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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-110

§3775 Definitions

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART V — ACQUISITION › Subpart D — General Contracting Provisions › CHAPTER 275 — PROPRIETARY CONTRACTOR DATA AND RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA › SUBCHAPTER I — RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA › § 3775

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Names who counts as a "covered Government support contractor" and what they must promise. It covers contractors whose main job is to give independent, impartial advice or technical help to the Government to manage or oversee a program — not to deliver the program’s end items or services. Such a contractor must not be affiliated with the program’s prime contractor, a first‑tier subcontractor, or a direct competitor for the same items or services. The contractor must agree to use any proprietary technical data only for the stated purpose, sign a nondisclosure agreement with the data owner, protect the data while the Government cannot share it, accept that breaking these promises can lead to criminal, civil, administrative, or contract penalties by the United States and civil suits by the data owner, and not use the data to compete against the data owner for Government or non‑Government contracts. The terms "major system component," "modular system interface," and "modular open system approach" get their meanings from section 4401 of this title.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §3775

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Covered Government Support Contractor Defined.—
In this subchapter, the term “covered Government support contractor” means a contractor under a contract the primary purpose of which is to furnish independent and impartial advice or technical assistance directly to the Government in support of the Government’s management and oversight of a program or effort (rather than to directly furnish an end item or service to accomplish a program or effort), which contractor— (1)
(2)executes a contract with the Government agreeing to and acknowledging—
(A)that proprietary or nonpublic technical data furnished will be accessed and used only for the purposes stated in that contract;
(B)that the covered Government support contractor will enter into a non-disclosure agreement with the contractor to whom the rights to the technical data belong;
(C)that the covered Government support contractor will take all reasonable steps to protect the proprietary and nonpublic nature of the technical data furnished to the covered Government support contractor during the program or effort for the period of time in which the Government is restricted from disclosing the technical data outside of the Government;
(D)that a breach of that contract by the covered Government support contractor with regard to a third party’s ownership or rights in such technical data may subject the covered Government support contractor—
(i)to criminal, civil, administrative, and contractual actions in law and equity for penalties, damages, and other appropriate remedies by the United States; and
(ii)to civil actions for damages and other appropriate remedies by the contractor or subcontractor whose technical data is affected by the breach; and
(E)that such technical data provided to the covered Government support contractor under the authority of this section shall not be used by the covered Government support contractor to compete against the third party for Government or non-Government contracts.
(b)Additional Definitions.—
In this subchapter, the terms “major system component”, “modular system interface”, and “modular open system approach” have the meanings provided in section 4401 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification The text of subsec. (g) of section 2320 of this title, which was transferred to this section, redesignated as subsec. (a), and amended by Pub. L. 116–283, § 1833(f)(1), (2)(A), was based on Pub. L. 111–84, div. A, title VIII, § 821(b), Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2411; Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 809(d)(1), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2267; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title VIII, § 835(c)(1), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1471. The text of subsec. (h) of section 2320 of this title, which was transferred to this section, redesignated as subsec. (b), and amended by Pub. L. 116–283, § 1833(f), was based on Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 809(d)(2), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2267; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title VIII, § 835(c)(1), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1471; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title VIII, § 804(b)(2)(A)(ii), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3739.

Amendments

2021—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1833(f)(1), (2)(A), redesignated subsec. (g) of section 2320 of this title as subsec. (a) of this section and substituted “In this subchapter,” for “In this section,” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1833(f), redesignated subsec. (h) of section 2320 of this title as subsec. (b) of this section and substituted “In this subchapter,” for “In this section,” and “section 4401” for “section 2446a”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section and amendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2021 Amendment note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 3775

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110