§2810 — Title 10 Armed Forces | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may build military facilities for innovation, research, development, test, and evaluation using money that is available for that purpose. For each project, the Secretary must put into the defense budget: the project title, location, a short description of the work, a completed DoD Form 1391 with the original cost estimate, a current cost estimate if it changed, and any other information the Secretary thinks is needed. The budget must also include a single display that lists each such project and the amount requested for that year. These rules apply to projects with a Form 1391 submitted for the Department of Defense budget for fiscal year 2023 and later. When the President’s budget is sent to Congress, each military department head and the Secretary of Defense must also send the congressional defense committees a five-year plan for improving "innovation infrastructure" — meaning labs, test ranges, and other RDT&E facilities. Each plan must list major efforts, milestones, and investment goals and explain how funds (including military construction and the defense lab modernization program) will be used. The plan must show estimated costs and how they fit in the budget and future-years program, note needed environmental or engineering studies, explain the order of projects to keep operations running, and use results-focused management practices (clear goals, measurable results, identified resources and risks, and regular progress reports). The Secretary may use RDT&E funds for certain construction projects at designated DoD labs and research facilities, but only if Congress authorizes the project, the project meets several support and sharing conditions, and total RDT&E money used for such construction does not exceed $150,000,000 in any one year. Secretaries may use RDT&E money for architecture and engineering work; if that work will cost more than $4,000,000 they must notify Congress and wait 14 days after the notice is received before obligating the funds.

Title 10, §2810

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense may carry out such military construction projects for innovation, research, development, test, and evaluation as are authorized by law, using funds appropriated or otherwise made available for that purpose.

(b)As part of the defense budget materials for each fiscal year, the Secretary of Defense shall include the following information for each military construction project covered by subsection (a):

(1)The project title.

(2)The location of the project.

(3)A brief description of the scope of work.

(4)A completed Department of Defense Form 1391 budget justification that includes the original project cost estimate.

(5)A current working cost estimate, if different that the cost estimate contained in such Form 1391.

(6)Such other information as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(c)The Secretary of Defense shall include with the defense budget materials for each fiscal year a consolidated budget justification display that individually identifies each military construction project covered by subsection (a) and the amount requested for such project for such fiscal year.

(d)This section shall apply to military construction projects covered by subsection (a) for which a Department of Defense Form 1391 is submitted to the appropriate committees of Congress in connection with the budget of the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2023 and thereafter.

(e)(1)Along with the budget for each fiscal year submitted by the President pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, each Secretary of a military department and the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan that describes the objectives of that Secretary to improve innovation infrastructure during the five fiscal years following the fiscal year for which such budget is submitted.

(2)Each plan submitted by a Secretary of a military department under paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A)With respect to the five-year period covered by the plan, an identification of the major lines of effort, milestones, and investment goals of the Secretary over such period relating to the improvement of innovation infrastructure and a description of how such goals support such goals, including the use of—

(i)military construction, facilities restoration and modernization funds;

(ii)the defense lab modernization program under section 2805(d) of this title; and

(iii)military construction projects for innovation, research, development, test, and evaluation under this section.

(B)The estimated costs of necessary innovation infrastructure improvements and a description of how such costs would be addressed by the Department of Defense budget request submitted during the same year as the plan and the applicable future-years defense program.

(C)Information regarding the plan of the Secretary to initiate such environmental and engineering studies as may be necessary to carry out planned innovation infrastructure improvements.

(D)Detailed information regarding how innovation infrastructure improvement projects will be paced and sequenced to ensure continuous operations.

(3)Each plan under subsection (a) shall incorporate the leading results-oriented management practices identified in the report of the Comptroller General of the United States titled “Actions Needed to Improve Poor Conditions of Facilities and Equipment that Affect Maintenance Timeliness and Efficiency” (GAO–19–242), or any successor report, including—

(A)analytically based goals;

(B)results-oriented metrics;

(C)the identification of required resources, risks, and stakeholders; and

(D)regular reporting on progress to decision makers.

(4)In this subsection, the term “innovation infrastructure” includes laboratories, test and evaluation ranges, and any other infrastructure whose primary purpose is research, development, test, and evaluation.

(f)(1)Using amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense for research, development, test, and evaluation, the Secretary of Defense may fund a military construction project described in paragraph (4) at any of the following:

(A)A Department of Defense science and technology reinvention laboratory (as designated under section 4121(b) of this title).

(B)A Department of Defense federally funded research and development center that functions primarily as a research laboratory.

(C)A Department of Defense facility in support of a technology development program that is consistent with the fielding of offset technologies as described in section 218 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114–92; 10 U.S.C. note 4811).

(D)A Department of Defense research, development, test, and evaluation facility that is not designated as a science and technology reinvention laboratory, but nonetheless is involved with developmental test and evaluation.

