[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5536 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5536

  To require transparency in notices of funding opportunity, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2023

   Mr. Fry (for himself, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Norman, Mr. Finstad, Ms. 
Hageman, Mr. Donalds, Mrs. Houchin, Mr. Womack, Mr. Williams of Texas, 
 and Mr. Timmons) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
             the Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require transparency in notices of funding opportunity, 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 Transparency Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. NOTICES OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TRANSPARENCY.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency''--
                    (A) has the meaning given the term ``Executive 
                agency'' in section 105 of title 5, United States Code; 
                and
                    (B) does not include the Government Accountability 
                Office.
            (2) Competitive grant.--The term ``competitive grant'' 
        means a discretionary award (as defined in section 200.1 of 
        title 2, Code of Federal Regulations) awarded by an agency--
                    (A) through a grant agreement or cooperative 
                agreement under which the agency makes payment in cash 
                or in kind to a recipient to carry out a public purpose 
                authorized by law; and
                    (B) the recipient of which is selected from a pool 
                of applicants through the use of merit-based selection 
                procedures for the purpose of allocating funds 
                authorized under a grant program of the agency.
            (3) Evaluation or selection criteria.--The term 
        ``evaluation or selection criteria'' means standards or 
        principles for judging, evaluating, or selecting an application 
        for a competitive grant.
            (4) Notice of funding opportunity.--The term ``notice of 
        funding opportunity'' has the meaning given the term in section 
        200.1 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations.
            (5) Rating system.--The term ``rating system''--
                    (A) means a system of evaluation of competitive 
                grant applications to determine how such applications 
                advance through the selection process; and
                    (B) includes--
                            (i) a merit criteria rating rubric;
                            (ii) an evaluation of merit criteria;
                            (iii) a methodology to evaluate and rate 
                        based on a point scale; and
                            (iv) an evaluation to determine whether a 
                        competitive grant application meets evaluation 
                        or selection criteria.
    (b) Transparency Requirements.--Each notice of funding opportunity 
issued by an agency for a competitive grant shall include--
            (1) a description of any rating system and evaluation and 
        selection criteria the agency uses to assess applications for 
        the competitive grant;
            (2) a statement of whether the agency uses a weighted 
        scoring method and a description of any weighted scoring method 
        the agency uses for the competitive grant, including the amount 
        by which the agency weights each criterion; and
            (3) any other qualitative or quantitative merit-based 
        approach the agency uses to evaluate an application for the 
        competitive grant.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--With respect to a particular competitive 
grant, nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede any 
requirement with respect to a notice of funding opportunity for the 
competitive grant in a law that authorizes the competitive grant.
    (d) No Additional Funds.--No additional funds are authorized to be 
appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act.
    (e) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--This Act shall take effect on the date 
        that is 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) No retroactive effect.--This Act shall not apply to a 
        notice of funding opportunity issued before the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
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