(a) Audits Required.—For purposes of satisfying the requirement under section 3521(e) of title 31 for audits of financial statements of Department of Defense components identified by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under section 3515(c) of such title, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense shall obtain each year audits of the financial statements of each such component by an independent external auditor.

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(b) Selection of Auditors.—The selection of independent external auditors for purposes of subsection (a) shall be based, among other appropriate criteria, on their qualifications, independence, and capacity to conduct audits described in subsection (a) in accordance with applicable generally accepted government auditing standards. The Inspector General shall participate in the selection of the independent external auditors.

(c) Monitoring Audits.—The Inspector General shall monitor the conduct of all audits by independent external auditors under subsection (a).

(d) Reports on Audits.—

(1) In general.—The Inspector General shall require the independent external auditors conducting audits under subsection (a) to submit a report on their audits each year to—

(A) the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) as the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Defense for the purposes of chapter 9 of title 31 and the Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense; ¹

(B) the Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management in the Office of Management and Budget;

(C) the head of each component audited; and

(D) the appropriate committees of Congress.

(2) Appropriate committees of congress defined.—In this subsection, the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means—

(A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and

(B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

(e) Relationship to Existing Law.—The requirements of this section—

(1) shall not be construed to alter the requirement under section 3521(e) of title 31 that the financial statements of the Department of Defense as a whole be audited by the Inspector General or by an independent external auditor, as determined by the Inspector General; and

(2) shall not be construed to limit or alter the authorities of the Comptroller General of the United States under section 3521(g) of title 31.