Congress orders study on why aviation still uses paper for aircraft parts
H.R. 6267 — Aviation Supply Chain Safety and Security Digitization Act of 2025 · Filed by Brad Knott (R-NC) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 21, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General) to study why the aviation industry has not switched from paper to digital documentation for aircraft parts, maintenance records, and supplier verification. The study will examine barriers faced by manufacturers, repair stations, airlines, and parts brokers in adopting digital forms and authentication tools, and will recommend ways to speed up the transition to digital records across the industry and within the FAA itself.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a directive to the GAO to conduct a study and report on barriers to digital documentation in aviation supply chains. It contains no regulatory changes, appropriations, or industry carve-outs—only a fact-finding and recommendation process.
What the text implies
- Study findings may reveal that FAA legacy systems are a primary impediment, potentially triggering pressure for federal IT modernization spending.
- Recommendations could lead to mandatory digital documentation standards, which would impose compliance costs on smaller repair stations and parts brokers with limited IT infrastructure.
- Digital authentication tools may create new cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the supply chain if standards are not carefully designed.
- Standardized digital documentation could consolidate supply chain visibility in fewer platforms, raising data-concentration and privacy concerns for smaller suppliers.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Digitizing aviation supply chain documentation reduces the risk of counterfeit or falsified aircraft parts reaching commercial aircraft, directly improving passenger safety. The bill imposes no new costs on citizens and creates no private liability shields or industry carve-outs; it is purely a fact-finding mandate aimed at identifying and removing barriers to a safety-enhancing transition.
Who stands to gain
- software and cybersecurity vendors (digital authentication and verification tools)
- IT consulting and systems integration firms (FAA legacy system modernization)
- cloud infrastructure providers (centralized digital documentation platforms)
Named in the bill
Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Department of Transportation (SecDOT), Aircraft manufacturers, Repair stations, Air carriers, Aircraft lessors, Parts brokers
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Nov 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
- Dec 18, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 18, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Mar 24, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2655-2656)”
- Mar 24, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Taylor moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $266,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 35 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Brad Knott, the sponsor, reported $718,818 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Air Line Pilots Association — $266,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,217 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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