GREAT Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 50 To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Ms. FOXX of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grant Reporting Effi- 4 ciency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘GREAT Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 7 The purposes of this Act are to— 8 (1) modernize reporting by recipients of Federal 9 grants and cooperative agreements by creating and 10 imposing data standards for the information that 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 50 IH grants and cooperative agreement recipients must 1 report to the Federal Government; 2 (2) implement the recommendation by the Di- 3 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, 4 under section 5(b)(6) of the Federal Funding Ac- 5 countability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 6 U.S.C. 6101 note), which includes the development 7 of a ‘‘comprehensive taxonomy of standard defini- 8 tions for core data elements required for managing 9 Federal financial assistance awards’’; 10 (3) reduce burden and compliance costs of re- 11 cipients of Federal grants and cooperative agree- 12 ments by enabling technology solutions, existing or 13 yet to be developed, by both the public and private 14 sectors, to better manage data recipients already 15 provide to the Federal Government; and 16 (4) to strengthen oversight and management of 17 Federal grants and cooperative agreements by agen- 18 cies through consolidated collection and display of 19 and access to open data that has been standardized, 20 and where appropriate, transparency to the public. 21 SEC. 3. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING. 22 (a) AMENDMENT.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 23 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the 24 following new chapter: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 50 IH ‘‘CHAPTER 64—DATA STANDARDS FOR 1 GRANT REPORTING 2 ‘‘SEC. 6401. DEFINITIONS. 3 ‘‘In this chapter: 4 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 5 meaning given that term in section 552(f) of title 5. 6 ‘‘(2) CORE DATA ELEMENTS.—The term ‘core 7 data elements’ means data elements that are not 8 program-specific in nature and are required by agen- 9 cies for all or the vast majority of Federal grant and 10 cooperative assistance recipients for purposes of re- 11 porting. 12 ‘‘(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 13 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 14 et. 15 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL AWARD.—The term ‘Federal 16 award’— 17 ‘‘(A) means the transfer of anything of 18 value for a public purpose of support or stimu- 19 lation authorized by a law of the United States, 20 including financial assistance and Government 21 facilities, services, and property; 22 ‘‘(B) includes grants, subgrants, awards, 23 and cooperative agreements; and 24 ‘‘(C) does not include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 50 IH ‘‘(i) conventional public information 1 services or procurement of property or 2 services for the direct benefit or use of the 3 Government; or 4 ‘‘(ii) an agreement that provides 5 only— 6 ‘‘(I) direct Government cash as- 7 sistance to an individual; 8 ‘‘(II) a subsidy; 9 ‘‘(III) a loan; 10 ‘‘(IV) a loan guarantee; or 11 ‘‘(V) insurance. 12 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 13 the head of the standard-setting agency. 14 ‘‘(6) STANDARD-SETTING AGENCY.—The term 15 ‘standard-setting agency’ means the Executive de- 16 partment designated under section 6402(a)(1). 17 ‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 18 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 19 each commonwealth, territory or possession of the 20 United States, and each federally recognized Indian 21 Tribe. 22 ‘‘SEC. 6402. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING. 23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 50 IH ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION OF STANDARD-SETTING 1 AGENCY.—The Director shall designate the Execu- 2 tive department (as defined in section 101 of title 5) 3 that issues the most Federal awards in a calendar 4 year as the standard-setting agency. 5 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.—Not 6 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 7 this chapter, the Secretary and the Director shall es- 8 tablish Governmentwide data standards for informa- 9 tion reported by recipients of Federal awards. 10 ‘‘(3) DATA ELEMENTS.—The data standards 11 established under paragraph (2) shall include, at a 12 minimum— 13 ‘‘(A) standard definitions for data elements 14 required for managing Federal awards; and 15 ‘‘(B) unique identifiers for Federal awards 16 and entities receiving Federal awards that can 17 be consistently applied Governmentwide. 18 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The data standards established under 19 subsection (a) shall include core data elements and may 20 cover any information required to be reported to any agen- 21 cy by recipients of Federal awards, including audit-related 22 information reported under chapter 75 of this title. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 50 IH ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards required 1 to be established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent 2 reasonable and practicable— 3 ‘‘(1) render information reported by recipients 4 of Federal grant and cooperative agreement awards 5 fully searchable and machine-readable; 6 ‘‘(2) be nonproprietary; 7 ‘‘(3) incorporate standards developed and main- 8 tained by voluntary consensus standards bodies; 9 ‘‘(4) be consistent with and implement applica- 10 ble accounting and reporting principles; and 11 ‘‘(5) incorporate the data standards established 12 under the Federal Funding Accountability and 13 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 14 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the data 15 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Di- 16 rector shall consult with, as appropriate— 17 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of the Treasury, to ensure 18 that the data standards incorporate the data stand- 19 ards created under the Federal Funding Account- 20 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 21 6101 note); 22 ‘‘(2) the head of each agency that issues Fed- 23 eral awards; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 50 IH ‘‘(3) recipients of Federal awards and organiza- 1 tions representing recipients of Federal awards; 2 ‘‘(4) private sector experts; 3 ‘‘(5) members of the public, including privacy 4 experts, privacy advocates, and industry stake- 5 holders; and 6 ‘‘(6) State and local governments. 7 ‘‘SEC. 6403. GUIDANCE APPLYING DATA STANDARDS FOR 8 GRANT REPORTING. