The Secretary of Defense shall establish a competitive, merit-based program to enable and assist small businesses to accelerate the commercialization of various technologies, including critical technologies developed pursuant to phase II Small Business Innovation Research Program projects, phase II Small Business Technology Transfer Program projects, technologies developed by the defense laboratories, capabilities developed through competitively awarded prototype agreements and other innovative technologies (including dual use technologies).

The purpose of this program is to stimulate innovative technologies and reduce acquisition or lifecycle costs, address technical risks, improve the timeliness and thoroughness of test and evaluation outcomes, support the integration of such products, and rapidly insert such products directly in support of primarily major defense acquisition programs, but also other defense acquisition programs that meet critical national security needs.

The issuance of one or more broad agency announcements or the use of any other competitive or merit-based processes by the Department of Defense for candidate proposals in support of primarily major defense acquisition programs, but also other defense acquisition programs as described in subsection (a).

The review of candidate proposals by the Department of Defense and by each Office of Small Business Programs of each military department and the merit-based selection of the most promising cost-effective proposals for funding through contracts, cooperative agreements, and other transactions for the purposes of carrying out the program.

The total amount of funding provided to any project under the program from funding provided under subsection (d) shall not exceed $6,000,000.

No project shall receive more than a total of two years of funding under the program from funding provided under subsection (d), unless the Secretary, or the Secretary’s designee, approves funding for any additional year.

Mechanisms to facilitate transition of follow-on or current projects carried out under the program into defense acquisition programs, through the use of the authorities of section 4004 of this title or such other authorities as may be appropriate to conduct further testing, low rate production, or full rate production of technologies developed under the program.

Projects are selected using merit-based selection procedures and the selection of projects is not subject to undue influence by Congress or other Federal agencies.

A preference under the program for funding small business concerns.

Subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose and to the limitation under paragraph (2), the amounts authorized to be appropriated for research, development, test, and evaluation for a fiscal year may be used for such fiscal year for the program established under subsection (a).

During any fiscal year, the total amount of awards in an amount greater than $6,000,000 made under the program established under subsection (a) may not exceed 25 percent of the amount made available to carry out such program during such fiscal year.

The Secretary may transfer funds available for the program to the research, development, test, and evaluation accounts of a military department, defense agency, or the unified combatant command for special operations forces pursuant to a proposal, or any part of a proposal, that the Secretary determines would directly support the purposes of the program.

The transfer authority provided in this subsection is in addition to any other transfer authority available to the Department of Defense.