[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 50 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 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 2019'' 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.

    ``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.

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.
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