6 U.S.C. § 189 — Utilization of Department of Energy national laboratories and sites in support of homeland security activities

(a) Authority to utilize national laboratories and sites: (1) In general: To carry out the Department's missions, the Secretary may use Department of Energy national labs and sites through any method the Secretary thinks fits, including (A) a joint sponsorship arrangement described in (b), (B) a direct contract between the Department and the lab or site, subject to (c), (C) any "work for others" basis the lab or site offers, or (D) any other method the law allows. (2) Acceptance and performance by labs and sites: No matter what other laws govern how these labs and sites are run, they are allowed to accept and do work for the Secretary — as resources allow — on equal footing with their other missions, not as a lower priority. (b) Joint sponsorship arrangements: (1) Laboratories: The Department can be a joint sponsor, alongside the Department of Energy, of one or more DOE national labs doing this work. (2) Sites: The Department can jointly sponsor a DOE site the same way, treating it like a federally funded research and development center. (3) Primary sponsor: The Department of Energy stays the main sponsor in these joint arrangements. (4) Lead agent: The Secretary of Energy coordinates setting up and running each joint sponsorship arrangement between the Department and a DOE lab or site. (5) Federal Acquisition Regulation: Work done under a joint sponsorship must follow the Federal Acquisition Regulation's rules on using federally funded research and development centers. (6) Funding: The Department must fund this work under the same terms that apply to the main sponsor under 41 U.S.C. § 3303(a)(1)(C). (c) Separate contracting: Where programs moved from DOE to Homeland Security under this chapter are run through direct contracts with a DOE lab or site operator, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Energy must keep those Homeland Security contracts separate from the Department of Energy's own contracts with that operator. (d) Authority with respect to cooperative research and development agreements and licensing agreements: The Secretary may let the director of any DOE lab or site enter cooperative research and development agreements, or negotiate licensing agreements, with any person, any federal, state, or local government body, or any other entity, under the authority in 15 U.S.C. § 3710a. Technology can be transferred to a non-federal partner under this kind of agreement, following 15 U.S.C. §§ 3710 and 3710a. (e) Reimbursement of costs: When a DOE lab or site operator does work under this section, Homeland Security must repay the Department of Energy for the cost — using a method where the Secretary of Energy waives any requirement for Homeland Security to pay administrative or personnel costs higher than what the Department of Energy itself pays that same contractor for its own work. (f) Laboratory directed research and development by the Department of Energy: No money given to the Department in any year may be spent on DOE-run "laboratory directed research and development" unless it supports the Department of Homeland Security's own missions. (g) Office for National Laboratories: The Directorate of Science and Technology must have an Office for National Laboratories, responsible for coordinating and using the DOE national labs and sites under this section, to build a connected laboratory system supporting the Department's missions. (h) Department of Energy coordination on homeland security related research: The Secretary of Energy must make sure any DOE research, development, testing, and evaluation work connected to homeland security is fully coordinated with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to avoid duplicated effort and get the most out of federal budget money.