Conduct and purchase defense-relevant research and development
Conduct basic, applied and advanced research and development internally, through military departments, by contract, or by agreement with another federal agency.
Contracts & purchases
ACQ-07 / Research, innovation and experimentation
Include bridge prototype or initial production units in a research contract
A competitively selected general-solicitation research contract may contain line items/options for development, demonstration, initial production or initial/additional items arising from its work.
At a glance
Mission goalDevelop a technologyBring a prototype into use
Possible toolACQ-07 · Contracts & purchases
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §4004
Responsible rolesPlanning · funds · approval · execution
Authority holder: Secretary of Defense, Army, Navy or Air Force
Contracts & purchases
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
- Initial contract comes from competitive general-solicitation proposal selection.
- Additional units must be minimum needed pending timely competitive follow-on.
Limits & exclusions
- Line item/option term not more than 2 years; statutory value limit $100m in FY2017 constant dollars.
- Does not authorize indefinitely bypassing follow-on competition.
Funding conditions
- Appropriate research or procurement funds according to work; value ceiling is not funding.
Who contributes what
Need & planning
- Operational requirement owner; Service/component portfolio acquisition executive and program manager
Resources
- Sponsoring Service/component appropriations manager and comptroller
Approval
- Service/component acquisition executive and authorized contracting authority, at applicable threshold
Execution
- Warranted contracting officer and program manager
Office profile
Partners & review
- User command
- Counsel, fiscal, engineering, testing, logistics and security staff as applicable
Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.
Coordination pathway
Program manager designs bridge line item → contracting officer competes research → validates minimum bridge quantity → follow-on competition.
Legal basis
- 10 U.S.C. §4004Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
- 10 U.S.C. §3012(2)Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
What this research establishes
Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedThe record states funding rules and conditions; no program amount is attributed to this action.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementRole recordedRecorded executing role: Warranted contracting officer and program manager. Use the responsible program’s process.
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.
Review scope: Original research target October 2, 2026; no record-specific last-review date supplied. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.