DoD Presumes Contractors Do R&D at Their Own Expense

WASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of Defense now will presume that contractors have developed technical data and codes in commercially available software at their own expense, not at the military's, according to new regulations adopted by the Defense Acquisition Regulations System.

Previously, the military automatically could challenge contractors who want to restrict its access to the data and codes on software the military bought.

To make a challenge now, the military must first prove it paid for all or part of the development of an item.

For so-called major systems that were developed in whole or in part for exclusive sale to the military, contractors will have to prove that the information they want to restrict was developed at their own expense. Where a major-system involves some components that are commercially available and some that are not, the presumption in favor of the contractors extends to those parts of the system that are commercially available.

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