[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 159 (Wednesday, September 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9074-H9076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GRANT REPORTING EFFICIENCY AND AGREEMENTS TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2018
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4887) to modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4887
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Grant Reporting Efficiency
and Agreements Transparency Act of 2018'' or the ``GREAT
Act''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to--
(1) modernize reporting by recipients of Federal grants and
cooperative agreements by creating and imposing data
standards for the information that grants and cooperative
agreement recipients must report to the Federal Government;
(2) implement the recommendation by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, under section 5(b)(6) of the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
(31 U.S.C. 6101 note), which includes the development of a
``comprehensive taxonomy of standard definitions for core
data elements required for managing Federal financial
assistance awards'';
(3) reduce burden and compliance costs of recipients of
Federal grants and cooperative agreements by enabling
technology solutions, existing or yet to be developed, by
both the public and private sectors, to better manage data
recipients already provide to the Federal Government; and
(4) to strengthen oversight and management of Federal
grants and cooperative agreements by agencies through
consolidated collection and display of and access to open
data that has been standardized, and where appropriate,
transparency to the public.
SEC. 3. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING.
(a) Amendment.--Subtitle V of title 31, United States Code,
is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the following new
chapter:
``CHAPTER 64--DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING
``Sec.
``6401. Definitions.
``6402. Data standards for grant reporting.
``6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting.
``6404. Agency requirements.
``Sec. 6401. Definitions
``In this chapter:
``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' has the meaning given that
term in section 552(f) of title 5.
``(2) Core data elements.--The term `core data elements'
means data elements that are not program-specific in nature
and are required by agencies for all or the vast majority of
Federal grant and cooperative assistance recipients for
purposes of reporting.
``(3) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
``(4) Federal award.--The term `Federal award'--
``(A) means the transfer of anything of value for a public
purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the
United States, including financial assistance and Government
facilities, services, and property;
``(B) includes grants, subgrants, awards, and cooperative
agreements; and
``(C) does not include--
``(i) conventional public information services or
procurement of property or services for the direct benefit or
use of the Government; or
``(ii) an agreement that provides only--
``(I) direct Government cash assistance to an individual;
``(II) a subsidy;
``(III) a loan;
``(IV) a loan guarantee; or
``(V) insurance.
``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the head of
the standard-setting agency.
``(6) Standard-setting agency.--The term `standard-setting
agency' means the Executive department designated under
section 6402(a)(1).
``(7) State.--The term `State' means each State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth,
territory or possession of the United States, and each
federally recognized Indian Tribe.
``Sec. 6402. Data standards for grant reporting
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Designation of standard-setting agency.--The Director
shall designate the Executive department (as defined in
section 101 of title 5) that issues the most Federal awards
in a calendar year as the standard-setting agency.
``(2) Establishment of standards.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of the enactment of this chapter, the
Secretary and the Director shall establish Governmentwide
data standards for information reported by recipients of
Federal awards.
``(3) Data elements.--The data standards established under
paragraph (2) shall include, at a minimum--
``(A) standard definitions for data elements required for
managing Federal awards; and
``(B) unique identifiers for Federal awards and entities
receiving Federal awards that can be consistently applied
Governmentwide.
``(b) Scope.--The data standards established under
subsection (a) shall include core data elements and may cover
any information required to be reported to any agency by
recipients of Federal awards, including audit-related
information reported under chapter 75 of this title.
``(c) Requirements.--The data standards required to be
established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent
reasonable and practicable--
``(1) render information reported by recipients of Federal
grant and cooperative agreement awards fully searchable and
machine-readable;
``(2) be nonproprietary;
``(3) incorporate standards developed and maintained by
voluntary consensus standards bodies;
``(4) be consistent with and implement applicable
accounting and reporting principles; and
``(5) incorporate the data standards established under the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
(31 U.S.C. 6101 note).
``(d) Consultation.--In establishing the data standards
under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Director shall
consult with, as appropriate--
``(1) the Secretary of the Treasury, to ensure that the
data standards incorporate the data standards created under
the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of
2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note);
``(2) the head of each agency that issues Federal awards;
``(3) recipients of Federal awards and organizations
representing recipients of Federal awards;
``(4) private sector experts;
``(5) members of the public, including privacy experts,
privacy advocates, and industry stakeholders; and
``(6) State and local governments.
``Sec. 6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant
reporting
``(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of
the enactment of this chapter--
``(1) the Secretary and the Director shall issue guidance
to all agencies directing the agencies to apply the data
standards established under section 6402 to all applicable
reporting by recipients of Federal grant and cooperative
agreement awards; and
``(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance applying the
data standards to audit-related information reported under
chapter 75.
