41 U.S.C. § 1904: Certain transactions for defense against attack

The head of an executive agency that engages in basic research, applied research, advanced research, and development projects that are necessary to the responsibilities of the executive agency in the field of research and development and have the potential to facilitate defense against or recovery from terrorism or nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack may exercise the same authority (subject to the same restrictions and conditions) with respect to the research and projects as the Secretary of Defense may exercise under section 2371 1 of title 10, except for subsections (b) and (f) of section 2371. 1 See References in Text note below. The head of an executive agency, under the authority of paragraph (1), may carry out prototype projects that meet the requirements of paragraph (1) in accordance with the requirements and conditions provided for carrying out prototype projects under section 845 1 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 ( Public Law 103–160 , 10 U.S.C. 2371 note), including that, to the maximum extent practicable, competitive procedures shall be used when entering into agreements to carry out projects under section 845(a) of that Act and that the period of authority to carry out projects under section 845(a) of that Act terminates as provided in section 845(i) of that Act. section 845(c) of that Act shall apply with respect to prototype projects carried out under paragraph (2); and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall perform the functions of the Secretary of Defense under section 845(d) of that Act. The head of an executive agency may exercise authority under this subsection for a project only if authorized by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Authority under this subsection does not apply to the Secretary of Homeland Security while section 831 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 391 ) is in effect. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section. No transaction may be conducted under the authority of this section before the regulations take effect. The annual report of the head of an executive agency that is required under section 2371(h) 1 of title 10, as applied to the head of the executive agency by subsection (a), shall be submitted to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives. The authority to carry out transactions under subsection (a) terminates on September 30, 2008 .