§3604 — Title 10 Armed Forces | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must set up a competition to speed up buying and using new technologies that cut acquisition or life‑cycle costs, lower technical risk, improve testing, and get tools into use fast to support missions. The program will run under rules the Secretary creates. The rules must include calls for proposals, give priority to small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors, and set a review and selection process where the Secretary and each military department review submissions, pick the most promising cost‑effective ideas, and buy the work using contracts, cooperative agreements, other transaction authority, or other suitable methods. No more than two calls in a fiscal year may target firms that, in the prior 12 months, did not have Department contracts with total Department payments over $400,000,000. Awards must be at least $10,000,000 and normally no more than $50,000,000 unless the Secretary (or a delegated official) approves a larger amount. The program only operates if Congress provides money. Before any money is spent, the Secretary must finish a plan to collect program data and send that plan to the congressional defense committees. The Department must collect and study data to find and share best practices, explain how the program is working, and support required reports. The Secretary must report to the congressional defense committees by March 1 and September 1 each year starting after this law was enacted, and must notify those committees within 30 days after funding is provided for any selected proposal.

Title 10, §3604

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subject to availability of appropriations, the Secretary of Defense shall establish a competitive, merit-based program to accelerate the procurement and fielding of innovative technologies by, with respect to such technologies—

(1)reducing acquisition or life-cycle costs;

(2)addressing technical risks;

(3)improving the timeliness and thoroughness of test and evaluation outcomes; and

(4)rapidly implementing such technologies to directly support defense missions.

(b)(1)The Secretary shall issue guidelines for the operation of the program established under this section.

(2)At a minimum, the guidelines for the operation of the program established under this section required under paragraph (1) shall provide for the following:

(A)The issuance of one or more solicitations for proposals by the Department of Defense in support of the program, with a priority established for technologies developed by small business concerns (as defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) or nontraditional defense contractors (as defined under section 3014 of this title).

(B)The issuance of not more than two solicitations for proposals by the Department of Defense in support of the program each fiscal year for innovative technologies from entities that, during the one-year period preceding the issuance of the solicitation, have not performed on contracts and subcontracts for the Department under which the aggregate obligations of the Department to such entity for such period exceeds $400,000,000.

(C)A process for—

(i)the review of proposals received in response to a solicitation issued under subparagraph (A) by the Secretary of Defense and by each Secretary of a military department;

(ii)the merit-based selection of the most promising cost-effective proposals; and

(iii)the procurement of goods or services offered by such a proposal through contracts, cooperative agreements, other transaction authority, or by another appropriate process.

(c)The total amount of funding provided for any proposal selected for an award under the program established under this section shall be greater than or equal to $10,000,000 and shall not exceed $50,000,000, unless the Secretary (or designee of the Secretary) approves a greater amount of funding.

(d)(1)The Secretary of Defense may not provide funding under this section until the date on which the Secretary—

(A)completes a plan for carrying out the data collection required under paragraph (2); and

(B)submits the plan to the congressional defense committees.

(2)The Secretary of Defense shall collect and analyze data on the program established under this section for the purposes of—

(A)developing and sharing best practices for achieving the objectives of the program;

(B)providing information on the implementation of the program and related policy issues; and

(C)reporting to the congressional defense committees as required under subsection (e).

(e)Not later than March 1 and September 1 of each year beginning after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the program established under this section.

(f)The Secretary of Defense shall notify the congressional defense committees within 30 days after funding has been provided for a proposal selected for an award under the program established under this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (e), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–159, which was approved Dec. 23, 2024.

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title VIII, § 834, Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1835, as amended by Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title VIII, § 845, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2720, which was set out in a note under section 4061 of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title VIII, § 861(b), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2000.

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 119–60 struck out “Maximum” before “Amount” in heading and inserted “shall be greater than or equal to $10,000,000 and” before “shall not exceed”.

§3604 Program to Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies