(a)  Review of Contractor Earned Value Management Systems.⁠—The Administrator shall enter into an arrangement with an independent entity under which that entity shall⁠—

(1)  review and validate whether the earned value management systems of contractors of the Administration for life extension programs meet the earned value management national standard; and

(2)  conduct periodic surveillance reviews of such systems to ensure that such systems maintain compliance with that standard through program completion.

(b)  Benchmarks for Technology Readiness Levels.⁠—The Administrator shall⁠—

(1)  establish specific benchmarks for technology readiness levels of critical technologies for life extension programs at key decision points; and

(2)  ensure that critical technologies meet such benchmarks at such decision points.

(c)  Applicability.⁠—This section shall apply to programs that, as of January 1, 2021, have not entered phase 3 of the nuclear weapons acquisition process or phase 6.3 of a nuclear weapons life extension program.

(d)  Definition.⁠—In this section, the term “earned value management national standard” means the most recent version of the EIA-748 Earned Value Management System Standard published by the National Defense Industrial Association.