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TITLE
VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED
MATTERS
Subtitle C — Amendments to
General Contracting Authorities, Procedures, and Limitations |
SEC. 822. TECHNICAL DATA RIGHTS.
(a) Policy Guidance- Not later
than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Defense shall issue policy guidance with respect to
rights in technical data under a non-FAR agreement. The guidance
shall--
(1)
establish criteria for defining the legitimate interests of
the United States and the party concerned in technical data
pertaining to an item or process to be developed under the
agreement;
(2) require that specific rights in technical data be
established during agreement negotiations and be based upon
negotiations between the United States and the potential party
to the agreement, except in any case in which the Secretary of
Defense determines, on the basis of criteria established in
such policy guidance, that the establishment of rights during
or through agreement negotiations would not be practicable;
and
(3) require the program manager for a major weapon system or
an item of personnel protective equipment that is to be
developed using a non-FAR agreement to assess the long-term
technical data needs of such system or item.
(b)
Requirement to Include Provisions in Non-FAR Agreements- A
non-FAR agreement shall contain appropriate provisions relating
to rights in technical data consistent with the policy guidance
issued pursuant to subsection (a).
(c) Definitions- In this section:
(1)
The term `non-FAR agreement' means an agreement that is not
subject to laws pursuant to which the Federal Acquisition
Regulation is prescribed, including--
(A)
a transaction authorized under section 2371 of this title;
and
(B) a cooperative research and development agreement.
(2)
The term `party', with respect to a non-FAR agreement, means a
non-Federal entity and includes any of the following:
(A)
A contractor and its subcontractors (at any tier).
(B) A joint venture.
(C) A consortium.
(d)
Report on Life Cycle Planning for Technical Data Needs- Not
later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report
on the implementation of the requirements in section 2320(e) of
title 10, United States Code, for the assessment of long-term
technical data needs to sustain major weapon systems. Such
report shall include--
(1) a
description of all relevant guidance or policies issued;
(2) a description of the extent to which program managers have
received training to better assess the long-term technical
data needs of major weapon systems and subsystems; and
(3) a description of one or more examples, if any, where a
priced contract option has been used on major weapon systems
for the future delivery of technical data and one or more
examples, if any, where all relevant technical data were
acquired upon contract award.
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SECTION 814--TECHNICAL DATA RIGHTS FOR
NON-FAR AGREEMENTS This
section would add a new section 2320a to title 10, United States
Code. This section would require the Secretary of Defense to
issue policy guidance regarding the negotiation and acquisition
of technical data rights for agreements that are not subject to
the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), including other
transaction authority agreements authorized by section 2371 of
title 10, United States Code, and cooperative research and
development agreements. This section would require that program
managers for major weapons systems developed under such
agreements assess long-term technical data requirements in
accordance with subsection (e) of section 2320, United States
Code. This section would also require the Secretary to submit a
report to the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the House
Committee on Armed Services within 120 days after the date of
enactment of this Act regarding the implementation of the
requirements of subsection (e) of section 2320(e) of title 10,
United States Code.
The committee notes that the Department has utilized agreements
that are not subject to the FAR for the initial development and
prototyping of certain major weapon systems such as the design of
naval surface combatants. This section would ensure appropriate
guidance is in place to assist defense acquisition officials
during the negotiation of such agreements in protecting the
rights of the federal government to technical data.
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