EconDefense
ACQ-51 / Acquisition, transition and contract finance

Grant extraordinary national-defense contractual relief

Under Presidential authorization during qualifying emergency, enter/amend/modify contracts and make advances where necessary to facilitate national defense, subject to statutory safeguards.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-51 · Contracts & purchases
Legal basis50 U.S.C. §1431

Authority holder: President authorizes; DoD/Service officials or Contract Adjustment Boards within lawful delegation

Contracts & purchasesGrants & cooperative agreements

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

Availability and verification

Conditional statutory pathway; current emergency/delegation predicate and funds must be validated. Inflation-only temporary branch not represented as available.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • National-defense facilitation; valid Presidential authorization and applicable national emergency.
  • Above $500k approval at specified senior level; above $150m congressional notice and 60 days continuous-session wait.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not permission to disregard all procurement/fiscal laws; §1432 express exclusions remain.
  • Separate inflation-only §1431(c)-(d) authority ended 2025-12-31 in audited law and is not treated as currently available.
  • Statute is substantive grant; Executive Order 10789 only supplies implementation/delegation, not a substitute grant.

Funding conditions

  • Available lawful funds and contingent-liability review; special inflation relief required specific appropriations even when active.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Program/contracting officer and contractor requesting relief
    Office profile

Resources

  • Responsible contract/program funds and authorized relief sources

Approval

  • Applicable senior department official or Contract Adjustment Board; President’sauthorization predicates

Execution

Partners & review

  • DCMA insurance review for hazardous/nuclear requests; fiscal/counsel; Congress at threshold

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

Coordination pathway

Program/contractor → contracting officer and counsel → relief board/senior official → required Congress notice → contract modification or permitted relief.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 50 U.S.C. §1431Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 50 U.S.C. §1432Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 50 U.S.C. §1433Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 50 U.S.C. §1435Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 10 U.S.C. §3862Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • P.L. 119-60, §876Enacted public law, not a pending bill.

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. No FY26 NDAA extension of §1431(e) inflation-only authority identified; general §1431(a) must not be confused with that expired branch.

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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