``(b) Guidance.--The guidance issued under this section
shall--
``(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable--
``(A) minimize the disruption to existing reporting
practices for agencies and for recipients of Federal grant
and cooperative agreement awards; and
``(B) explore opportunities to implement modern
technologies within Federal award reporting;
``(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for
categories of grants if the Director publishes a list of such
exceptions, including exceptions for Indian Tribes and Tribal
organizations consistent with the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act; and
``(3) take into consideration the consultation required
under section 6402(d).
``Sec. 6404. Agency requirements
``Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of
this chapter, the head of each agency shall ensure that all
of the agency's grants and cooperative agreements use data
standards for all future information collection requests and
amend existing information collection requests covered by
chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly referred to as the Paperwork
Reduction Act) to comply with the data standards established
under section 6402, consistent with the guidance issued by
the Secretary and the Director under section 6403.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of
chapters for subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 63
the following new item:
``64. Data Standards for Grant Reporting....................6401''.....
SEC. 4. SINGLE AUDIT ACT.
(a) Amendments.--
(1) Section 7502(h) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by inserting before ``to a Federal clearinghouse''
the following ``in an electronic form consistent with the
data standards established under chapter 64,''.
(2) Section 7505 of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related information
reported under this chapter to be reported in an electronic
form consistent with the data standards established under
chapter 64.''.
(b) Guidance.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guidance
requiring audit-related information reported under chapter 75
of title 31, United States Code, to be reported in an
electronic form consistent with the data standards
established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code,
as added by section 3.
[[Page H9075]]
SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFORMATION;
PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION AS OPEN DATA.
(a) Collection of Information.--Not later than 4 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
and the Director shall enable the collection, public display,
and maintenance of Federal award information as a
Governmentwide data set, using the data standards established
under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, as added by
section 3, subject to reasonable restrictions established by
the Director to ensure protection of personally identifiable
and otherwise sensitive information.
(b) Publication of Information.--The Secretary and the
Director shall require the publication of recipient-reported
data collected from all agencies on a single public portal.
Information may be published on an existing Governmentwide
website as determined appropriate by the Director.
(c) Foia.--Nothing in this section shall require the
disclosure to the public of information that would be exempt
from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States
Code (commonly known as the ``Freedom of Information Act'').
SEC. 6. EVALUATION OF NONPROPRIETARY IDENTIFIERS.
(a) Determination Required.--The Director and the Secretary
shall determine whether to use nonproprietary identifiers
under section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, United States Code,
as added by section 3(a).
(b) Factors to Be Considered.--In making the determination
required pursuant to subsection (a), the Director and the
Secretary shall consider factors such as accessibility and
cost to recipients of Federal awards, agencies that issue
Federal awards, private-sector experts, and members of the
public, including privacy experts and privacy advocates.
(c) Publication and Report on Determination.--Not later
than the earlier of 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act or the date on which the Secretary and Director
establish data standards pursuant to section 6402(a)(2) of
title 31, United States Code, as added by section 3(a), the
Secretary and the Director shall publish and submit to the
Committees on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of
Representatives and Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate a report explaining the reasoning for
the determination made pursuant to subsection (a).
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, the terms ``agency'', ``Director'', ``Federal
award'', and ``Secretary'' have the meaning given those terms
in section 6401 of title 31, United States Code, as added by
section 3(a).
SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act,
shall be construed to require the collection of data that is
not otherwise required pursuant to any Federal law, rule, or
regulation.
SEC. 9. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.
No additional funds are authorized to carry out the
requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts
otherwise authorized.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma.
General Leave
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Oklahoma?
There was no objection.
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 4887, the GREAT Act, introduced
by Congresswoman Foxx of North Carolina.
The GREAT Act would amend previously enacted legislation to improve
reporting on Federal grants.
In 2014, Congress enacted the Digital Accountability and Transparency
Act, or DATA Act. The DATA Act required the Office of Management and
Budget and the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a
pilot program to alleviate reporting burdens for grant recipients.
Through the pilot, it became clear that grant recipients often have
to enter the same data multiple times, and there is no single location
where all the data can be analyzed. This redundancy is burdensome for
both the grant recipient and for those conducting oversight of Federal
awards.
In fiscal year 2017, the Federal Government awarded over $660 billion
in grants. Congress has a fiscal responsibility to review this
spending, but without standardized data, it is difficult to do.
The GREAT Act fixes both of these problems by tasking the Office of
Management and Budget and an executive branch agency with creating
standardized reporting elements for Federal awards. The data elements
must be machine readable, nonproprietary, and comply with standards in
the DATA Act.
