§9025 Office of Expanded Competition

Summary

Creates an Office of Expanded Competition inside the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. The Secretary must pick a Director from Department of Defense employees who have the right subject expertise. The Director must either be in a Senior Executive Service position (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 3132) when chosen or, if not, must meet the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs). The Office must work with other DoD and federal parts to spot and study investments from hostile countries that affect businesses or industries important to defense. It must find and rank critical technologies and assets the Joint Force needs, fund investments (including supply-chain tech), help DoD teams make investment choices to fight adversarial capital, and support research, development, construction, procurement, leasing, upgrades, and repairs of important assets. The Office may also help provide capital assistance, test new analytical tools and processes, use commercial ways to gain access, and coordinate with other agencies to protect national security. Definitions: "adversarial capital flow" means an investment by the government of a country that is an adversary of the United States or by an entity under that country’s law or control. "capital assistance" means a loan, loan guarantee, or technical assistance.