[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2915 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2915

     To enhance public awareness of federally funded research and 
             development projects, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 10, 2016

   Mr. Flake introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To enhance public awareness of federally funded research and 
             development projects, 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 ``Federal Research Transparency and 
Accountability Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``agency'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 551 of title 5, United States Code; and
            (2) the term ``covered study'' means any study that--
                    (A) is carried out in whole or in part with Federal 
                funds; and
                    (B) is published, presented at a conference or 
                meeting, or otherwise made publicly available.

SEC. 3. FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH DISCLOSURES AND DATABASE.

    (a) Prevention of Duplicative Research Funding.--The Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate with each agency 
that provides funding to entities to carry out research and development 
to establish a system to detect potential duplicative applications for 
funding in order to prevent duplicative funding.
    (b) Database of Federally Funded Research and Development.--
            (1) In general.--Each agency shall include in a publicly 
        accessible database a searchable listing of each unclassified 
        research and development project that is funded by the agency, 
        including a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or task 
        order.
            (2) Contents.--A database described in paragraph (1) shall, 
        with respect to each unclassified research and development 
        project of an agency, contain--
                    (A) the agency component that is carrying out or 
                providing funding or other assistance for the project;
                    (B) the name of the project;
                    (C) an abstract or summary of the project;
                    (D) the funding level for the project;
                    (E) the duration of the project;
                    (F) the name of any contractor, subcontractor, or 
                grantee;
                    (G) the title of any published study funded by or 
                related to the project; and
                    (H) expected objectives and milestones for the 
                project.
            (3) Existing database.--An agency may satisfy the 
        requirements under this subsection if the Director of the 
        Office of Management and Budget determines that the agency 
        maintains a publicly accessible database, including a database 
        operated by or shared with another agency, that substantially 
        meets the requirements of this subsection.
    (c) Requirement for Acknowledgment in Covered Studies.--The 
acknowledgment section in each covered study shall include--
            (1) the name of each agency that provided funding for the 
        covered study;
            (2) the project or award number associated with the covered 
        study; and
            (3) an estimate of the total cost of the covered study.
    (d) Study.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a 
study and make publicly available a report, which shall--
            (1) analyze the compliance of agencies, contractors, 
        subcontractors, and grantees with the requirements of this Act;
            (2) identify any obstacles that remain to prevent the 
        public from accessing the cost and findings of covered studies 
        and other research and development projects funded by agencies; 
        and
            (3) analyze efforts by agencies to prevent duplicative 
        spending.
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