6 U.S.C. § 321i — Use of commercially available technology, goods, and services

This section is a "sense of Congress" statement. That means it expresses Congress's opinion, not a command backed by legal force. (1) Congress believes the Secretary should use off-the-shelf commercial technology as much as possible. The goal is to make sure the Department's information technology systems can collect, manage, share, analyze, and disseminate information securely, over many different channels of communication. (2) Congress also believes the Secretary should buy the goods and services the Department needs from commercial companies, rather than having the government provide them itself. The reason given is a broader U.S. policy: the government should try not to compete commercially with private businesses.