EconDefense
ACQ-54 / Research, innovation and experimentation

Reimburse contractor independent R&D through allowable contract costs

Treat qualifying independent research and development as allowable indirect expense under defense contracts while preserving statutory contractor independence in technology selection.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-54 · Contracts & purchases
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §3762

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense establishes payment rules; contracting and audit officials apply them

Contracts & purchasesFunds & shared services

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

  • Costs genuinely constitute independent R&D and must be reported separately from other allowable indirect costs.
  • Contract pricing, allocation and allowability rules remain applicable.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not a stand-alone R&D grant, reimbursement entitlement for every expense, or authority to direct all private research.
  • Contractor independence protected where statutory chief-executive determination concerning future defense needs is satisfied.

Funding conditions

  • Recovery through applicable defense-contract indirect costs, not a new appropriation or loan.

Read the funding and execution guide

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

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

DoD communicates future capability needs → contractor undertakes qualifying independent R&D → contracting/audit review → permitted cost treatment.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §3762Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.

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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