§2808a Facility construction or repair: transactions other than contracts and grants

Summary

The Secretary can use special transactions (not regular contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants) to plan and carry out repair and construction of facilities. That includes planning, design, engineering, prototyping, piloting, and building. The Secretary can pay for these projects using money for military construction, operation and maintenance, or research, development, test, and evaluation. If the original parties were picked through a competitive process and they finish a complete, usable facility or improvement, those parties can be given a follow‑on production contract without another competition. At least 14 days before starting a project, the Secretary must send an electronic notice to the congressional defense committees with the project title, description and location, cost and funding source, the chosen recipient or contractor if known, and why this process is being used. Within 180 days after this law was passed, and every two years after that, the Secretary of Defense must give the congressional defense committees a report. The report must list each project and who ran it, the total cost and funding source, the scope, purpose, and location, any changes in how fast the project moved, an assessment of cost savings or risk reductions, and lessons learned with recommendations.