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
USC-07 / Research, innovation and experimentation
Evaluate outside challenge proposals for lower-cost or improved defense acquisition solutions
Solicit or receive innovative challenge proposals, obtain independent technical review, and consider favorable proposals for insertion into an acquisition program, using the statutory Challenge Program process.
At a glance
Mission goalDevelop a technology
Possible toolUSC-07 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §4062
Responsible rolesPlanning · funds · approval · execution
Authority holder: Secretary of Defense acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
Other statutory tools
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
- Use the preliminary and full-review criteria and conflict-of-interest safeguards in §4062(c)-(h).
- A favorable proposal receives consideration; actual adoption requires the acquiring program and an appropriate implementation funding route.
Limits & exclusions
- Section 4062(i) prohibits using Challenge Program funds to implement challenge proposals.
- The separate non-major-program pilot in §4062(l) terminated January 7, 2021; the broader program must not be represented as reopening that expired pilot.
- No currently operating intake, BAA, or award was verified in this scrub.
Funding conditions
- Available Challenge Program funds may support authorized review and laboratory assistance, not implementation of selected proposals.
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 acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; transaction-specific delegation must be confirmed
Office profile
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.
Legal basis
- 10 U.S.C. §4062Official 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 recordedAvailable Challenge Program funds may support authorized review and laboratory assistance, not implementation of selected proposals. 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 preliminary search-index text labeled laws effective June 3, 2026 still includes this section. Targeted P.L. 119-60 search found no repeal or amendment to §4062.
Review scope: Record reviewed 2026-10-05. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.