[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4887 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4887
To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 29, 2018
Ms. Foxx (for herself, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Issa, Mr. Quigley, and Mr.
Kilmer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes.
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 standard data elements 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 551 of title 5.
``(2) Core standard data elements.--The term `core standard
data elements' means data elements that are not program-
specific in nature and are required by 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).
``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 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) a comprehensive taxonomy of standard
definitions for data elements required for managing
Federal awards; and
``(B) unique and nonproprietary 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 standard 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 core standard data
elements 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) software providers seeking to build tools that
automatically compile and submit grant-related reports and
organizations representing such software providers; and
``(5) members of the public, including privacy experts and
privacy advocates.
``Sec. 6403. Guidance applying standard data elements 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; and
``(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions on a case-by-
case basis.
``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.
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 website. 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. 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. 7. 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 award.
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