When the Secretary carries out basic, applied, and advanced research and development projects, including the expenditure of funds for such projects, the Secretary may exercise the same authority (subject to the same limitations and conditions) with respect to such research and projects as the Secretary of Defense may exercise under section 2371 of title 10 (except for subsections (b) and (f)), after making a determination that the use of a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement for such project is not feasible or appropriate. The annual report required under subsection (b) 1 of this section, as applied to the Secretary by this paragraph, shall be submitted to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Secretary may, under the authority of paragraph (1), carry out prototype projects 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). In applying the authorities of that section 845, subsection (c) of that section shall apply with respect to prototype projects under this paragraph, and the Secretary shall perform the functions of the Secretary of Defense under subsection (d) thereof.
The Secretary shall provide an annual report to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives detailing the projects for which the authority granted by subsection (a) was used, the rationale for its use, the funds spent using that authority, the outcome of each project for which that authority was used, and the results of any audits of such projects.
In this section, the term “nontraditional Government contractor” has the same meaning as the term “nontraditional defense contractor” as defined in section 845(e) 1 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (Public Law 103–160; 10 U.S.C. 2371 note).