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-50 / Research, innovation and experimentation
Use an alternative iterative, data-driven test pathway
For covered programs, integrate developmental/operational testing around unified objectives and ongoing data while preserving independent DOT&E evaluation.
At a glance
Mission goalDevelop a technologyBring a prototype into use
Possible toolACQ-50 · Other statutory tools
Legal basisP.L. 119-60, §218
Responsible rolesPlanning · funds · approval · execution
Authority holder: Secretary of Defense establishes/designates pathway; Service Secretaries through Service test activities; DOT&E independent evaluator
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
- Unified T&E and test-data strategies; government ownership/access to specified raw test data and analytics.
- Designation after required guidance or qualifying post-enactment software/covered-hardware program.
Limits & exclusions
- Specified master-plan/milestone-event exemptions do not mean no evaluation.
- DOT&E retains independent sufficiency/effectiveness assessment and raw-data access.
Funding conditions
- Program resources for data collection, storage, analytics and testing; implementation/coverage must be confirmed.
Who contributes what
Need & planning
- Program manager, Service test activities and operational users
Resources
- Program/test infrastructure budget owners
Approval
- Secretary of Defense for designation after guidance; statutory software/hardware coverage applies
Office profile
Execution
- Service developmental/operational test activities
Partners & review
- DOT&E, industry data producers and authorized DoD data users
Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.
Coordination pathway
Acquisition program → eligibility/designation → unified Service test/data strategy → continuous evaluation and independent DOT&E oversight.
Actor and execution-role sources
Legal basis
- P.L. 119-60, §218Enacted public law, not a pending bill.
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.
EngagementProgram-specificRecorded executing role: Service developmental/operational test activities. Use the responsible program’s process.
Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.
Currentness: Directly reviewed P.L. 119-60 §218; establishment guidance deadline 180 days after 2025-12-18; actual issued guidance not verified.
Review scope: Original research target October 2, 2026; no record-specific last-review date supplied. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.