10 U.S.C. § 4423 — Requirements and limitations for weapon

Page 2764 TITLE 10—ARMED FORCES § 4422 Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2021 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2018 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a savings provision, see section 836(h) of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as an Effective Date of 2018 Amend- ment; Savings Provision note under section 453b of Title 6, Domestic Security. EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 806(a)(2), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2259, provided that: ‘‘Subchapter II of chapter 144B of title 10, United States Code [see, now, this subchapter], as added by paragraph (1), shall take effect on January 1, 2017.’’ § 4422. Weapon system component or technology prototype projects: oversight (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of each military department shall establish an oversight board or identify a similar existing group of sen- ior advisors for managing prototype projects for weapon system components and other tech- nologies and subsystems, including the use of funds for such projects, within the military de- partment concerned. (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Each oversight board shall be comprised of senior officials with— (1) expertise in requirements; research, de- velopment, test, and evaluation; acquisition; sustainment; or other relevant areas within the military department concerned; (2) awareness of technology development ac- tivities and opportunities in the Department of Defense, industry, and other sources; and (3) awareness of the component capability requirements of major weapon systems, in- cluding scheduling and fielding goals for such component capabilities. (c) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of each over- sight board are as follows: (1) To issue a strategic plan every three years that prioritizes the capability and weap- on system component portfolio areas for con- ducting prototype projects, based on assess- ments of— (A) high priority warfighter needs; (B) capability gaps or readiness issues with major weapon systems; (C) opportunities to incrementally inte- grate new components into major weapon systems based on commercial technology or science and technology efforts that are ex- pected to be sufficiently mature to proto- type within three years; and (D) opportunities to reduce operation and support costs of major weapon systems. (2) To annually recommend funding levels for weapon system component or technology development and prototype projects across ca- pability or weapon system component port- folios. (3) To annually recommend to the service acquisition executive of the military depart- ment concerned specific weapon system com- ponent or technology development and proto- type projects, subject to the requirements and limitations in section 4423 of this title. (4) To ensure projects are managed by ex- perts within the Department of Defense who are knowledgeable in research, development, test, and evaluation and who are aware of op- portunities for incremental deployment of component capabilities and other technologies to major weapon systems or directly to sup- port warfighting capabilities. (5) To ensure projects are conducted in a manner that allows for appropriate experimen- tation and technology risk. (6) To ensure projects have a plan for tech- nology transition of the prototype into a field- ed system, program of record, or operational use, as appropriate, upon successful achieve- ment of technical and project goals. (7) To ensure necessary technical, con- tracting, and financial management resources are available to support each project. (8) To submit to the congressional defense committees a semiannual notification that in- cludes the following: (A) each weapon system component or technology prototype project initiated dur- ing the preceding six months, including an explanation of each project and its required funding. (B) the results achieved from weapon sys- tem component prototype and technology projects completed and tested during the preceding six months. (Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 806(a)(1), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2257, § 2447b; re- numbered § 4422 and amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVIII, § 1851(c)(1), (2), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4272.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2021—Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(1), renumbered section 2447b of this title as this section. Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(2), substituted ‘‘section 4423’’ for ‘‘section 2447c’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2021 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective Jan. 1, 2017, see section 806(a)(2) of Pub. L. 114–328, set out as a note under section 4421 of this title. § 4423. Requirements and limitations for weapon system component or technology prototype projects (a) LIMITATION ON PROTOTYPE PROJECT DURA- TION.—A prototype project shall be completed within two years of its initiation. (b) MERIT-BASED SELECTION PROCESS.—A pro- totype project shall be selected by the service acquisition executive of the military depart- ment concerned through a merit-based selection Page 2765 TITLE 10—ARMED FORCES § 4424 process that identifies the most promising, inno- vative, and cost-effective prototypes that ad- dress one or more of the elements set forth in subsection (c)(1) of section 4422 of this title and are expected to be successfully demonstrated in a relevant environment. (c) TYPE OF TRANSACTION.