This bill would require the Secretary of State to tell Congress before moving forward with certain embassy or consulate construction projects that use a nonstandard design. It says the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations should, when possible, start new embassies and consulates with a standard design and keep customization low. For any covered project using a nonstandard design, the Secretary must send a notice at least 15 days before obligating funds. The notice must include: (1) a comparison of estimated full lifecycle cost to the cost if a standard design were used; (2) a comparison of the estimated completion date to the date if a standard design were used; (3) a comparison of the security of the completed project to the security if a standard design were used; (4) a justification for choosing a nonstandard design; and (5) documentation supporting items (1)–(4) or an explanation why the documentation cannot be provided. The notice must go to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Appropriations Committee, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee. A "covered project" means building a new United States embassy compound or a new United States consulate compound, including projects already in design or pre-design on the bill's enactment date.
If you follow how the State Department builds embassies and consulates, this bill creates a new step where Congress gets written comparisons and a justification before funds are committed for any nonstandard design. It applies only to new embassy or consulate compounds and includes projects already in early design phases when the bill becomes law.
The bill requires the Secretary to include an estimated full lifecycle cost comparison in the notice, but it does not list any specific cost amounts or change funding rules. No publicly available information on actual budget amounts, net savings, or wider fiscal effects is provided in the bill text or metadata.
The bill text expresses the sense of Congress that the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations should give appropriate consideration to standardization so new embassies and consulates start with a standard design and limit customization. Proponents, as reflected in the bill, require advance congressional notification and comparisons when a nonstandard design is chosen.
No publicly available information.