EconDefense
ACQ-42 / Acquisition, transition and contract finance

Rapidly acquire urgent capabilities and make limited emergency funding/waiver decisions

Respond to documented combat, contingency or cyber deficiencies through accelerated acquisition/deployment; specified determinations unlock bounded use of available funds and selected legal waivers.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-42 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §3601

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense or Deputy Secretary of Defense for reserved determinations; designated senior official for permitted waivers

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Documented qualifying deficiency or compelling national-security rapid-pathway need and written determination.
  • Acquisition, funding, evaluation, disposition and transition strategy; prescribed congressional notice.

Limits & exclusions

  • Cannot waive criminal/civil-penalty statutes, appropriations-expenditure laws or §3601 itself.
  • Baseline annual statutory pools:$200m each for combat, contingency and cyber categories; $50m for immediate rapid-pathway starts; sustainment use limited 2 years.

Funding conditions

  • Only permitted available funds and O&M accounts; findings/notices and fiscal review essential.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

Resources

  • Secretary of Defense-designated available DoD accounts; component comptrollers
    Office profile

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense or Deputy Secretary of Defense; designated senior official for statutory waivers
    Office profile

Execution

  • Service/component program and contracting office

Partners & review

  • DOT&E, OMB, congressional defense committees

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

COCOM deficiency → Service acquisition/fiscal team → Secretary of Defense/Deputy determination → senior official waivers → rapid contract/evaluation/deployment.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §3601Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: GovInfo 2024 Code (includes FY2025 NDAA, P.L. 118-159) read in full for cited provision; targeted FY2026 NDAA P.L. 119-60 amendment/repeal sweep. No claim of complete legislative currency through 2026-10-02; remaining 2026 delta needs counsel validation.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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