The Secretary of Defense shall promote, monitor, and evaluate programs for the communication and exchange of research, development, and technological data—

(1) among the Defense research facilities, combatant commands, and other organizations that are involved in developing for the Department of Defense the technological requirements for new items for use by combat forces;

(2) among Defense research facilities and other offices, agencies, and bureaus in the Department that are engaged in related technological matters;

(3) among other research facilities and other departments or agencies of the Federal Government that are engaged in research, development, and technological matters;

(4) among private commercial, research institution, and university entities engaged in research, development, and technological matters potentially relevant to defense on a voluntary basis;

(5) to the extent practicable, to achieve full awareness of scientific and technological advancement and innovation wherever it may occur, whether funded by the Department of Defense, another element of the Federal Government, or other entities; and

(6) through development and distribution of clear technical communications to the public, military operators, acquisition organizations, and civilian and military decision-makers that convey successes of research and engineering activities supported by the Department and the contributions of such activities to support national needs.

The Secretary of Defense shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable—

(1) that Defense research facilities are assigned broad mission requirements rather than specific hardware needs;

(2) that appropriate personnel of such facilities are assigned to serve as consultants on component and support system standardization;

(3) that the managers of such facilities have broad latitude to choose research and development projects based on awareness of activities throughout the technology domain, including within the Federal Government, the Department of Defense, public and private research institutions and universities, and the global commercial marketplace;

(4) that technology position and issue papers prepared by Defense research facilities are readily available to all components of the Department of Defense and to contractors who submit bids or proposals for Department of Defense contracts;

(5) that, in order to promote increased consideration of technological issues early in the development process, any technological assessment made by a Defense research facility shall be provided to the Defense Technical Information Center repository to support acquisition decisions; and

(6) that, in light of Defense research facilities being funded by the public, Defense research facilities are broadly authorized and encouraged to support national technological development goals and support technological missions of other departments and agencies of the Federal Government, when such support is determined by the Secretary of Defense to be in the best interests of the Federal Government.

In this section, the term “Defense research facility” means a Department of Defense facility which performs or contracts for the performance of—

(1) basic research; or

(2) applied research known as exploratory development.

(Added Pub. L. 99–661, div. A, title II, § 234(c)(1), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3848; amended Pub. L. 100–26, §§ 3(1)(A), 7(a)(9), Apr. 21, 1987, 101 Stat. 273, 278; Pub. L. 100–180, div. A, title XII, § 1231(10)(A), (B), Dec. 4, 1987, 101 Stat. 1160; Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title VIII, § 805, Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 390; Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title II, § 213, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3325; Pub. L. 114–92, div. A, title II, § 214(a), Nov. 25, 2015, 129 Stat. 767; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(a)(34), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1596.)