The legislators of the House of Representatives advanced an annual defense policy bill of $ 892.6 million, which includes billions of dollars for military construction, and would make changes related to hiring for 2026.
The bill, entitled Rationalization of the contract for the effective law of execution and delivery and authorization of the national defense for 2026, authorizes $ 18.89 billion in military construction, including $ 2.2 billion for army projects, $ 6.6 billion for Navy projects and $ 3.96 billion for Air Force projects. The largest pieces of the spending package include $ 1.6 billion to work at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, a billion dollars for Portsmouth Naval Tyard in Maine and $ 500 million for NSA Texas.
“The FY26 NDAA cuts the Red Ribbon, the rationalization of bureaucracy and the reference to the acquisition of its most important mission: to get our warriors need when they need it,” said representative Mike Rogers (R-AA.), President of the Chamber’s Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
In addition to the dozens of Army, Marine and Air Force projects, the bill authorizes funding for the National Guard and Reserve facilities, military family housing, international programs and other works, as well as expanding the authority for projects ongoing of previous years.
The bill initially erased the service committee armed for a 55-2 vote with bipartisan support, but finally approved 231-196 with only 17 Democrats voting in favor after legislators made numerous modifications to the chamber plant, including some related to transgender people who used bathrooms or sports. Ranking member representative Adam Smith (D-Wash) said in a statement that the Committee focused on meeting national security and defense needs, but Republican leadership “left this tradition honored in time and a strong bipartisan work, placing politics over the needs of our troops and our national security.”
“They included countless partisan amendments that sought to score points in a right-wing cultural war instead of focusing on the real needs of our service members and their families,” Smith said. “And they refused to include significant modifications offered by Democrats, silencing the debate on critical issues, including the politicization of the Trump administration of our military and executive overcoming that threatens our constitutional democracy, which reduces the authority of Congress.”
Changes in hiring
The bill would direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a goal each year for participation in DOD contracts by small companies owned and controlled by veterans to increase contracting opportunities. Contracting officials could overcome competitive procedures if this contractor is determined that it is a responsible source with respect to the performance and the expected price will not exceed the amounts established in the Law of Small Business.
He would also transfer the authority on the military construction projects of the army and navy secretaries and his respective chief of engineers and commander of Navfac, to a “military department or unp about specified government agency” approved by the Secretary of Defense.
“The defense acquisition company will mainly reform,” said Rogers.
A provision is the authority to use progressive design design contracts for military construction projects. He directs the Secretary of Defense to present annual reports to the Congress on the use of progressive design construction, along with the contract data, scheduled, performed or provided for cost savings, challenges and mitigation efforts.
The bill directs the Navy officials to carry out a ten -year pilot program with small modular reactors or mobile reactors, with a focus on the Middle Atlantic region.
Another pilot program led by the bill will focus on the use of additive construction technologies (3D printing) in the army facilities. Under the pilot, officials would generate one or more standardized designs for family homes and build them in a multiple facility or facilities.
The legislators added numerous modifications to the house of the house. One, added by the Brad Finsad (R-Minn) representative, would authorize the use of contracts for cost-plaus incentive incentives for construction projects associated with the Navy’s dollarship shipping ship’s shipping ship optimization program. SIOP focuses on the modernization of naval shipyards, including some infrastructures that date back to the 19th century.
A modification of the Austin Scott (R-Ga Companies should share the number of military veterans in the United States who have hired in the previous three years, and the number of these veterans was kept 12 and 24 months later. Dissemination would be publicly available through the federal contracting data system or another government database.
Senators also introduced a version of the National Defense Authorization Act. His bill is still pending voting.