(2)Subject to the condition that a military construction project under paragraph (1) be authorized in a Military Construction Authorization Act, the authority to carry out the military construction project includes authority for—

(A)surveys, site preparation, and advanced planning and design;

(B)acquisition, conversion, rehabilitation, and installation of facilities;

(C)acquisition and installation of equipment and appurtenances integral to the project; acquisition and installation of supporting facilities (including utilities) and appurtenances incident to the project; and

(D)planning, supervision, administration, and overhead expenses incident to the project.

(3)(A)The Secretary of Defense shall include military construction projects proposed to be carried out under paragraph (1) in the budget justification documents for the Department of Defense submitted to Congress in connection with the budget for a fiscal year submitted under 1105 of title 31.

(B)Not less than 14 days prior to the first obligation of funds described in paragraph (1) for a military construction project to be carried out under such paragraph, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a notification providing an updated construction description, cost, and schedule for the project and any other matters regarding the project as the Secretary considers appropriate.

(4)The authority provided by paragraph (1) to fund military construction projects using amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for research, development, test, and evaluation is limited to military construction projects that the Secretary of Defense, in the budget justification documents exhibits submitted pursuant to paragraph (3)(A), determines—

(A)will support research and development activities at laboratories described in paragraph (1);

(B)will establish facilities that will have significant potential for use by entities outside the Department of Defense, including universities, industrial partners, and other Federal agencies;

(C)are endorsed for funding by more than one military department or Defense Agency; and

(D)cannot be fully funded within the thresholds otherwise specified in this section.

(5)The maximum amount of funds appropriated or otherwise made available for research, development, test, and evaluation that may be obligated in any fiscal year for military construction projects under paragraph (1) is $150,000,000.

(6)(A)In addition to the authority provided to the Secretary of Defense under paragraph (1) to use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for research, development, test, and evaluation for a military construction project referred to in such subsection, the Secretary of the military department concerned may use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for research, development, test, and evaluation to obtain architectural and engineering services and to carry out construction design in connection with such a project.

(B)In the case of architectural and engineering services and construction design to be undertaken under this paragraph for which the estimated cost exceeds $4,000,000, the Secretary concerned shall notify the appropriate committees of Congress of the scope of the proposed project and the estimated cost of such services before the initial obligation of funds for such services. The Secretary may then obligate funds for such services only after the end of the 14-day period beginning on the date on which the notification is received by the committees in an electronic medium pursuant to section 480 of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification The text of section 2805(g) of this title, which was transferred to this section and redesignated subsec. (f) by Pub. L. 119–60, § 2873, was based on Pub. L. Pub. L. 117–263, div. B, title XXVIII, § 2803(a), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2992; Pub. L. 118–159, div. B, title XXVIII, § 2805, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2249.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 2810, added Pub. L. 99–499, title II, § 211(b)(1), Oct. 17, 1986, 100 Stat. 1725, related to military

Construction

projects for environmental response actions, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 107–314, div. A, title III, § 313(b), Dec. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 2507.

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 119–60 renumbered section 2805(g) of this title as subsec. (f) of this section. See Codification note above. 2024—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 118–159 added subsec. (e).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Deadline Pub. L. 118–159, div. B, title XXVIII, § 2806(b), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2250, provided that: “The first plan required under subsection (e) of such section [meaning 10 U.S.C. 2810] (as amended by subsection (a)) shall be submitted as part of the annual budget submission of the President to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, for fiscal year 2027.” Guidance for Military

Construction

Projects for Innovation, Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Pub. L. 119–60, div. B, title XXVIII, § 2815, Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1303, provided that: “(a) Guidance Required.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 18, 2025], the Secretary of Defense shall issue written guidance on the implementation of section 2810 of title 10, United States Code. “(b) Contents.—The guidance required by this section shall include, at minimum, the following:“(1) Procedures and criteria for the development and submission of project proposals pursuant to subsection (b) of section 2810 of title 10, United States Code. “(2) Definitions for roles and responsibilities for Department of Defense employees with respect to review, approval, and execution of projects carried out under the authority of such section 2810. “(3) Clarification on how the use of the authority to carry out projects under such section 2810 may be coordinated with the use of authorities for such projects under section 2803, 2805, and 4123 of title 10, United States Code. “(4) A process for internal review and validation of projects proposed to be carried out using the authority under section 2810 of title 10, United States Code, which shall include—“(A) assessments of how such proposed projects could be integrated across military departments; “(B) comprehensive time-phased milestone plans for such proposed projects with clearly defined dependencies; and “(C) explicit documentation of budget programming action decisions of the Secretary of the military department with jurisdiction over such project.”

§2810 Military Construction Projects for Innovation, Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation

Summary

Title 10, §2810

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Construction

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Construction

Citations & Metadata