Other statutory tools

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense or military-department Secretary

Eligibility gate

• Instrument selection follows 31 U.S.C. chapter 63: assistance for a public purpose versus acquiring for federal direct use.
• New research grants use merit-based selection; university awards obey §4141 competition rules.

Funding condition

• Available funds for the authorized research purpose; research-security and award conditions remain applicable.

All recorded limits

• Not a general-purpose economic-development grant power.
• University earmark exceptions require explicit statutory language and applicable notice/wait; grant and contract labels are not interchangeable.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense and military-department Secretaries

Eligibility gate

• Secretary considers purchase necessary for experimental or test purposes in developing national-defense supplies.

Funding condition

• Appropriation matching experiment/prototype purpose; statutory flexibility does not waive appropriations law.

All recorded limits

• Special procurement treatment applies only within quantities needed for experimentation, prototyping, evaluation, operational assessment/safety or residual operational capability.
• Not unlimited serial-production authority.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense acting through USD(R&E), USD(A&S), DIU Director and Service acquisition executives

Eligibility gate

• Widely advertised competitive process; achievement must meet statutory defense/transition purpose.

Funding condition

• Appropriations or funds/items lawfully accepted from federal, state/local and private contributors.

All recorded limits

• USD(R&E) approval above $20m total prize fair value, $2m cash, or $20k solely nonmonetary prize.
• No special consideration for private donors; award above $20m as contract/agreement triggers 15-day post-award congressional notice.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense

Eligibility gate

• Merit-based selection and small-business preference; proposals reviewed with military-department Offices of Small Business Programs.

Funding condition

• RDT&E appropriations subject to availability; express transfers to Service/Defense Agency/USSOCOM RDT&E accounts for qualifying proposals.

All recorded limits

• Normally 2 years of program funding; added year requires approval.
• Statute has a $6m project provision alongside aggregate restriction on awards over $6m; read the actual program guidance/appropriation rather than assuming unlimited awards.

Authority holder

Director, Defense Innovation Unit

Eligibility gate

• Partnership addresses defense/security needs and has technology-transfer or commercialization objective.
• Use lawful underlying instrument for the particular support.

Funding condition

• DIU funding available for the project; underlying instrument controls payments and accountability.

All recorded limits

• Liaison to investors or support for commercialization is not itself blanket stock-purchase or lending authority.
• Service project allocation does not certify recipient office’s contracting delegation.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense or military-department Secretary for research; head of agency for new-center restriction

Eligibility gate

• Research purpose and defense relevance; suitable sponsoring agreement.
• New FFRDC operation requires congressional report and 60-day wait under §4126(c).

Funding condition

• Appropriated research/sponsoring funds; individual sponsored work must fit their purpose.

All recorded limits

• Not a means to obtain any arbitrary work from a favored center; applied scientific laboratory research has an express scope exception.
• University affiliation does not alone confer federal laboratory/FFRDC powers.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense, authorized Center/STRL directors

Eligibility gate

• Use supports statutory partnership objectives and does not significantly impair laboratory mission.
• Private partner agrees to required direct/indirect cost reimbursement and indemnification.

Funding condition

• Reimbursement to appropriation, working-capital or revolving fund incurring costs; alternative statutory reinvestment conditions.

All recorded limits

• No authorization for otherwise-prohibited conversion of government work to contractors.
• War/emergency can suspend access; unused capability is not a blanket disposal of public assets.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense establishes mechanisms; directors exercise discretion in consultation with Service S&T executive

Eligibility gate

• 2–4% of available funds under established mechanisms.
• Infrastructure must meet §2805(d)/ §2811 applicable cost rules and pre-use congressional notification.

Funding condition

• Funds already available to lab/test organization; fees limited to 4% of performance costs.

All recorded limits

• A flexible internal investment mechanism, not unlimited new MILCON authority or off-budget money.

Authority holder

Participating federal agency; DoD and component SBIR program/award officials

Eligibility gate

• Eligible small business; competitive scientific/technical and commercialization evaluation.
• Research-security diligence and disclosure checks; beginning FY2027, the nondelegable agency program director must set a proposal cap, with the statutory topic-waiver process.

Funding condition

• Required SBIR share generally at least 3.2% of eligible extramural R&D; actual appropriation, exclusions and balances still require validation.
• P.L. 119-83 allows remaining FY2026 required-expenditure funds to be used in FY2027.

