§ 4025 — Prizes For Advanced Technology Achievements

(a) The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and the service acquisition executive for each military department, may carry out programs to award cash prizes and other types of prizes, including procurement contracts and other agreements, that the Secretary determines are appropriate to recognize outstanding achievements in basic, advanced, and applied research, technology development, and prototype development that— (1) have the potential for application to the performance of the military missions of the Department of Defense; or (2) demonstrate management practices that improve the schedule or performance, reduce the costs, or otherwise support the transition of technology into acquisition programs or operational use. (b) Each program under subsection (a) shall use a competitive process for the selection of recipients of cash prizes and for the selection of recipients of procurement contracts and other agreements. The process shall include the widely-advertised solicitation of submissions. (1) No prize competition may result in the award of a prize with a fair market value of more than $10,000,000 without the approval of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. (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 Research and Engineering. (3) No prize competition may result in the award of a solely nonmonetary prize with a fair market value of more than $10,000 without the approval of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. (d) 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. (e) In addition to such sums as may be appropriated or otherwise made available to the Secretary to award prizes under this section, the Secretary may accept funds or nonmonetary items from other departments and agencies of the Federal Government, from State and local governments, and from the private sector, to award prizes under this section. The Secretary may not give any special consideration to any private sector entity in return for a donation. (f) Use of prize authority under this section shall be considered the use of competitive procedures for the purposes of chapter 221 of this title. (1) Not later than 15 days after a procurement contract or other agreement that exceeds a fair market value of $10,000,000 is awarded under the authority under a program under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees written notice of such award. (2) Each notice submitted under paragraph (1) shall include— (A) the value of the relevant procurement contract or other agreement, as applicable, including all options; (B) if applicable, a summary of the management practice that contributed to an improvement to schedule or performance or a reduction in cost relating to the transition of technology; (C) an identification of any program executive officer (as defined in section 1737 of this title) responsible for implementation or oversight of research results, technology development, prototype development, or management practices (as applicable) for which an award was made under this section, and a brief summary of lessons learned by such program executive officer in carrying out such implementation or oversight; (D) a brief description of the research result, technology development, or prototype for which such procurement contract or other agreement, as applicable, was awarded; and (E) an explanation of the benefit to the performance of the military mission of the Department of Defense resulting from the award.