EconDefense
ACQ-06 / Research, innovation and experimentation

Buy experimental products, services, demonstrations and prototypes

Purchase or modify purchases, domestically or abroad, of experimental/test demonstrations, prototypes, products, supplies, parts, auxiliary services and design for defense development.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-06 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §4023

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense and military-department Secretaries

Other statutory tools

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

  • Secretary considers purchase necessary for experimental or test purposes in developing national-defense supplies.

Limits & exclusions

  • Special procurement treatment applies only within quantities needed for experimentation, prototyping, evaluation, operational assessment/safety or residual operational capability.
  • Not unlimited serial-production authority.

Funding conditions

  • Appropriation matching experiment/prototype purpose; statutory flexibility does not waive appropriations law.

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

Technical sponsor → experimental-purchase determination → contracting office → evaluation → separate production pathway if needed.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §4023Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • P.L. 119-60, §1831Broadens eligible subject matter beyond the former list of supply classes and explicitly includes prototyping and modifications.

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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