I. Background

To implement section 866 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, DoD published an interim rule in the Federal Register at 76 FR 38048 on June 29, 2011, establishing a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of acquiring military-purpose nondevelopmental items in accordance with streamlined procedures. The authority for this pilot program expires on January 6, 2016. Under this pilot program, DoD may enter into contracts with nontraditional defense contractors for the purpose of--

--  Enabling DoD to acquire items that otherwise might not have been available to DoD;

--  Assisting DoD in the rapid acquisition and fielding of capabilities needed to meet urgent operational needs; and

--  Protecting the interests of the United States in paying fair and reasonable prices for the item or items acquired.

This pilot program is designed to test whether the streamlined procedures, similar to those available for commercial items, can serve as an effective incentive for nontraditional defense contractors to (1) channel investment and innovation into areas that are useful to DoD and (2) provide items developed exclusively at private expense to meet validated military requirements.