EconDefense
USC-02 / Industrial capacity, capital and credit

Reimburse mentor assistance and credit development of eligible small-business suppliers

Approve mentor-protege agreements for business and technical development, eligible noncompetitive subcontracts, progress or advance payments, and mentor loans. Provide the reimbursements or subcontracting-goal credits expressly authorized for mentors.

Action briefPDF dossier · original 168Download record
Authority / instrument · USC-02

Supplier development

Industrial capacity, capital and credit

Statute & instrument
Authority holder

Secretary of Defense

What this does not authorize / hard limit

Mentor loans and subcontract payments are not independent DoD lending authority.

Recorded executor

Authorized component contracting, agreements, or personnel office; assignment is illustrative

Continue to actor →

Recorded executing role; this record-specific route is not an additional institutional office.

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedAuthorized DoD contract line items or a qualifying separate contract for reimbursement; no current funding verified. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Public evidence describes the institution and instrument; it is not approval of an individual transaction.

At a glance

Mission goalExpand production
Possible toolUSC-02 · Funds & shared services
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §4902

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense

Funds & shared services

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway identified in the USC scrub. Current implementation, public intake, appropriations, available balances, and transaction-specific delegations were not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Mentor and protege must satisfy §4902(c), (d), and (n); SBA affiliation determinations remain relevant.
  • An agreement normally lasts no more than three years, with a written unusual-circumstances determination for up to five; the protege’s agreement-entry window is separately governed by subsection (c).
  • Apply the applicable reimbursement categories, annual limits, written exceptions, performance reviews, and rules for crediting unreimbursed costs.

Limits & exclusions

  • Mentor loans and subcontract payments are not independent DoD lending authority.
  • Participation may not be required as a condition for receiving a contract or subcontract; prohibited fees and joint-venture business-development costs are not reimbursable.

Funding conditions

  • Authorized DoD contract line items or a qualifying separate contract for reimbursement; no current funding verified.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Relevant DoD mission or program sponsor

Resources

  • Sponsoring component budget owner and comptroller; available funding not verified

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense; transaction-specific delegation must be confirmed
    Office profile

Execution

  • Authorized component contracting, agreements, or personnel office; assignment is illustrative

Partners & review

  • Program counsel, fiscal officials, and eligible external counterpart as applicable

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Mission sponsor → relevant program or personnel lead → counsel and fiscal review → official holding the required authority → eligible counterpart. Named functions are routing guidance, not verified individual delegations.

Actor and execution-role sources

October 5 statutory review

Added in the October 5 statutory coverage review. The cited legal mechanism and its conditions were examined; a current implementing program, intake, funding balance and individual delegation were not verified.

Section coverage and review findings

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §4902Official GovInfo 2024 baseline; read alongside the enacted amendments identified in this record.

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 recordedAuthorized DoD contract line items or a qualifying separate contract for reimbursement; no current funding verified. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Confidence: High on the cited statutory text and express conditions; operational availability is unverified.

Currentness: Reviewed 2026-10-05 against official GovInfo 2024 Code text and a targeted P.L. 119-60 enacted-amendment search. OLRC direct pages were intermittently under maintenance. This is not an exhaustive certification of legislation after that baseline, funding, implementation, or individual delegation. OLRC search-index text labeled laws effective September 29, 2026 corroborates the section. The old pilot sunsets were removed by P.L. 117-263 §856; do not label the current codified program expired.

Review scope: Record reviewed 2026-10-05. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.

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