appropriate.
(b) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall--
(1) brief the appropriate congressional committees on the
review required by subsection (a); and
(2) submit a final report upon completion of such review.
(c) Recommendations Implementation Report.--Not later than
one year after the date on which the report required by
subsection (b)(2) is submitted, the Assistant Secretary and
the Chief Information Officer shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report on progress toward
resolution of each recommendation made in the report required
by such subsection and planned steps that will be taken to
resolve each recommendation.

SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

Nothing in this Act may be construed as an offer to procure
a service or services or as a guarantee of a contract for
such services.

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act--
(1) the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate;
(2) the term ``Assistant Secretary'' means the Assistant
Secretary of State for Consular Affairs;
(3) except as otherwise provided, the term ``Bureau'' means
the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Department;
(4) the term ``Chief Information Officer'' means the Chief
Information Officer of the Bureau;
(5) except as otherwise provided, the term ``Department''
means the Department of State;
(6) the term ``passport issuance process''--
(A) means all steps of passport issuance for a new passport
or renewal of a passport, as appropriate, from the
applicant's submission of documents through document
processing and application adjudication to mailing of printed
passports; and
(B) includes--
(i) the passport application submission, which includes--

(I) the portion of the passport issuance process from and
including passport acceptance by a passport acceptance agent
until documents are received by the Department; and
(II) payment processing and mail shipping times; and

(ii) the passport application processing, which includes
the portion of the passport issuance process from the
reception of completed applications and their distribution to
passport agencies for adjudication until finished passports
and application documents are mailed to applicants; and
(7) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of State.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Missouri.

General Leave

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Issa), who is the author of this bill.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I will try not to take more time than is
necessary for a bipartisan bill that has broad support, but I do rise
today in support of H.R. 6610, the Passport System Reform and Backlog
Prevention Act.
I became the author of this bill not in the usual way as a member of
the Foreign Affairs Committee, but actually as a man who has three
constituent service personnel who spend a great deal of their time
dealing with the fact that when a backlog becomes pervasive, what ends
up happening is every passport renewal becomes an emergency, and it
becomes an expedited payment. It becomes, in short, a problem that
should not have happened.

[[Page H1201]]

We certainly understand that during COVID there were a number of
problems. One of them was the State Department had never prepared for
being able to, in any remote way, process passports. So during that
time, the backlog became understandably immense.
Be that as it may, in the several years since COVID has passed, the
backlog has continued, and it has never reached an acceptable point for
the American people.
Even today, Mr. Speaker, when you surrender a passport for renewal,
you have no idea whether it will be weeks or even months before you get
one. Most people are advised to pay the expedited fee. In fact, the
expedited fee seldom gives them the speed that was intended.
We have talked to several countries, if you will, not necessarily our
peers, but countries that have the same challenges we have. Britain,
Japan, and Australia routinely reauthorize within a matter of days
while we take a 5- to 8-week turnaround.
That is unacceptable. We are the country that effectively created the
computer, created automation, and created the ability for something as
mundane as adding a new picture to a previously issued passport. We
should and could beat this.
The modernization is the first since the days of the early modem, the
item that made sound and certainly could transport only a small amount
of information.
Congressional intervention is needed. The State Department
understands that, and for that reason, we have five basic principles in
this, the most important of which is that we ask for private-sector
techniques to be used and, in fact, for the State Department to work
with the private sector that is more than capable of creating a faster
system. In fact, some American companies are processing passports for
other countries.
Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WILD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6610.
As we all recall, the State Department experienced an unprecedented
level of demand for passports after a global slowdown in travel during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our constituents were frustrated by the
significant processing wait times they faced in securing their
passports.
As this bill moved through the Foreign Affairs Committee, we were
pleased to learn that the State Department had achieved prepandemic
passport processing times again. Nonetheless, the work we must
undertake going forward is to ensure that the Bureau of Consular
Affairs and other relevant department entities have the tools,
analysis, and resources that they need to sustain ups and downs in
consular demand. The State Department is already working to modernize
and streamline its passport processing, and this legislation supports
those efforts.
This bill, as amended by the Foreign Affairs Committee, will further
modernize passport processing through a range of important mechanisms.
We must not saddle the department with unfunded mandates or inefficient
solutions.
Congress must offer guidance and support to ensure that the State
Department can get the job of modernization done. Americans deserve the
best practices and smartest technologies to inform the department's
provision of consular services.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to partner with my colleagues in Congress,
at the State Department, and beyond to advance this objective.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, the unprecedented demand for passports
postpandemic created significant backlogs at the Department of State
and frustratingly long passport processing times. I am glad that those
processing times are now back at prepandemic levels and that the State
Department's consular bureau is already modernizing its passport
processing.
Be that as it may, it is our responsibility to ensure that the
department has what it needs to handle any future shifts in demand.
This bill will ensure that American travelers can always count on
efficient and reliable passport services by integrating cutting-edge
practices and technologies into our consular services.
Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting H.R.
6610, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have worked with Mr. Issa and our Foreign
Affairs colleagues to bring this bill before the House today.
H.R. 6610 modernizes processing capabilities at the State
Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. That means new performance
standards for issuing passports, new tools for our caseworkers to track
our constituents' passport requests, and new text and email
notifications for Americans throughout the whole passport process so
they know where their applications stand and how much longer the
process is likely to take.
Finally, H.R. 6610 requires the State Department to expand the online
passport renewal system so that Americans can apply for and get the
travel documents they need as efficiently as possible.
I commend Representative Issa for prodding the State Department to
adopt the best commercially available technology solutions. The private
sector has much to offer that will reduce wait times and streamline
bureaucracy at the State Department.
I also thank Chairman McCaul, Ranking Member Meeks, and the
bipartisan members of the Foreign Affairs Committee who voted
unanimously for this bill during the committee markup.
The American people deserve a more responsive passport process when
they seek to exercise their right to travel. For that reason, H.R. 6610
deserves our unanimous support.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Edwards). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6610, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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