To identify, pursue, and develop new technologies to improve and enhance military capabilities, DOD relies on its science and technology (S&T) community which is comprised of DOD research laboratories, test facilities, industry, and academia. The S&T community receives about $12 billion in funding each year to support activities ranging from basic research through advanced technology development that are conducted by the government or externally by universities and commercial industry. Once the S&T community has completed its technology development, additional product development activities, such as technology demonstration and testing, are often needed before incorporating the technologies into military weapon systems. Under the management of the acquisition community, product development further advances technology received from S&T developers and integrates it into systems that are ultimately delivered to support the warfighter (see figure 1). However, as we have reported in the past, for a variety of reasons DOD historically has experienced problems in transitioning technologies out of the S&T environment and into military systems. For example, technologies may not leave the laboratory because their potential has not been adequately demonstrated or recognized, acquisition programs may be unwilling to fund final stages of development, or private industry chooses to develop the technologies itself. DOD has a variety of technology transition programs managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the military departments that provide mechanisms and funding to facilitate technology transitions. The programs vary in size, approach, and funding, but most of them are intended to target fairly mature technologies that are suitable for the final stages of development and demonstration. Some, such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, have a stated purpose of using small businesses to meet federal research and development needs.feasibility and development projects, small businesses are expected to obtain funding from the private sector or government sources outside the SBIR program to commercialize or transition technologies for sale to the military or elsewhere. However, while the program provides funding for technology Congress established RIP as another mechanism, to include consideration of innovation research projects from small businesses, as they are often viewed as a key source for developing innovative technologies in areas of military need. Specifically, Congress directed DOD to establish RIP to accelerate the transition of technologies developed by small businesses participating in SBIR phase II projects; the defense laboratories; and other small or large businesses. The projects funded by RIP are to primarily support major defense acquisition programs, but also other defense acquisition programs that meet a critical national security need. In addition, the projects selected are to accelerate the fielding of technologies with the purpose of reducing acquisition or lifecycle costs; addressing technical risks; and improving test and evaluation outcomes. Furthermore, DOD was directed to develop a competitive, merit-based program that at a minimum provides for the use of a broad agency announcement or the use of any other competitive or merit-based processes for the solicitation of proposals; merit-based selection of the most promising cost-effective proposals for funding through contracts, cooperative agreements, and other transactions; a limit on funding for each RIP project not exceeding $3 million; and no project is funded under the program for more than 2 years. Within DOD, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics issues overall program guidelines, and representatives appointed by the military service acquisition executives, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD/R&E), and the Director, Office of Small Business Programs have the responsibility for establishing the RIP processes that support DOD’s goal and meet the guidelines. The ASD/R&E is also responsible for coordinating RIP activities among the military departments and other defense components. In addition, ASD/R&E is responsible for preparing and submitting a report, at the end of the fiscal year, to the congressional defense committees that includes a list and description of each project funded, the amount of funding provided, and anticipated timeline for transition. The program is implemented and managed by each of the military departments and by ASD/R&E, which represents the other defense components that participate in the program. To date, DOD has not included RIP in its annual budget requests because there is no formal requirement within the department for the program, but Congress has appropriated funding each year. Congress has authorized RIP until September 30, 2015, when it will expire unless further legislative action is taken. DOD has established a competitive, merit-based solicitation process to select and award RIP contracts that address military needs. Each year, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics begins by issuing broad guidance to the military departments and defense components for implementing a multi-phase process to identify military needs, solicit proposals from interested contractors, review and select projects, and award contracts. The process is somewhat lengthy, taking about 18 months to implement and award contracts, but interest from contractors has been high. Between fiscal year 2011 and 2015, the military departments and defense components received more than 11,000 white papers from interested contractors and will have awarded contracts for about 435 projects when the fiscal year 2014 solicitation is completed, with the vast majority going to small business. This high level of interest in the program has presented some administrative challenges to reducing the time from identification of need to contract award. DOD has established a multi-step process to solicit, evaluate, and select RIP projects to fund (see figure 2). Before the yearly RIP acquisition cycle begins, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics issues implementation guidelines to the military departments and defense components which outline program goals and specific guidance on the program’s implementation and reporting requirements. For example, the guidelines include the funding available to the military departments and defense components; DOD-wide research areas, if applicable; guidance on how the solicitation process will be structured, such as whether a single solicitation will be used and the length of time it will be open; and the process for obtaining a waiver for projects expected to exceed the 24 month or $3 million limits. The RIP process begins with the military departments and defense components identifying the technology topics that will be addressed in the program. In addition to the 3 military departments, participation by defense components has increased, from 4 in fiscal year 2011 to 16 in fiscal year 2014. The topics are intended to reflect technology capability needs and requirements for weapon systems and acquisition programs, and are one of the criteria used in the selection of projects. The military departments and defense components have used different approaches to identify the technology research topics, but over time have moved to a more common approach. For example, while the Air Force and Navy have largely relied on their acquisition communities to identify technology needs, the Army relied primarily on its science and technology community to identify needs for the first 3 years of the program. For the Air Force and Navy, this entailed going directly to systems commands, Program Executive Offices, program managers, and others directly involved in the development and production of weapon systems to solicit needs. In relying on its science and technology community, the Army focused on S&T research areas that included more than the specific technology needs of acquisition programs. In fiscal year 2014, the Army expanded its approach and solicited topics from Program Executive Offices as well as from the science and technology community. The defense components used a variety of methods for identifying technology requirements. For example, the Missile Defense Agency develops research topics by reviewing technology road maps and prior SBIR research topics, and obtaining input from Program Executive Officers and program managers. The combatant command participants, such as the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), include operational capabilities linked to internal requirements or urgent needs. The military departments and defense components have used broad agency announcements (BAA) to solicit technical solutions that address technology topics and meet other submission requirements. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provides that the selection of basic and applied research is a competitive procedure if an award results from (1) a broad agency announcement that is general in nature, identifying areas of research interest, including criteria for selecting proposals, and soliciting the participation of all offerors capable of satisfying the government’s needs; and (2) a peer or scientific review. The FAR also requires that BAAs specify the period of time for parties to respond, and contain instructions for preparing and submitting proposals. Also, we have found in a prior review that the use of competitive contracting procedures encourages firms to offer their best proposals when competing for work. The procedures used by the military departments and defense components for selecting RIP projects generally follow FAR competition guidelines because the BAAs identified general areas of research interest and criteria for selecting proposals; solicited the participation of all offerors capable of satisfying the government’s needs; and that subject matter experts will review project proposals. For fiscal years 2011 to 2013, the military departments and the ASD/R&E published four separate BAAs, although they used similar selection and evaluation criteria. In fiscal year 2014, a single BAA was used to solicit proposals because officials wanted to make it easier for businesses to participate in the program and reduce some of the internal overhead involved in having to maintain four separate BAAs within DOD. DOD has established a merit-based review process to select projects through a two-step approach—submission and review of brief white papers submitted by contractors, then comprehensive technical proposals from a subset of these contractors whose white papers are deemed most promising based on four criteria: Contribution to Requirement—the degree to which the technical approach is relevant to the proposed requirement; Technical Approach and Qualifications—the degree to which the technical approach is innovative, feasible, achievable, complete and supported by a technical team that has the expertise and experience to accomplish the proposed tasks; Schedule—the degree to which the proposed schedule is achievable within 24 months from contract award; and Cost—the degree to which the proposed cost or price is realistic for the proposed technical approach and does not exceed $3 million. According to RIP officials, this approach is viewed positively by small businesses because they do not have to invest in developing full proposals at the outset.