§312 — Title 49 Transportation | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must, if money is available, create and run a strong, reliable backup timing system to complement GPS. Within 180 days the Secretary must set procurement rules and send Congress a plan and an assessment. The system must be working no later than 2 years after the law passed and be designed to run for at least 20 years. The backup should be wireless, land-based, cover large areas, match Coordinated Universal Time, be hard to jam or break, reach underground and inside buildings, go to remote places, use private-sector expertise, work with other navigation systems, be able to add position and navigation services, and be available for federal and non-federal public use at no net cost to the federal government within 10 years. It must also include lessons from any prior GPS backup tests. If the Secretary needs Coast Guard LORAN sites, spectrum, or equipment for the system, the Coast Guard must transfer them to the Department of Transportation. The Secretary may make a cooperative agreement with a non-federal partner that has the technical and financial ability to build and run the system. That partner may sell timing services (subject to national security limits). The partner must pay 25% of gross sales to the Secretary for at least 10 years, fund the system’s construction and future technology upgrades, assume financial risk once any needed LORAN assets are provided, and provide performance and payment bonds. The partner must be chosen through a competitive process. The government may not buy services from the partner until the system is operational and funds are approved each year. The Secretary must decide the deal is in the best financial interest of the government and notify Congress within 30 days. This does not change section 120(h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9620(h)).

Title 49, §312

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of Transportation shall provide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of a resilient,11 So in original. The comma probably should not appear. and reliable alternative timing system—

(1)to reduce critical dependencies and provide a complement to and backup for the timing component of the Global Positioning System (referred to in this section as “GPS”); and

(2)to ensure the availability of uncorrupted and non-degraded timing signals for military and civilian users in the event that GPS timing signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or otherwise unavailable.

(b)(1)Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish requirements for the procurement of the system required by subsection (a) as a complement to and backup for the timing component of GPS in accordance with the timing requirements study required by section 1618 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 130 Stat. 2595).

(2)The Secretary of Transportation shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the system established under subsection (a) will—

(A)be wireless;

(B)be terrestrial;

(C)provide wide-area coverage;

(D)be synchronized with coordinated universal time;

(E)be resilient and extremely difficult to disrupt or degrade;

(F)be able to penetrate underground and inside buildings;

(G)be capable of deployment to remote locations;

(H)be developed, constructed, and operated incorporating applicable private sector expertise;

(I)work in concert with and complement any other similar positioning, navigation, and timing systems, including enhanced long-range navigation systems and Nationwide Differential GPS systems;

(J)be available for use by Federal and non-Federal government agencies for public purposes at no net cost to the Federal Government within 10 years of initiation of operation;

(K)be capable of adaptation and expansion to provide position and navigation capabilities;

(L)incorporate the recommendations from any GPS back-up demonstration program initiated and completed by the Secretary, in coordination with other Federal agencies, before the date specified in subsection (c)(1); and

(M)incorporate such other elements as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(c)(1)Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report setting forth the following:

(A)A plan to develop, construct, and operate the system required by subsection (a).

(B)A description and assessment of the advantages of a system to provide a follow-on complementary and backup positioning and navigation capability to the timing component of GPS.

(2)The system required by subsection (a) shall be in operation by not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018.

(3)The system required by subsection (a) shall be designed to be fully operational for not less than 20 years.

(d)(1)If the Secretary of Transportation determines that any LORAN infrastructure, including the underlying real property and any spectrum associated with LORAN, in the possession of the Coast Guard is required by the Department of Transportation for the purpose of establishing the system required by subsection (a), the Commandant shall transfer such property, spectrum, and equipment to the Secretary.

(2)This subsection shall not be construed to limit the application of or otherwise affect section 120(h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9620(h)) with respect to the Federal Government facilities described in paragraph (1).

(e)(1)The Secretary of Transportation may enter into a cooperative agreement (as that term is described in section 6305 of title 31) with an entity upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary of Transportation determines will fulfill the purpose and requirements of this section and be in the public interest.

(2)The cooperative agreement under paragraph (1) shall, at a minimum, require the Secretary of Transportation to—

(A)authorize the entity to sell timing and other services to commercial and non-commercial third parties, subject to any national security requirements determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense;

(B)require the entity to develop, construct, and operate at private expense the backup timing system in accordance with this section;

(C)allow the entity to make any investments in technologies necessary over the life of such agreement to meet future requirements for advanced timing resilience and technologies;

(D)require the entity to share 25 percent of the gross proceeds received by the entity from the sale of timing services to third parties with the Secretary for at least 10 years after the date upon which the Secretary enters into the cooperative agreement;

(E)require the entity—

(i)to assume all financial risk for the completion and operational capability of the system, after the Secretary provides any LORAN facilities necessary for the system under subsection (d), if required for the alternative timing system; and

(ii)to furnish performance and payment bonds in connection with the system in a reasonable amount as determined by the Secretary; and

(F)require the entity to make any investments in technologies necessary over the life of the agreement to meet future requirements for advanced timing resiliency.

(3)The Secretary shall use competitive procedures similar to those authorized under section 2667 of title 10 in selecting an entity to enter into a cooperative agreement pursuant to this subsection.

(4)The Secretary may not purchase timing system services from the entity for use by the Department of Transportation or for provision to other Federal and non-Federal governmental agencies until the system achieves operational status, and then only if the necessary funds for such purchases are provided for in subsequent yearly appropriations acts made available to the Secretary for each and every year in which such purchases are made.

(5)The Secretary may not enter into a cooperative agreement under this subsection unless the Secretary determines that the cooperative agreement is in the best financial interest of the Federal Government. The Secretary shall notify the Committee on Committee on 22 So in original. Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives of such determination not later than 30 days after the date of the determination.

(6)In this subsection the term “entity” means a non-Federal entity with the demonstrated technical expertise and requisite administrative and financial resources to meet any terms and conditions established by the Secretary for purposes of this subsection.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1) and (c)(1), (2), is the date of enactment of section 514 of Pub. L. 115–282, which was approved Dec. 4, 2018. section 1618 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), is section 1618 of Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title XVI, Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2595, which is not classified to the Code.

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–103 struck out “land-based,” after “operation of a”. 2021—Pub. L. 116–283 made technical correction to directory language of Pub. L. 115–282, § 514(b), which enacted this section.

Effective Date

of 2021 Amendment section 8507(d) of div. G of Pub. L. 116–283 effective as if included in Pub. L. 115–282, see section 8507(d)(7) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note under section 1226 of Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

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For

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of section 514 of Pub. L. 115–282, which enacted this section, as the “National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018”, see section 514(a) of Pub. L. 115–282, set out as a

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of 2018 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.

§312 Alternative timing system

Summary

Title 49, §312

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

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