All recorded limits

• Neither a general small-business loan nor automatic entitlement to an award.
• Direct-to-Phase II requires qualifying feasibility showing and agency implementation; do not confuse stale 2025 expiry with current extension.

Authority holder

Participating federal agency; DoD/component STTR officials

Eligibility gate

• Small business performs at least 40% and research institution at least 30% of work under statutory cooperative-R&D definition.
• Eligible institution and small business; IP allocation and security diligence.

Funding condition

• Generally 0.45% of eligible extramural R&D for covered agencies; agency threshold/exclusions apply.
• Remaining required FY2026 funds may carry into FY2027 under P.L. 119-83 §9(b).

All recorded limits

• Partner eligibility is distinct from SBIR; military research/educational institution participation is a specific pilot, not universal eligibility.

Authority holder

Eligible federal agency; DoD acquisition and SBIR officials

Eligibility gate

• Prior Phase II SBIR/STTR award; at least 100% matching from new private capital and/or qualifying non-Phase I/II government funding.
• DoD: readiness, high-priority need, POM inclusion commitment by acquisition executive or higher; at least 20% of required match from new qualifying DoD funds.

Funding condition

• Up to 0.50% of extramural R&D from agency SBIR allocation if required SBIR expenditure exceeds $100m; match and statutory ceilings are not available funds.

All recorded limits

• No federal equity acquisition created; this is a funding agreement.
• Agency must satisfy eligibility and implement procedures; award deadline 90 days does not eliminate required findings.

Authority holder

Participating agency; eligible SBIR/STTR award recipient selects support

Eligibility gate

• Current SBIR/STTR award and assistance linked to eligible project/commercialization purposes.

Funding condition

• May be included in or added to award as agency determines; applicable statutory funding sources and reviews.

All recorded limits

• Phase I assistance up to $6,500/project; Phase II up to $50,000/project.
• Recipient selection/staff-use option does not make program a general consultancy grant for non-awardees.

Authority holder

Secretary of the military department concerned

Eligibility gate

• Facilities/equipment necessary for contract; allowable-cost rules.
• Nonremovable installations on nonfederal land need reimbursement, land-acquisition option or other adequate U.S. protection.

Funding condition

• R&D contract funds; loans/leases may be with or without reimbursement; sales at fair value.

All recorded limits

• Explicitly does not authorize new construction or improvements with general utility.
• Sale/reimbursement receipts normally go to Treasury unless another law applies.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense; installation commander may receive specified indirect-cost delegation

Eligibility gate

• Designated installation and compatible commercial test activity.
• Recover all direct costs; indirect costs as Secretary determines appropriate.

Funding condition

• Collected reimbursements credited to accounts that incurred cost.

All recorded limits

• Contract must allow immediate termination/prohibition/suspension for public health/safety, property, national-security or foreign-policy detriment.

Authority holder

Each combatant commander; senior contracting official retains applicable award role

Eligibility gate

• Technology/capability solution addresses command-identified operational need.
• §843 special contracting procedures must be followed when used.

Funding condition

• Authority does not create a command-wide discretionary appropriation; identify lawful available funding and transition customer.

All recorded limits

• Completion determination may fulfill listed justification/capability-need requirements; not waiver of all §3204 approvals or fiscal conditions.
• Sunset 2028-09-30.

Authority holder

Secretary of Defense establishes/designates pathway; Service Secretaries through Service test activities; DOT&E independent evaluator

Eligibility gate

• 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.

Funding condition

• Program resources for data collection, storage, analytics and testing; implementation/coverage must be confirmed.

All recorded limits

• Specified master-plan/milestone-event exemptions do not mean no evaluation.
• DOT&E retains independent sufficiency/effectiveness assessment and raw-data access.

Authority holder

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

Eligibility gate

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

Funding condition

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

All recorded limits

• 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.

Authority holder

Office of Expanded Competition within the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force; headed by the OEC Director

Eligibility gate

• Tools, processes or tradecraft must improve DoD due diligence or investment analysis.
• Verify any relevant delegated authority used from another DoD or Federal component.

Funding condition

• §9025 does not specify a dedicated appropriation or available balance. Identify legally available funds and the fiscal conditions of the proposed action.

All recorded limits

• The reference to delegated authorities does not establish a blanket OT power or prove that another component's power has been delegated to OEC.