The GREAT Act requires the data collected to be made publicly
available within 4 years of enactment. The bill exempts personally
identifying information, sensitive data, and data otherwise exempt from
public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
The GREAT Act increases transparency for public and private
oversight, helping to ensure taxpayers get the best possible return on
their $660 billion investment in Federal grants.
Improved reporting processes will also ease the burden on grant
recipients, so these individuals and organizations can focus on doing
the work, rather than filling out duplicative information.
The GREAT Act is supported by the DATA Coalition, the National Grants
Management Association, and the Association of Government Accountants.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Foxx and Representative Gomez for
their work on this important issue.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Representative Foxx
for her leadership on this important piece of legislation and working
closely with me. I also want to thank the staff, who spent countless
hours over the past months negotiating and drafting this legislation.
I know it might come as a surprise to see a working class progressive
Member of Congress from Los Angeles working with a conservative Member
from North Carolina. But with some common sense on both sides of the
aisle, we can come together to solve problems facing working families
across the country. So I hope that Congress can come together, as we
have, to make progress.
The GREAT Act is a straightforward bill that seeks to modernize the
grant reporting process by standardizing the information reported by
grant recipients.
{time} 1915
By simplifying the grant reporting process, the GREAT Act will create
a more open and transparent grant process for all recipients. In Los
Angeles, that means greater opportunities for organizations working to
make government work better for my constituents.
When signed into law, this bill will help universities, city
departments, and other organizations automate their recording costs,
reduce compliance costs, and focus their energy where it belongs--on
maximizing millions in Federal grants to Los Angeles to make it a more
prosperous city.
By making grant reports machine readable and fully searchable, the
GREAT Act will also improve the performance of the grants process and
break down barriers to grants. Nonprofits and local groups will have
better access to Federal grants so they can leverage funds to maximize
their impact.
This bipartisan effort represents a major step toward ensuring
government works as efficiently as possible for all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with Representative Foxx and
others to continue our bipartisan efforts to help government work
better, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), who is a sponsor of this bill.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Russell for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking Representative Jimmy
Gomez for his comments tonight and for helping all through this piece
of legislation, the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements
Transparency Act, or GREAT Act. Representative Gomez has been an
outstanding partner on this bipartisan bill to create more
transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the Federal grant
reporting process, and I thank him very much for his hard work.
[[Page H9076]]
The GREAT Act represents bipartisan legislation to modernize the
Federal grant reporting process. It would do so by mandating a
standardized data structure for information that recipients report to
Federal agencies.
Unless the reporting requirements for Federal grants are searchable,
the auditing process will continue to yield waste and inefficiency at
best, allowing fraud and abuse at worst.
Mr. Speaker, in 2017, the Federal Government awarded $662.7 billion
in grants funding to State agencies, local and Tribal governments,
agencies, nonprofits, universities, and other organizations. Roughly
translated, this equates to the gross domestic product of Switzerland
or more than the GDP of every country outside the G20.
Within our Federal Government, there are 26 agencies awarding Federal
grants, and all of them continue to rely on outdated, burdensome,
document-based forms to collect and track grant dollars. Society has
moved into a new age of information and technology, and it is time that
our government follow suit.
Adopting a governmentwide open data structure for all the information
grantees will report will alleviate compliance burdens; provide instant
insights for grantor agencies and Congress; and enable easy access to
data for oversight, analytics, and program evaluation.
Digitizing and, therefore, automating the reporting process would
have a twofold effect. First, it would allow greater scrutiny of how
the money is being spent. Second, it allows grantees to maximize every
dollar they receive from the government to ensure it goes back into
communities supporting local businesses, organizations, and education.
In order to fix the way Federal grants are reported, we must move
from a document-centric reporting system to a data superhighway. I urge
my colleagues in the House and the Senate to support the GREAT Act and
bring grant reporting into the 21st century.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Representative Gomez for
his hard work on this bipartisan bill. I would also like the thank
Representative Darrell Issa for his authorship of the DATA Act of 2014.
It laid the foundation for the GREAT Act by applying data
standardization to a pilot universe of Federal grants. And I thank him
for his original cosponsorship of this bill.
I would also like to thank OMB Director Mulvaney for his office's
advice on this legislation and leadership in advancing open data in the
grant reporting process this year through the President's management
agenda.
Lastly, I would like to thank Leader McCarthy for bringing this bill
to the floor and for his broader leadership in pursuing an innovative
agenda this Congress.
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the GREAT Act, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 4887, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________