§4145 Program for the enhancement of the research, development, test, and evaluation centers of the Department of Defense

Summary

The Secretary of Defense and the military service secretaries must run a program that tests better ways to develop technology and run certain research and test centers. Eligible centers include: the science and technology reinvention laboratories; the test and evaluation centers in the Major Range and Test Facility Base; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); the Defense Innovation Unit; and the Strategic Capabilities Office. "Responsible official concerned" means the listed assistant secretaries for each service (Army, Navy/Marine Corps, Air Force/Space Force) and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for DARPA, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Strategic Capabilities Office, and other matters not covered by those assistants. Each center head must send the responsible official a plan and then carry out new, faster, or different ways to manage work, run projects, partner with universities and industry, speed up prototypes, and improve support tasks like facility upkeep, business operations, hiring, and outreach—all to get better value from research and deliver capabilities to warfighters sooner. A proposed method must be put into practice unless the responsible official rejects it in writing within 60 days. A center head may set aside rules or policies that would stop a proposed method unless a federal law or common law forbids doing so.