Sec. 218. Pilot program on disclosure of certain sensitive information to contractors performing under contracts with Department of Defense federally funded research and development centers
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The Secretary of Defense shall carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of permitting officers and employees of the Department of Defense to disclose sensitive information to federally funded research and development centers of the Department for the sole purpose of the performance of administrative, technical, or professional services under and within the scope of the contracts with such federally funded research and development centers. The pilot program shall be carried out with one or more federally funded research and development centers of the Department selected by the Secretary for participation in the pilot program.
Sensitive information may be disclosed to personnel of a contractor of a federally funded research and development center under the pilot program only if such personnel agree to be subject to, and comply with, such ethics standards and requirements as the Secretary shall specify for purposes of the pilot program, including the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, section 1905 of title 18, United States Code, and chapter 21 of title 41, United States Code. Sensitive information may be disclosed under the pilot program only if the federally funded research and development center concerned and any relevant contractors agree to and acknowledge that— sensitive information furnished to the federally funded research and development center and any relevant contractor under the pilot program will be accessed and used only for the purposes stated in the contract between the federally funded research and development center and such contractor; the federally funded research and development center and any relevant contractor will take all precautions necessary to prevent disclosure of the sensitive information furnished to anyone not authorized access to the information in order to perform the applicable contract; sensitive information furnished under the pilot program shall not be used by the federally funded research and development center and any relevant contractor to compete against a third party for a Government or non-Government contract, or to support current or future research or technology development activities performed by the federally funded research and development center or contractor; and any personnel of a contractor of a federally funded research and development center participating in the pilot program may not have access to any trade secrets, or to any other nonpublic information which is of value to the research and technology development activities of the private-sector organization from which such employee is assigned, unless specifically authorized by this section or other law.
The pilot program shall terminate on the date that is three years after the date of the commencement of the pilot program. Not later than two years after the commencement of the pilot program, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the pilot program, including an assessment of the effectiveness of activities under the pilot program in improving acquisition processes and the effectiveness of protections of private-sector intellectual property in the course of such activities.
In this section, the term sensitive information means confidential commercial, financial, or proprietary information, technical data, contract performance, contract performance evaluation, management, and administration data, or other privileged information owned by other contractors of the Department of Defense that is exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, or which would otherwise be prohibited from disclosure under section 1832 or 1905 of title 18, United States Code.