EconDefense
ACQ-02 / Research, innovation and experimentation

Fund external R&D through grants and cooperative agreements

Provide assistance for defense-relevant research; use a cooperative agreement when substantial federal involvement is expected, and a grant when it is not.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-02 · Grants & cooperative agreements

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense or military-department Secretary

Grants & cooperative agreementsCooperation & exchanges

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Instrument selection follows 31 U.S.C. chapter 63: assistance for a public purpose versus acquiring for federal direct use.
  • New research grants use merit-based selection; university awards obey §4141 competition rules.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not a general-purpose economic-development grant power.
  • University earmark exceptions require explicit statutory language and applicable notice/wait; grant and contract labels are not interchangeable.

Funding conditions

  • Available funds for the authorized research purpose; research-security and award conditions remain applicable.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • USD(R&E) and Service science-and-technology executives
    Office profile
  • DARPA or Service laboratory/program manager

Resources

  • Sponsoring component RDT&E budget owner; component comptroller
    Office profile

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense or military-department Secretary; valid delegate must be confirmed
    Office profile

Execution

  • DARPA Contracts Management Office or Service contracting/grants/agreements office
    Office profile
  • Performing laboratory or external research performer

Partners & review

  • Operational customer / acquiring program
  • Security, export-control, counsel and fiscal officials as applicable

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Research program manager → grants officer → university/company eligibility and security review → assistance award.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §4001(b)Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 10 U.S.C. §4024Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 10 U.S.C. §4141Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 31 U.S.C. §6304Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 31 U.S.C. §6305Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 31 U.S.C. §6303Instrument-selection rule, not the substantive grant authority; research authority is10 U.S.C. §4001.

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: GovInfo 2024 Code (includes FY2025 NDAA, P.L. 118-159) read in full for cited provision; targeted FY2026 NDAA P.L. 119-60 amendment/repeal sweep. No claim of complete legislative currency through 2026-10-02; remaining 2026 delta needs counsel validation.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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