§719 Research Projects; Transactions Other Than Contracts and Grants

Summary

The Commandant may use new kinds of agreements, not just contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants, to carry out basic, applied, and advanced research. The Commandant may also work with the Director of DARPA, a military department secretary, or another official the Secretary of Defense names to join prototype projects and follow-on production that are directly related to the Coast Guard’s cyber work and command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence efforts. Money from operations and support; research, development, test, and evaluation; and procurement, construction, and improvement accounts may be used if Congress provides it. These agreements can require recipients to pay the Coast Guard or another federal agency as a condition of getting support, and those payments must be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury and can be used for this authority if Congress allows. The Commandant must try to avoid duplicating Coast Guard research and may use these new agreements only when a normal contract, grant, or cooperative agreement is not feasible. The Commandant must give staff training and set minimum education and certification rules for people who run these deals. The Commandant must also write rules as needed. Information submitted to compete for or get these research awards — like proposals, abstracts, supporting papers, confidential business plans, and confidential technical information — does not have to be released under the Freedom of Information Act for 5 years after the Coast Guard gets it. Each year, when the President submits the federal budget to Congress, the Commandant must send a report to the House Committees on Appropriations and Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Commerce, Science, and Transportation. That report must list every use of this authority from the most recent fiscal year and give the amount of each transaction; the entities involved; the product or service received; the research project tied to it; and how much cost was shared between the federal government and non-federal sources.