§312 Alternative Timing System

Summary

If money is provided, the Secretary of Transportation must create, run, and keep a strong backup timing system. The goal is to lower reliance on GPS timing and to give uncorrupted timing signals for military and civilian users if GPS is wrong, weak, or unavailable. Within 180 days after the 2018 Act, the Secretary must set buying rules for the system using the earlier timing study. The backup system must be wireless and land‑based, cover large areas, match coordinated universal time (UTC), be hard to jam or break, work inside buildings and underground, be sent to remote places, use private‑sector know‑how, work with other navigation systems, be able to grow to give position and navigation, include lessons from any prior demo program, and be available for public use by federal and non‑federal users at no net cost to the federal government within 10 years of starting operation. The Secretary must send Congress a plan and an assessment within 180 days. The system must be up and running within 2 years of the Act and designed to operate for at least 20 years. If needed, the Coast Guard must transfer any LORAN sites, property, or radio spectrum to Transportation. The Secretary may make a competitive cooperative deal with a private group to build and run the system at private cost. That deal can let the group sell services (with any national security limits), must have the group cover financial risk and post bonds, and must make the group share 25% of gross sales with the Secretary for at least 10 years. The Secretary cannot buy services from the group until the system is operational and money is approved each year. The private partner must be a non‑federal entity with the needed skills and funds, and the Secretary must find the deal is in the government's best financial interest and notify Congress within 30 days.