Last month, Rep Gonzales (R,TX) introduced HR 4818, the National Digital Reserve Corps Act. The bill would establish within the General Services Administration (GSA) a ‘National Digital Reserve Corps’, to help address the digital and cybersecurity needs of Executive agencies. The bill would add a new Chapter 103 to 5 USC. The bill would authorize $30 million for this new program. This bill would establish a more extensive organization than the one envisioned in either HR 2894 or S 1324.
Definitions
The new §10301 would provide the definition of key terms for this new chapter. The four definitions provided are purely administrative terms. There are no definitions of the technical terms like ‘cybersecurity needs’ used in the bill.
National Digital Reserve Corps
Section 10302 would establish the NDRC. The GSA would be required to develop guidance for the NDRC within six months of the enactment of this bill. It would include procedures for coordinating with Executive agencies to:
Identify digital and cybersecurity needs which may be addressed by the National Digital Reserve Corps, and
Assign active reservists to address such needs.
The GSA would be responsible for:
Establishing standards for serving as a reservist, including educational attainment, professional qualifications, and background checks,
Ensure those standards are met,
Recruit individuals to the National Digital Reserve Corps, and
Activate and deactivate reservists as necessary.
GSA would contract with personnel to become reservists for a three-year period. Those reservists would be required to perform at least 30 days of duty as an active reservist each year. Their pay would be limited to $10,000 per year. While serving as an active reservist they would be considered to be a special Government employee as that term is defined in 18 USC 202. This would limit their time as an active reservist to 130 days during a one-year period.
The GSA would be authorized to “pay for reservists to acquire training and receive continuing education, including attending conferences and seminars and obtaining certifications, that will enable reservists to more effectively meet the digital and cybersecurity needs of Executive agencies.”
Moving Forward
While Gonzales is not a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, one of his five cosponsors {Rep Kelly (D,IL)} is a member. That means that it is possible that there is sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. While I see nothing in this bill that would engender any specific organized opposition, it seems to me that there could be a lack of support for the bill due to some missing critical provisions (see my commentary). I am not sure if this bill could pass, as written, in Committee.
I will have to wait and see how the bill performs (and/or is amended) in Committee before I can make any prognostications on how it might move to the floor of the House for consideration.
Commentary
The two earlier bills limited the cyber reserve corps to a pilot program in DHS and DOD. This bill skips the pilot stage and is expanded to the whole of the executive branch.
This bill does contain some of the language from S 1324 pertaining to protection of job rights by the Department of Labor for when a reservist is called up to active reserve status. What is missing from this bill that is found in both of the other bills is the prohibition of military reservists from serving in the NDRC.
The more important problem with this bill is the pay limitation set forth in the bill. With the 130-day service limit imposed by 18 USC 202, the $10,000 pay limit works out to $9.62 per hour (based upon an 8-hour day). That is hardly an incentive for someone to give up their civilian pay for short-time work. The paid training should help off-set that, but a bigger incentive may be to provide for repayment of student loans. Another option may be to provide for hiring preferences for reservists after completing their service commitment.