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 10 date of the enactment of this chapter— 11 ‘‘(1) the Secretary and the Director shall issue 12 guidance to all agencies directing the agencies to 13 apply the data standards established under section 14 6402 to all applicable reporting by recipients of Fed- 15 eral grant and cooperative agreement awards; and 16 ‘‘(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance ap- 17 plying the data standards to audit-related informa- 18 tion reported under chapter 75. 19 ‘‘(b) GUIDANCE.—The guidance issued under this 20 section shall— 21 ‘‘(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable— 22 ‘‘(A) minimize the disruption to existing 23 reporting practices for agencies and for recipi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 50 IH ents of Federal grant and cooperative agree- 1 ment awards; and 2 ‘‘(B) explore opportunities to implement 3 modern technologies within Federal award re- 4 porting; 5 ‘‘(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for 6 categories of grants if the Director publishes a list 7 of such exceptions, including exceptions for Indian 8 Tribes and Tribal organizations consistent with the 9 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 10 Act; and 11 ‘‘(3) take into consideration the consultation re- 12 quired under section 6402(d). 13 ‘‘SEC. 6404. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS. 14 ‘‘Not later than 3 years after the date of the enact- 15 ment of this chapter, the head of each agency shall ensure 16 that all of the agency’s grants and cooperative agreements 17 use data standards for all future information collection re- 18 quests and amend existing information collection requests 19 covered by chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly referred to 20 as the Paperwork Reduction Act) to comply with the data 21 standards established under section 6402, consistent with 22 the guidance issued by the Secretary and the Director 23 under section 6403.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 50 IH (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 1 The table of chapters for subtitle V of title 31, United 2 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat- 3 ing to chapter 63 the following new item: 4 ‘‘64. Data Standards for Grant Reporting 6401’’. SEC. 4. SINGLE AUDIT ACT. 5 (a) AMENDMENTS.— 6 (1) Section 7502(h) of title 31, United States 7 Code, is amended by inserting before ‘‘to a Federal 8 clearinghouse’’ the following ‘‘in an electronic form 9 consistent with the data standards established under 10 chapter 64,’’. 11 (2) Section 7505 of title 31, United States 12 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 13 new subsection: 14 ‘‘(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related infor- 15 mation reported under this chapter to be reported in an 16 electronic form consistent with the data standards estab- 17 lished under chapter 64.’’. 18 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 2 years after the 19 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue 20 guidance requiring audit-related information reported 21 under chapter 75 of title 31, United States Code, to be 22 reported in an electronic form consistent with the data 23 standards established under chapter 64 of title 31, United 24 States Code, as added by section 3. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 50 IH SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFOR- 1 MATION; PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMA- 2 TION AS OPEN DATA. 3 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—Not later than 4 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 5 Secretary and the Director shall enable the collection, pub- 6 lic display, and maintenance of Federal award information 7 as a Governmentwide data set, using the data standards 8 established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States 9 Code, as added by section 3, subject to reasonable restric- 10 tions established by the Director to ensure protection of 11 personally identifiable and otherwise sensitive information. 12 (b) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 13 and the Director shall require the publication of recipient- 14 reported data collected from all agencies on a single public 15 portal. Information may be published on an existing Gov- 16 ernmentwide website as determined appropriate by the Di- 17 rector. 18 (c) FOIA.—Nothing in this section shall require the 19 disclosure to the public of information that would be ex- 20 empt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 21 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Infor- 22 mation Act’’). 23 SEC. 6. EVALUATION OF NONPROPRIETARY IDENTIFIERS. 24 (a) DETERMINATION REQUIRED.—The Director and 25 the Secretary shall determine whether to use nonpropri- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 50 IH etary identifiers under section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, 1 United States Code, as added by section 3(a). 2 (b) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In making the 3 determination required pursuant to subsection (a), the Di- 4 rector and the Secretary shall consider factors such as ac- 5 cessibility and cost to recipients of Federal awards, agen- 6 cies that issue Federal awards, private-sector experts, and 7 members of the public, including privacy experts and pri- 8 vacy advocates. 9 (c) PUBLICATION AND REPORT ON DETERMINA- 10 TION.—Not later than the earlier of 1 year after the date 11 of the enactment of this Act or the date on which the Sec- 12 retary and Director establish data standards pursuant to 13 section 6402(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code, as 14 added by section 3(a), the Secretary and the Director shall 15 publish and submit to the Committees on Oversight and 16 Government Reform of the House of Representatives and 17 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 18 ate a report explaining the reasoning for the determination 19 made pursuant to subsection (a). 20 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 21 In this Act, the terms ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘Director’’, ‘‘Fed- 22 eral award’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have the meaning given 23 those terms in section 6401 of title 31, United States 24 Code, as added by section 3(a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:43 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 50 IH SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 2 Act, shall be construed to require the collection of data 3 that is not otherwise required pursuant to any Federal 4 law, rule, or regulation. 5 SEC. 9. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 6 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 7 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 8 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 9 amounts otherwise authorized. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:20 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS