GREAT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1829 To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2019 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. ENZI, and Ms. HASSAN) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Trans- 5 parency Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘GREAT Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purposes. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Data standards for grant reporting. Sec. 5. Single Audit Act. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1829 IS Sec. 6. Consolidation of assistance-related information; publication of public in- formation as open data. Sec. 7. Evaluation of nonproprietary identifiers. Sec. 8. Rule of construction. Sec. 9. No additional funds authorized. SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 1 The purposes of this Act are to— 2 (1) modernize reporting by recipients of Federal 3 grants and cooperative agreements by creating and 4 imposing data standards for the information that 5 those recipients are required by law to report to the 6 Federal Government; 7 (2) implement the recommendation by the Di- 8 rector of the Office of Management and Budget con- 9 tained in the report submitted under section 5(b)(6) 10 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Trans- 11 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) relating 12 to the development of a ‘‘comprehensive taxonomy of 13 standard definitions for core data elements required 14 for managing Federal financial assistance awards’’; 15 (3) reduce burden and compliance costs of re- 16 cipients of Federal grants and cooperative agree- 17 ments by enabling technology solutions, existing or 18 yet to be developed, for use in both the public and 19 private sectors to better manage the data that re- 20 cipients already provide to the Federal Government; 21 and 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1829 IS (4) to strengthen oversight and management of 1 Federal grants and cooperative agreements by agen- 2 cies by consolidating the collection and display of 3 and access to open data that has been standardized 4 and, where appropriate, increasing transparency to 5 the public. 6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act, the terms ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘Director’’, ‘‘Fed- 8 eral award’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have the meanings given 9 those terms in section 6401 of title 31, United States 10 Code, as added by section 4(a) of this Act. 11 SEC. 4. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING. 12 (a) AMENDMENT.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 13 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the 14 following: 15 ‘‘CHAPTER 64—DATA STANDARDS FOR 16 GRANT REPORTING 17 ‘‘Sec. ‘‘6401. Definitions. ‘‘6402. Data standards for grant reporting. ‘‘6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting. ‘‘6404. Agency requirements. ‘‘§ 6401. Definitions 18 ‘‘In this chapter: 19 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 20 meaning given the term in section 552(f) of title 5. 21 ‘‘(2) CORE DATA ELEMENTS.—The term ‘core 22 data elements’ means data elements relating to fi- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1829 IS nancial management, administration, or manage- 1 ment that— 2 ‘‘(A) are not program-specific in nature or 3 program-specific outcome measures, as defined 4 in section 1115(h) of this title; and 5 ‘‘(B) are required by agencies for all or the 6 vast majority of recipients of Federal awards 7 for purposes of reporting. 8 ‘‘(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 9 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 10 et. 11 ‘‘(4) EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.—The term 12 ‘Executive department’ has the meaning given the 13 term in section 101 of title 5. 14 ‘‘(5) FEDERAL AWARD.—The term ‘Federal 15 award’— 16 ‘‘(A) means the transfer of anything of 17 value for a public purpose of support or stimu- 18 lation authorized by a law of the United States, 19 including financial assistance and Government 20 facilities, services, and property; 21 ‘‘(B) includes a grant, a subgrant, a coop- 22 erative agreement, or any other transaction; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1829 IS ‘‘(C) does not include a transaction or 1 agreement— 2 ‘‘(i) that provides for conventional 3 public information services or procurement 4 of property or services for the direct ben- 5 efit or use of the Government; or 6 ‘‘(ii) that provides only— 7 ‘‘(I) direct Government cash as- 8 sistance to an individual; 9 ‘‘(II) a subsidy; 10 ‘‘(III) a loan; 11 ‘‘(IV) a loan guarantee; or 12 ‘‘(V) insurance. 13 ‘‘(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 14 the head of the standard-setting agency. 15 ‘‘(7) STANDARD-SETTING AGENCY.—The term 16 ‘standard-setting agency’ means the Executive de- 17 partment designated under section 6402(a)(1). 18 ‘‘(8) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 19 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 20 each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 21 United States, and each federally recognized Indian 22 Tribe. 23 ‘‘§ 6402. Data standards for grant reporting 24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1829 IS ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION OF STANDARD-SETTING 1 AGENCY.—The Director shall designate the Execu- 2 tive department that administers the greatest num- 3 ber of programs under which Federal awards are 4 issued in a calendar year as the standard-setting 5 agency. 6 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.—Not 7 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 8 this chapter, the Secretary and the Director shall es- 9 tablish Governmentwide data standards for informa- 10 tion reported by recipients of Federal awards. 11 ‘‘(3) DATA ELEMENTS.—The data standards 12 established under paragraph (2) shall include, at a 13 minimum— 14 ‘‘(A) standard definitions for data elements 15 required for managing Federal awards; and 16 ‘‘(B) unique identifiers for Federal awards 17 and recipients of Federal awards that can be 18 consistently applied Governmentwide. 