Brown recommends careful review of solicitations from the Defense Department and other military sponsors to identify references to export controls, security restrictions, foreign national restrictions, publication restrictions, government-furnished information (GFI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). These references may indicate that the Fundamental Research Exclusion does not apply to projects that receive this funding, or that controlled information is anticipated in the conduct of the project. To qualify for the Fundamental Research Exclusion, work conducted at Brown cannot carry any restrictions to publication, access or dissemination.

To ensure that the Fundamental Research Exclusion is preserved, certain language must be inserted into proposal documents at the time of proposal submission.

Such language is not required in pre-proposal submissions, white papers or letters of intent submitted to sponsors. Use the following templates when preparing your proposals.

 Recommended Language for Defense Department Proposals:

Developmental items produced with Defense Department funding, including specially designed parts, components, accessories and attachments, may be subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (regardless of whether the project qualifies as fundamental research) unless these items are identified in the Defense Department agreements being developed for both civil and military applications. 

If the scope of work involves creating or modifying equipment or materials under a Defense Department agreement, it is strongly recommended that the proposal documents highlight potential civil applications or that an explicit statement be included in the proposal documents (e.g., cover letter, statement of work or body of the proposal) such as: “It is understood that any developmental items and specially designed parts, components, accessories and attachments generated under this Department of Defense agreement are being developed for both civil and military applications.”

If the funding agreement does not include this or similar language, any hardware or materials created or modified under the agreement will need to be handled as “developmental” items subject to ITAR unless Brown receives a commodity jurisdiction stating otherwise from the U.S. Department of State.

If an item truly does not have civil applications, the research team should not indicate that it does. In such rare circumstances, contact Export Control to assess if the item and your research may be subject to control under ITAR.