Independent Research & Development (IR&D)
DAU GLOSSARY DEFINITION
Research and development efforts by industry that are neither sponsored by a grant nor required in performance of a contract, and which consist of projects falling within the areas of basic and applied research, development, and systems and other concept formulation studies.
Industry’s IR&D is a key source of innovation for the DoD. The Department's insight and interest in shaping and leveraging industry IR&D has varied since IR&D came into being in the 1930s. The latest resurgence in DoD interest in IR&D occurred in the early 2010s. In 2010, under the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics' (USD(AT&L's)) Better Buying Power (BBP) initiative, DoD staff engaged with industry and government to determine how to improve IR&D effectiveness. The key challenge identified was communication -- industry wanted information about Department investment priorities to help them better align their R&D, and DoD planners had limited insight into industry IR&D.
On 30 January 2012, the Department issued an update to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 231.205-18) to improve visibility into industry IR&D, further incentivizing productivity and innovation. The DFARS update required major contractors with more than $11,000,000 in IR&D and Bid & Proposal (B&P) costs to submit IR&D project data to a protected government database to be eligible for reimbursement.
In addition to the IR&D database, the Defense Innovation Marketplace website (henceforth called the Marketplace) was developed to provide a one-stop-resource for industry and government. Industry uses the Marketplace:
- To learn about Department and Service investment priorities and capability needs through links to key S&T documents and websites.
- For major contractors, including Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), to submit IR&D project data and comply with the DFARs rule.
- For small- to mid-size firms to securely share company IR&D projects in a database designed for Department S&T program managers and Acquisition executives.
For Department of Defense personnel, the Marketplace is the centralized place to:
- Highlight Service, program and acquisition S&T needs to the entire defense industrial base and
- Search, learn about and then leverage industry technology (IR&D) projects for current and future programs. To request access to view the industry IR&D database, government personnel should select "Government Portal" under the Marketplace Portals menu. As of early 2024, industry IR&D database contained over 71,000 project descriptions submitted since 2010).
The DoD implements its IR&D management policy through DoDI 3204.01, DoD Policy for Oversight of Independent Research and Development (IR&D).