readiness objectives, the department must view these matters as more than a policy or operational issue but also as a business issue that must be ad- dressed in cooperation with industry. Therefore, the department should plan for and promote the use of AM not only through statute, policy, and guidance but also when identifying contract requirements and negotiat- ing license rights. IP Narrowly Tailored for Future Cases Establishing a robust Product Sup- port Strategy and IP Management Plan early in the acquisition life cycle enhances a program’s ability to take advantage of competitive pricing and negotiate for special license rights for computer software and technical data necessary to implement product support in contested environments. Obtaining necessary technical data, computer software, and appropriate rights is also critical to enable MOSA across DoW domains and portfolios. An important step in doing so is changing the government’s historical focus on seeking only the “standard” IP licenses specified in the Federal Ac - quisition Regulation and Defense Fed- eral Acquisition Regulation Supple- ment, which force the government to pick a standard license category. This happens even when that license is too narrow to meet operational needs, so broad that the license grants rights beyond what the government needs, or may be cost-prohibitive. For example, if the government seeks technical data for only internal government personnel use, it may falsely believe that the standard “Lim- ited Rights” clause is fully sufficient. However, that standard license does not authorize the government to use the data for nonemergency manu- facture of additional quantities of the component or product, and thus would not cover advanced or additive manufacturing even when done en- tirely by government personnel. Similarly, when the government desires technical data for competi-
tive manufacturing or product sup- port, agencies often seek the stan- dard license known as Government Purpose Rights (GPR). This license allows unrestricted, in-house govern- ment use and release to any govern- ment contractor using that data only to support a government purpose. However, that license covers all gov- ernment agencies and allows each agency to authorize its use by any of their legitimate contractors for any government purpose. This is almost certainly far broader than needed for a specific DoW system or portfolio— and the vendor’s pricing for such an unnecessarily broad license may be cost-prohibitive. To avoid these chal- lenges, a new mindset is required. Drawing from recent experiences and the evolving needs of modern warfare, the DoW is exploring alter- native approaches to the licensing of IP rights where appropriate to better facilitate the creation of deals that satisfy and balance the interests of industry and government. This envi- sions a specially negotiated model where the DoW can license from de- fense contractors IP rights tailored to the specific use case in a mutu- ally beneficial agreement. Such an approach could allow for the on-de- mand production of parts using addi- tive manufacturing, while protecting
technical data for parts developed exclusively at private expense. And if necessary to facilitate IP transactions that might otherwise be unachievable, we can explore al- ternatives to the traditional Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Sup- plement license model, which cus- tomarily calls for fully paid-up per- petual licenses. Licensing models that allow usage of IP for a certain period or amount of usage may mitigate the uncertainty of IP valuation techniques and the risk of over- or underpaying for IP rights for future needs. A robust and early business case analysis, up- dated to coincide with operational and system changes over the system life cycle, will help identify industry and government return on invest- ment and inform specially negoti- ated licenses and payment models tailored to protect industry innova- tion investments and meet the DoW’s performance goals. Adding such agile approaches ensures operational flexibility and fosters a more collaborative and dy- namic relationship between the DoW and its industry partners. It aligns with the DoW’s strategic objectives, particularly in maintaining a com- petitive advantage against our ad- versaries, while providing sufficient adaptability to future contested logistics environments.
MARCH – APRIL 2026 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE 25
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