Dual Use Technologies: Collaborative R & D Agreements with the Federal Government

This paper examines NASA's and other federal agencies' increasingly use of cost-shared research and development agreements to produce or improve “dual-use” technologies. Agency regulations implementing these programs, and agreements governing R&D collaborations, are significantly more flexible than those affecting standard agency procurements of goods and services, including SBIR contracts. These collaborations allow leveraging of limited resources to produce mutually beneficial advances in technology, including navigation technology to meet agency needs and provide benefits to the U.S. economy.