§ 3458 — Authority To Acquire Innovative Commercial Products And Commercial Services Using General Solicitation Competitive Procedures

(a) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments may acquire innovative commercial products and commercial services through a competitive selection of proposals resulting from a general solicitation and the peer review of such proposals. (b) Use of general solicitation competitive procedures under subsection (a) shall be considered to be use of competitive procedures for purposes of chapter 221 of this title. (1) The Secretary may not enter into a contract or agreement in excess of $100,000,000 using the authority under subsection (a) without a written determination from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment or the relevant service acquisition executive of the efficacy of the effort to meet mission needs of the Department of Defense or the relevant military department. (2) Contracts or agreements entered into using the authority under subsection (a) shall be fixed-price, including fixed-price incentive contracts. (3) Notwithstanding section 3451(1) of this title, products and services acquired using the authority under subsection (a) shall be treated as commercial products and commercial services. (1) Not later than 45 days after the award of a contract for an amount exceeding $100,000,000 using the authority in subsection (a), the Secretary shall notify the congressional defense committees of such award. (2) Notice of an award under paragraph (1) shall include the following: (A) Description of the innovative commercial product or commercial service acquired. (B) Description of the requirement, capability gap, or potential technological advancement with respect to which the innovative commercial product or commercial service acquired provides a solution or a potential new capability. (C) Amount of the contract awarded. (D) Identification of the contractor awarded the contract. (e) In this section, the term “innovative” means— (1) any technology, process, or method, including research and development, that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal; or (2) any application that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal of a technology, process, or method existing as of such date.