—Prototype projects shall be funded through contracts, cooperative agreements, or other transactions. (d) FUNDING LIMIT.—(1) Each prototype project may not exceed a total amount of $10,000,000 (based on fiscal year 2017 constant dollars), un- less— (A) the Secretary of the military depart- ment, or the Secretary’s designee, approves a larger amount of funding for the project, not to exceed $50,000,000; and (B) the Secretary, or the Secretary’s des- ignee, submits to the congressional defense committees, within 30 days after approval of such funding for the project, a notification that includes— (i) the project; (ii) expected funding for the project; and (iii) a statement of the anticipated out- come of the project. (2) The Secretary of Defense may adjust the amounts (and the base fiscal year) provided in paragraph (1) on the basis of Department of De- fense escalation rates. (e) RELATED PROTOTYPE AUTHORITIES.—Proto- type projects that exceed the duration and fund- ing limits established in this section shall be pursued under the rapid prototyping process es- tablished by section 3602 of this title. In addi- tion, nothing in this subchapter shall affect the authority to carry out prototype projects under section 4022 or any other section of this title re- lated to prototyping. (Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 806(a)(1), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2258, § 2447c; re- numbered § 4423 and amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVIII, § 1851(c)(1), (3), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4272, 4273; Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title X, § 1081(a)(5), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2797; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title VIII, § 804(c)(4), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1968.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2024—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 118–159 substituted ‘‘section 3602 of this title’’ for ‘‘section 804 of the National De- fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2302 note)’’. 2022—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 117–263 substituted ‘‘section 4022’’ for ‘‘section 4003’’. 2021—Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(1), renumbered section 2447c of this title as this section. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(3)(A), substituted ‘‘section 4422’’ for ‘‘section 2447b’’. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(3)(B), substituted ‘‘section 4003’’ for ‘‘section 2371b’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2021 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective Jan. 1, 2017, see section 806(a)(2) of Pub. L. 114–328, set out as a note under section 4421 of this title. § 4424. Mechanisms to speed deployment of suc- cessful weapon system component or tech- nology prototypes (a) SELECTION OF PROTOTYPE PROJECT FOR PRO- DUCTION AND RAPID FIELDING.—A weapon system component or technology prototype project may be selected by the service acquisition executive of the military department concerned for a fol- low-on production contract or other transaction without the use of competitive procedures, not- withstanding the requirements of sections 3201 through 3205 of this title, if— (1) the follow-on production project address- es a high priority warfighter need or reduces the costs of a weapon system; (2) competitive procedures were used for the selection of parties for participation in the original prototype project; (3) the participants in the original prototype project successfully completed the require- ments of the project; and (4) a prototype of the system to be procured was demonstrated in a relevant environment. (b) SPECIAL TRANSFER AUTHORITY.—(1) The Secretary of a military department may, as specified in advance by appropriations Acts, transfer funds that remain available for obliga- tion in procurement appropriation accounts of the military department to fund the low-rate initial production of the rapid fielding project until required funding for full-rate production can be submitted and approved through the reg- ular budget process of the Department of De- fense. (2) The funds transferred under this subsection to fund the low-rate initial production of a rapid fielding project shall be for a period not to ex- ceed two years, the amount for such period may not exceed $50,000,000, and the special transfer authority provided in this subsection may not be used more than once to fund procurement of a particular new or upgraded system. (3) The special transfer authority provided in this subsection is in addition to any other trans- fer authority available to the Department of De- fense. (c) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—Within 30 days after the service acquisition executive of a mili- tary department selects a weapon system com- ponent or technology project for a follow-on pro- duction contract or other transaction, the serv- ice acquisition executive shall notify the con- gressional defense committees of the selection and provide a brief description of the rapid field- ing project. (Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title VIII, § 806(a)(1), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2259, § 2447d; re- numbered § 4424 and amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVIII, § 1851(c)(1), (4), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4272, 4273.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2021—Pub. L. 116–283, § 1851(c)(1), renumbered section 2447d of this title as this section.