“The FY26 NDAA cuts red tape, streamlines bureaucracy, and refocuses acquisition on its most important mission: getting our warfighters what they need when they need it,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement. 

In addition to the dozens of Army, Navy and Air Force projects, the bill authorizes funding for National Guard and Reserve facilities, military family housing, international programs and other works, as well as extending authority for ongoing projects from prior fiscal years. 

The bill initially cleared the Armed Services Committee by a 55-2 vote with bipartisan support, but ultimately passed 231-196 with just 17 Democrats voting in favor after lawmakers introduced numerous amendments on the House floor, including some relating to transgender people using restrooms or playing sports. Ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), said in a statement that the committee focused on meeting national security and defense needs, but Republican leadership “cast aside that time-honored tradition and strong bipartisan work, placing politics above the needs of our troops and our national security.”

“They included countless partisan amendments that sought to score points in a right-wing culture war rather than focus on the real needs of our service members and their families,” Smith said. “And they refused to include meaningful amendments offered by Democrats, silencing debate of critical issues including the Trump administration’s politicization of our military and executive overreach that threatens our constitutional democracy, which undermines the authority of the Congress.”

Contracting Changes

The bill would direct the Defense secretary to establish a goal each year for participation in DOD contracts by small businesses owned and controlled by veterans in order to increase contracting opportunities for them. Contracting officers would be allowed to bypass competitive procedures if such a contractor is determined to be a responsible source with respect to performance, and the anticipated price will not exceed amounts established in the Small Business Act. 

It would also move authority over military construction projects from the Army and Navy secretaries, and their respective chief of engineers and NAVFAC commander, to an unspecified “military department or government agency” approved by the Defense secretary. 

“It will fundamentally reform the defense acquisition enterprise,” Rogers said.

One provision deals with the authority to use progressive design-build contracts for military construction projects. It directs the Defense secretary to submit annual reports to Congress about the use of progressive design-build, along with contract details, scheduled, realized or anticipated cost savings, challenges encountered and mitigation efforts. 

The bill directs Navy officials to carry out a 10-year pilot program using small modular reactors or mobile reactors, with a focus on the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Another pilot program directed by the bill would focus on the use of additive construction technologies—3D printing—at Army installations. Under the pilot, officials would generate one or more standardized designs for family housing, and build them at an installation or multiple installations. 

Lawmakers added numerous amendments on the House floor. One, added by Rep. Brad Finstad (R-Minn.) would authorize the use of cost-plus incentive fee contracts for construction projects associated with the Navy’s multibillion-dollar Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program. SIOP is focused on modernizing naval shipyards, including some infrastructure dating as far back as the 19th century. 

An amendment from Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) requires the Defense secretary to develop a standardized disclosure schedule for contracts and subcontracts valued at $5 million or more, or contracts with organizations with annual revenue of $1 billion or more. Firms would need to share the number of U.S. military veterans they have hired in the previous three years, and the number of those veterans retained 12 and 24 months later. The disclosures would be publicly available through the Federal Procurement Data System or another government database.