PATHS Act

This section would let the Act be called the Producing Advanced Technologies for Homeland Security Act or the PATHS Act.

This section would extend the Department of Homeland Security's research and development acquisition pilot program under section 831 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The other transaction contracting authority under that pilot program, currently set to expire on September 30, 2024, would instead expire on September 30, 2028, and the authority would remain subject to the conditions in a renumbered subsection of section 831 (the cross-reference would change from subsection (d) to subsection (c)). A separate September 30, 2024 date in section 831(c)(1) would also be extended to September 30, 2028. This section would add a new notification requirement: within 72 hours after the Department uses or extends this other transaction authority for a matter involving artificial intelligence technology, the Secretary of Homeland Security must notify the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the House Committee on Homeland Security, and must offer those committees a briefing explaining the reason for the use or extension. Finally, this section would reduce the dollar amount that defines a covered contract award under section 7113(d)(1)(A) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, lowering the threshold from $4,000,000 to $1,000,000.