REAUTHORIZATION OF DEFENSE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT RAPID INNOVATION PROGRAM.

SEC. 216. REAUTHORIZATION OF DEFENSE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT RAPID INNOVATION PROGRAM. (a) Extension of Program.—Section 1073 of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (Public Law 111-383; 10 U.S.C. 2359a note) is amended— (1) in subsection (d), by striking “2015” and inserting “2023”; and (2) in subsection (g), by striking “September 30, 2015” and inserting “September 30, 2023”. (b) Modification of Guidelines for Operation of Program.—Subsection (b) of such section is amended— (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: “(1) The issuance of an annual broad agency announcement or the use of any other competitive or merit-based processes by the Department of Defense for candidate proposals in support of defense acquisition programs as described in subsection (a).” ; (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the second sentence; (3) in paragraph (4)— (A) in the first sentence, by striking “be funded under the program for more than two years” and inserting “receive more than a total of two years of funding under the program”; and (B) by striking the second sentence; and (4) by adding at the end, the following new paragraphs: “(5) 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 819 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111-84; 10 U.S.C. 2302 note) 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. “(6) 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.” . (c) Repeal of Report Requirement.—Such section is further amended— (1) by striking subsection (f); and (2) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (f).