Design competitions: advertisement; selection of winner

§ 2271. Design competitions: advertisement; selection of winner (a) To encourage the development of aviation and to improve the efficiency of aeronautical war material for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, the Secretary of each military department, before procuring new designs of aircraft, aircraft parts, or aeronautical accessories, shall invite the submission of new designs thereof in competition, as follows. (b) An invitation for the submission of a design shall be made by advertisement in not less than three leading aeronautical journals for a period of 30 days, and in such other manner as the Secretary of the military department concerned considers advisable. Such an advertisement shall specify a time within which designs and prices may be submitted. This time may not be less than 60 days after the expiration of the 30-day advertising period. Each submission shall be sealed and shall contain the design submitted, a statement of the price for which the design or any part of it would be sold to the United States, and a graduated scale of prices for which the designer is willing to construct all or any part of a designed item. The submission shall be kept sealed until the expiration of the specified time. No design mailed after that time may be considered. (c) Each advertisement under subsection (b) shall state in general terms the kind of aircraft, aircraft parts, or aeronautical accessories 124to be developed and the approximate quantity required. The department concerned shall furnish to each applicant identical detailed information as to the conditions of the competition and the features and characteristics to be developed in the design, listing specifically the measures of merit, expressed in percentages, that are to be applied in determining the merits of the design. These measures of merit apply throughout the competition. (d) Each design submitted under subsection (b) shall be referred to a board appointed by the Secretary of the military department concerned. The board shall appraise each design as soon as practicable and report the winners to the Secretary. If the Secretary approves the boards report, he shall fix the time and place of a public announcement of the results and notify each competitor. If the Secretary does not approve it, the papers may be returned to the board for revision, or he may choose the winners, as he elects. The decision of the Secretary is final and conclusive. The announcement of the results of the competition shall state the percentages awarded to each feature or characteristic of each of the designs submitted and the price named for each design and each feature thereof, if separable. (e) If, within 10 days after the announcement of the results of a competition under subsection (d), a competitor makes a reasonable showing in writing to the Secretary of the military department concerned that an error was made in determining the merits of designs submitted and that he was thereby deprived of an award, the Secretary shall at once refer the matter to a board of arbitration for determination. The board of arbitration shall be composed of three skilled aeronautical engineers, one of whom shall be selected by the Secretary, one by the claimant, and the third by the other members. No person may be a member of a board of arbitration if he served on the board of appraisal that judged the competition out of which the arbitration arose. The findings of the board are conclusive if approved by the Secretary. In a competition, three competitors, or less, who have the highest figures of merit may be selected as winners.