U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 2374a. Prizes for advanced technology achievements

(a) Authority.— The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the service acquisition executive for each military department, may carry out programs to award cash prizes in recognition of outstanding achievements in basic, advanced, and applied research, technology development, and prototype development that have the potential for application to the performance of the military missions of the Department of Defense.

(b) Competition Requirements.— Each program under subsection (a) shall use a competitive process for the selection of recipients of cash prizes. The process shall include the widely-advertised solicitation of submissions of research results, technology developments, and prototypes.

(1) The total amount made available for award of cash prizes in a fiscal year may not exceed $10,000,000.

(2) No prize competition may result in the award of more than $1,000,000 in cash prizes without the approval of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.

(d) Relationship to Other Authority.— A program under subsection (a) may be carried out in conjunction with or in addition to the exercise of any other authority of an official referred to in that subsection to acquire, support, or stimulate basic, advanced and applied research, technology development, or prototype projects.

(e) Annual Report.—

(1) In general.— Not later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on the activities carried out during the preceding fiscal year under the authority in subsection (a).

(2) Information included.— The report for a fiscal year under this subsection shall include, for each program under subsection (a), the following:

(A) A description of the proposed goals of the competitions established under the program, including the areas of research, technology development, or prototype development to be promoted by such competitions and the relationship of such areas to the military missions of the Department of Defense.

(B) An analysis of why the utilization of the authority in subsection (a) was the preferable method of achieving the goals described in subparagraph (A) as opposed to other authorities available to the Department, such as contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements.

(C) The total amount of cash prizes awarded under the program, including a description of the manner in which the amounts of cash prizes awarded and claimed were allocated among the accounts of the Department for recording as obligations and expenditures.

(D) The methods used for the solicitation and evaluation of submissions under the program, together with an assessment of the effectiveness of such methods.

(E) A description of the resources, including personnel and funding, used in the execution of the program, together with a detailed description of the activities for which such resources were used and an accounting of how funding for execution was allocated among the accounts of the Department for recording as obligations and expenditures.

(F) A description of any plans to transition the technologies or prototypes developed as a result of the program into an acquisition program of the Department.

(3) Suspension of authority for failure to include information.— For each program under subsection (a), the authority to obligate or expend funds under that program is suspended as of the date specified in paragraph (1) if the Secretary does not, by that date, submit a report that includes, for that program, all the information required by paragraph (2). As of the date on which the Secretary does submit a report that includes, for that program, all the information required by paragraph (2), the suspension is lifted.

(f) Period of Authority.— The authority to award prizes under subsection (a) shall terminate at the end of September 30, 2013.

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