Institutions & Program Administration

The program can provide technical assistance or funding to Covered Educational Institutions.

The program is administered by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Secretary of each military department, shall carry out a program to provide assistance to Covered Educational Institutions to assist the Department in defense-related research, development, testing, and evaluation activities.

A Covered Educational Institution is an institution of higher education eligible for assistance under title III or V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) or an accredited postsecondary minority institution.

Covered Educational Institutions include historically black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions such as Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHSI), Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs).

U.S. Code § 4144 exists to support research, development, testing, evaluation, or educational enhancements in areas important to national defense through the competitive awarding of grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, scholarships, fellowships, or the acquisition of research equipment or instrumentation.