23 U.S.C. § 502 — Surface transportation research, development, and technology

(a) Basic Principles Governing Research and Technology Investments. This subsection sets the ground rules for federal surface-transportation research. These rules apply throughout this entire chapter. "Research and technology development" covers the whole innovation lifecycle^* — developing new technology and moving it into use — plus introducing new ideas and practices through field trials, education and training, communication, impact studies, and technical support. Funding and running this research counts as a basic federal responsibility when the work: is nationally significant; delivers a clear public benefit where private investment falls short; supports the federal role of helping states use national resources efficiently; meets current or emerging needs; fills gaps in existing research; is the best way to line up resources with multi-year plans and priorities; coordinates highway^* research and technology transfer, including through university transportation centers; trains transportation professionals; or is the best way to support federal policy goals compared to other options. Given these responsibilities, the Secretary^* must: do research; partner with state^* highway agencies and other stakeholders on research and technology transfer; share the results of ongoing and finished research; lead the coordination of national highway research and innovation priorities; build partnerships with industry, academia, other countries, and state transportation departments; cut down on unnecessary duplicated effort; and speed up how fast innovations get delivered. A surface transportation research program must include basic, long-term highway research; research on major research gaps and emerging issues of national importance; and research aimed at improving the transportation system generally. This research must address the needs of stakeholders — states, regional planning organizations, local and tribal governments, private industry, researchers, funders, and other affected groups including public interest organizations. Unless this chapter says otherwise, the Secretary must award research grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements through open competition and peer review as much as practically possible. As much as possible, every research project^* must include performance measurement and evaluation, with performance measures set during the proposal stage and made outcome-based where possible; each program should fit into a data-driven, outcome-focused plan; and all evaluations must be made available to the public. These programs must also line up with the transportation research and development strategic plan required under section 6503 of title 49.

(b) General Authority. The Secretary may carry out research, development, and technology transfer work on motor carrier transportation; all phases of transportation planning and development (construction^*, operations, system management, modernizing, designing, maintaining, safety^*, financing, and traffic conditions); and how state laws affect those activities. The Secretary may test or develop — or help test or develop — any material, invention, patented item, or process. The Secretary may do this work independently, in partnership with other federal agencies and labs, or by making grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with groups like the National Academy of Sciences, the state highway officials' association, any federal or state lab or agency, nonprofit or for-profit organizations, foreign countries, or any other person. These programs must also match the strategic research plan under 49 U.S.C. 6503. The Secretary may spend money that cooperating organizations or people deposit into a special Treasury account set up for this purpose, on top of other available funds, and must use available money to develop, run, communicate, and promote the results of these programs. To use resources well, the Secretary may team up with a state and other agencies to fund shared research through pooled funds, acting as everyone's agent in the contracts, grants, and agreements involved; at a state's request, the Secretary may shift money apportioned to that state to another state or the Federal Highway Administration for pooled research, with money moved this way keeping the same rules and amount as the original project. The Secretary may also use up to 1% of certain 2012 transportation research funds to run cash-prize competitions that spur innovation with potential national transportation benefits. Walking through those rules: the Secretary picks competition topics by consulting a wide range of government and outside experts, favoring goals that show innovative ways to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability; must advertise the competitions; and for each one must publish online its^* subject, eligibility rules, prize amount, and how a winner is chosen. To win, a person or entity must have registered, followed all the requirements, and — if a private company — be incorporated and mainly based in the U.S. (or, if an individual, be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident); they can't be a federal entity or employee acting in that role, and can't already hold a research grant on the same topic. Participants must accept the risk of injury, death, or property loss (except from willful misconduct) and waive claims against the government, and must carry liability insurance or show financial responsibility for third-party claims and government property damage, naming the government as an additional insured. The Secretary, directly or through a private nonprofit under agreement, appoints qualified judges including people from outside government — but a judge can't have a personal or financial stake in a participating entity, or a family or financial tie to a participant. Prize money can combine federal and private funds, and the Secretary can accept money from other federal agencies, states, and local planning bodies, but can't give a private donor special treatment in exchange for a donation. Appropriated prize money stays available until spent and can't be redirected for ten years after the fiscal year it was appropriated, and nothing here allows spending in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act. A prize can't be announced until all its funding is either appropriated or committed in writing, though the Secretary may later raise a prize's amount if the increase is announced the same way and fully funded. A prize competition can't offer more than $1,000,000 without giving Congress 30 days' written notice first, and total awards in one competition can't exceed $25,000 without the Secretary's approval. Offering a prize doesn't make the government responsible for a participant's compliance with other federal laws, like export controls. At least 30 days before running a prize competition, the Secretary must notify the relevant House and Senate committees, and must report to them yearly on any competitions held that year — including each one's goals, why a prize competition beat other options like grants or contracts, how much was awarded and from what sources, how submissions were solicited and judged, what resources were used, and how the competition advanced the Department's mission.

(c) Collaborative Research and Development. The Secretary may share the cost of collaborative research with non-federal partners — states, local and foreign governments, colleges, corporations, and trade groups — and with federal labs, to encourage new solutions and speed up new technology. The Secretary may directly make contracts and cooperative research and development agreements, and accept or give funds, with groups like the Transportation Research Board, state transportation departments, and cities and counties, to run joint research. The federal government's share of a cooperative project's cost normally can't exceed 80%, though the Secretary may approve a higher share when there's substantial public interest or benefit; all costs the non-federal partners directly pay — including personnel, travel, and equipment — count toward their share. Any technology researched, developed, or used under one of these agreements — including licensing terms and how royalties are split — follows the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. Certain advertising requirements under section 6101(b) to (d) of title 41 don't apply to contracts or agreements made under this chapter.