DoD Wants Comments on Invention Reporting Overload
Published Date: 8/5/2026
Notice
Summary
The Department of Defense wants your thoughts on a new info collection about inventions and subcontracts. If you’re involved with DoD research or contracts, this could affect you. They’re asking for comments by October 5, 2026, to make sure the process is clear, useful, and not too much work.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Government can secure licenses and ownership
These reporting processes let the government secure royalty-free licenses, assume ownership of inventions abandoned by contractors, and verify subcontract compliance for inventions made with federal funding. If you are a contractor, those rules affect how the government can exercise rights in inventions funded by DoD.
Annual invention reporting required
If you are a business contractor that develops inventions with DoD funding, you must report those inventions and related subcontracts under the Bayh-Dole Act using the DoD forms DD Form 882-R (unclassified) or DD Form 882-C (classified). The unclassified form (DD Form 882-R) is submitted annually or at contract closeout and the collection is tracked under OMB Control Number 0704-RCIS.
Classified invention reports must be submitted securely
If your invention is classified, you must submit it using DD Form 882-C and do so through secure transmission because of national security concerns. The notice explicitly distinguishes the classified form (DD Form 882-C) from the unclassified DD Form 882-R and requires secure handling.
Paperwork burden: 4,942 annual hours
The DoD estimates an annual paperwork burden of 4,942 hours from 3,150 respondents, for a total of 4,662 annual responses and an average burden of 1.06 hours per response. The information collection frequency is listed as annually.
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