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-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.
At a glance
Mission goalDevelop a technologyExpand production
Possible toolACQ-54 · Contracts & purchases
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §3762
Responsible rolesPlanning · funds · approval · execution
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.
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
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 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.