19 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The data standards established under 20 subsection (a)— 21 ‘‘(1) shall include core data elements; 22 ‘‘(2) may cover information required by law to 23 be reported to any agency by recipients of Federal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1829 IS awards, including audit-related information reported 1 under chapter 75 of this title; and 2 ‘‘(3) may not be used by the Director or any 3 agency to require the collection of any data not oth- 4 erwise required under Federal law. 5 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards estab- 6 lished under subsection (a) shall, to the extent reasonable 7 and practicable— 8 ‘‘(1) render information reported by recipients 9 of Federal awards fully searchable and machine- 10 readable; 11 ‘‘(2) be nonproprietary; 12 ‘‘(3) incorporate standards developed and main- 13 tained by voluntary consensus standards bodies; 14 ‘‘(4) be consistent with and implement applica- 15 ble accounting and reporting principles; and 16 ‘‘(5) incorporate the data standards established 17 under the Federal Funding Accountability and 18 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 19 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the data 20 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Di- 21 rector shall consult with— 22 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of the Treasury to ensure 23 that the data standards established under subsection 24 (a) incorporate the data standards established under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1829 IS the Federal Funding Accountability and Trans- 1 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note); 2 ‘‘(2) the head of each agency that issues Fed- 3 eral awards; 4 ‘‘(3) recipients of Federal awards and organiza- 5 tions representing recipients of Federal awards; 6 ‘‘(4) private sector experts; 7 ‘‘(5) members of the public, including privacy 8 experts, privacy advocates, auditors, and industry 9 stakeholders; and 10 ‘‘(6) State and local governments. 11 ‘‘§ 6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant 12 reporting 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 14 date of enactment of this chapter— 15 ‘‘(1) the Secretary and the Director shall jointly 16 issue guidance to all agencies directing the agencies 17 to apply the data standards established under sec- 18 tion 6402(a) to all applicable reporting by recipients 19 of Federal awards; and 20 ‘‘(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance ap- 21 plying the data standards established under section 22 6402(a) to audit-related information reported under 23 chapter 75 of this title. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1829 IS ‘‘(b) GUIDANCE.—The guidance issued under sub- 1 section (a) shall— 2 ‘‘(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable— 3 ‘‘(A) minimize the disruption of existing 4 reporting practices of, and not increase the re- 5 porting burden on, agencies or recipients of 6 Federal awards; and 7 ‘‘(B) explore opportunities to implement 8 modern technologies in reporting relating to 9 Federal awards; 10 ‘‘(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for 11 classes of Federal awards, including exceptions for 12 Federal awards granted to Indian Tribes and Tribal 13 organizations consistent with the Indian Self-Deter- 14 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 15 5301 et seq.), if the Director publishes a list of 16 those exceptions and submits the list to the Com- 17 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af- 18 fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 19 and Reform of the House of Representatives; and 20 ‘‘(3) take into consideration the consultation re- 21 quired under section 6402(d). 22 ‘‘(c) UPDATING GUIDANCE.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1829 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 1 once every 10 years, the Director shall update the 2 guidance issued under subsection (a). 3 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURES.—In updating guidance 4 under paragraph (1), the Director shall, to the max- 5 imum extent practicable, follow the procedures for 6 the development of the data standards and guidance 7 prescribed under this section and section 6402. 8 ‘‘§ 6404. Agency requirements 9 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date on which guid- 10 ance is issued or updated under subsection (b) or (c), re- 11 spectively, of section 6403, the head of each agency 12 shall— 13 ‘‘(1) ensure that all of the Federal awards that 14 the agency issues use data standards for all future 15 information collection requests; and 16 ‘‘(2) amend existing information collection re- 17 quests under chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly 18 known as the ‘Paperwork Reduction Act’) to comply 19 with the data standards established under section 20 6402 of this chapter, in accordance with the guid- 21 ance issued by the Director under section 6403 of 22 this chapter.’’. 23 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 24 The table of chapters for subtitle V of title 31, United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 1829 IS States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat- 1 ing to chapter 63 the following: 2 ‘‘64. Data standards for grant reporting .................................. 6401’’. SEC. 5. SINGLE AUDIT ACT. 3 (a) AMENDMENTS.— 4 (1) AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.—Section 7502(h) 5 of title 31, United States Code, is amended, in the 6 matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘in an 7 electronic form in accordance with the data stand- 8 ards established under chapter 64 and’’ after ‘‘the 9 reporting package,’’. 10 (2) REGULATIONS.—Section 7505 of title 31, 11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 12 end the following: 13 ‘‘(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related infor- 14 mation reported under this chapter to be reported in an 15 electronic form in accordance with the data standards es- 16 tablished under chapter 64.’’. 17 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 3 years after the 18 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue 19 guidance requiring audit-related information reported 20 under chapter 75 of title 31, United States Code, to be 21 reported in an electronic form consistent with the data 22 standards established under chapter 64 of that title, as 23 added by section 4(a) of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1829.IS S1829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 1829 IS SEC. 6. 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 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 5 retary and the Director shall, using the data standards 6 established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States 7 Code, as added by section 4(a) of this Act, enable the col- 8 lection, public display, and maintenance of Federal award 9 information as a Governmentwide data set, subject to rea- 10 sonable restrictions established by the Director to ensure 11 protection of personally identifiable information and other- 12 wise sensitive information. 13 (b) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 14 and the Director shall require the publication of data re- 15 ported by recipients of Federal awards that is collected 16 from all agencies on a single public portal, which may be 17 an existing Governmentwide website, as determined appro- 18 priate by the Director. 19 (c) FOIA.—Nothi [Text truncated for display. 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