49 U.S.C. § 330 — Research activities

(a) In General — The Secretary of Transportation can make contracts with schools, public and private agencies and organizations, and individuals for scientific or technological research on problems tied to the Secretary's programs. Before signing a contract, the Secretary must make sure the other party can actually carry it out. (b) Responsibilities — In doing this, the Secretary must: give advice and help the Secretary believes will best serve the Department's duties; help coordinate all the research started this way; point out which lines of research matter most; and encourage cooperation between contractors, and between contractors and other research groups, the Department, and other federal agencies. (c) Publications — The Secretary can publish information the Secretary considers relevant to this research. (d) Duties — The Secretary must provide for: coordinating, facilitating, and reviewing the Department's research and development programs; advancing innovative technologies, including intelligent transportation systems; comprehensive transportation-statistics research and reporting; education and training in transportation fields; the activities of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center; and coordinating multimodal, multidisciplinary research. (e) Additional Authorities — The Secretary can: enter grants and cooperative agreements with federal, state, and local agencies, other public entities, and private organizations to research transportation service and infrastructure and to do other Department research; carry out cost-shared collaborative research and development — with non-federal groups (state and local governments, foreign governments, colleges, corporations, and others), federal laboratories, and other federal agencies — to encourage new solutions and speed up new technology; and directly set up contracts, grants, cooperative research and development agreements, and other agreements to fund — or take funding from — the Transportation Research Board, state transportation departments, cities, counties, colleges, and associations, for joint research and technology work. (f) Federal Share — (1) In general: the federal government's share of the cost of collaborative work under (e)(3) normally can't be more than 50 percent. (2) Exception: the Secretary can approve a bigger federal share if the work serves a substantial public interest or benefit. (3) Non-federal share: all costs the non-federal partners directly pay — including staff, travel, facilities, and hardware development — count toward their share of the cost. (g) Program Evaluation and Oversight — For fiscal years 2016 through 2020, the Secretary can spend up to 1½ percent of the money appropriated for these programs on coordinating, evaluating, and overseeing the office that runs them. (h) Use of Technology — Any technology researched, developed, or used under a contract, grant, or agreement here — including how it can be licensed and how royalties get split — follows the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. (i) Waiver of Advertising Requirements — The usual federal contract-advertising rule (41 U.S.C. § 6101) doesn't apply to contracts, grants, or agreements made under this section.