[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6642 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6642

 To require the disclosure of foreign support provided to a recipient 
  after the award of a research and development award, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 6, 2023

  Mr. Posey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the 
    Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the disclosure of foreign support provided to a recipient 
  after the award of a research and development award, 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 Recipient Accountability for 
Necessary Transparency Act of 2023'' or the ``GRANT Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States Department of Education identified 
        several universities receiving Federal research and development 
        funding that did not report foreign gifts as required by law.
            (2) The United States Department of Education found 6 
        universities of the 12 they investigated received gifts that 
        amounted to more than $1,300,000,000 from foreign sources, 
        including the People's Republic of China, Qatar, and the 
        Russian Federation.
            (3) On April 13, 2023, the United States Environmental 
        Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General issued a 
        memorandum concerning ``Disclosure of Foreign Support for EPA 
        Research.''
            (4) The EPA's OIG ``identified a concern regarding the lack 
        of a requirement for EPA research grant recipients to report 
        foreign support after receiving a grant award.''
            (5) According to the memorandum, ``[a]s of March 22, 2023, 
        the EPA only required grant applicants to disclose all active 
        and pending research support before receiving a grant award.''
            (6) The National Security Presidential Memorandum--33 
        requires Federal research and development recipients to 
        disclose any involvement in programs sponsored by foreign 
        governments, instrumentalities, entities, including foreign 
        government sponsored talent recruitment programs.
            (7) The memorandum also provides guidance to require both 
        pre-award and post-award disclosures.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD 
              RECIPIENTS REQUIRED.

    (a) Recipient Requirement To Disclose.--The head of a covered 
agency shall require in the terms and conditions of any research and 
development award issued by the covered agency that--
            (1) the recipient of the award disclose within 30 days 
        after the date on which the recipient receives any support from 
        a country of concern or an entity of concern a description of 
        such support; and
            (2) any covered individual report to the recipient within 
        30 days after a commitment of any support or the receipt of any 
        support from a country of concern or entity of concern, which 
        shall be disclosed to the covered agency within 14 days after 
        any such report.
    (b) Cooperation With Inspectors General.--The head of any covered 
agency shall cooperate with the inspectors general in order to ensure 
compliance with the requirements of this section.
    (c) Use of the Collected Disclosure Information.--Not later than 60 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
National Science Foundation shall--
            (1) establish and maintain a searchable database on a 
        website for any disclosure made to a covered agency pursuant to 
        subsection (a);
            (2) require covered agencies to transmit by electronic 
        means an unredacted copy of the report required pursuant to 
        subsection (a) to the Director;
            (3) make the website publicly available (in electronic and 
        downloadable format);
            (4) ensure website and content is searchable and sortable; 
        and
            (5) make each such report available on the website not 
        later than 30 days after receipt of the report.
    (d) Study on Research Security Concerns.--
            (1) Transmission of reports to national counterintelligence 
        and security center.--Not later than 7 days after the date on 
        which a report is submitted pursuant to subsection (c)(2), the 
        Director of the National Science Foundation shall transmit by 
        electronic means an unredacted copy of such report to the 
        Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security 
        Center.
            (2) Analysis.--The Director of the National 
        Counterintelligence and Security Center shall--
                    (A) perform an analysis of each report submitted 
                pursuant to paragraph (1) to identify broader research 
                security concerns or patterns of misconduct by each 
                country of concern or entity of concern; and
                    (B) share the analysis with Congress and the 
                intelligence and Federal law enforcement agencies, 
                including the inspector general office of each covered 
                agency.
            (3) NSF analysis.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Science 
        Foundation, through the Research Security and Integrity 
        Information Sharing Analysis Organization, shall submit to 
        Congress and provide to the Director of the National 
        Counterintelligence and Security Center an analysis and other 
        information related to the information disclosed pursuant to 
        subsection (a).
    (e) Report to Congress.--Not later than January 15 of each year, 
the head of each covered agency shall submit to Congress a report on 
compliance with the requirements of this section for the previous 
fiscal year.
    (f) Applicability.--This section applies to any research and 
development award issued on or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
    (g) Enforcement.--
            (1) Actions for noncompliance.--The head of a covered 
        agency shall take one or more of the following enforcement 
        actions with respect to a recipient of a research and 
        development award made by that agency that is not in compliance 
        with subsection (a):
                    (A) Temporarily withhold cash payments pending 
                correction of the deficiency by the non-Federal entity.
                    (B) Disallow (that is, deny both use of funds and 
                any applicable matching credit for) all or part of the 
                cost of the activity or action not in compliance.
                    (C) Wholly or partly suspend or terminate the 
                Federal award.
                    (D) Initiate suspension or debarment proceedings as 
                authorized under part 180 of title 2, Code of Federal 
                Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of 
                this Act) and Federal awarding agency regulations (or 
                in the case of a pass-through entity, recommend such a 
                proceeding be initiated by a Federal awarding agency).
                    (E) Withhold further Federal awards for the project 
                or program.
                    (F) Place the covered individual into the integrity 
                and performance system designated by the Office of 
                Management and Budget accessible through the System of 
                Award Management (``SAM.gov'') (currently the Federal 
                Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System 
                (FAPIIS)).
                    (G) Refer the failure to disclose under subsection 
                (a) to the Inspector General of the agency concerned 
                for further investigation or to Federal law enforcement 
                authorities to determine whether criminal or civil laws 
                were violated.
                    (H) Take such other actions against the recipient 
                as are authorized under applicable law or regulations.
                    (I) Recoup all funding up to and including the full 
                amount of the award.
            (2) Evidentiary standards.--A covered agency seeking 
        suspension or debarment under paragraph (1) shall abide by the 
        procedures and evidentiary standards set forth in part 180 of 
        title 2, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date 
        of the enactment of this Act).
    (h) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
            (2) Country of concern.--The term ``country of concern'' 
        means the People's Republic of China (including the Special 
        Administrative Regions of China, including Hong Kong and 
        Macau), the Russian Federation, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and 
        Venezuela, including any agency or instrumentality.
            (3) Covered agency.--The term ``covered agency'' means an 
        agency that awards a research and development award.
            (4) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual'' 
        means an individual who--
                    (A) contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to 
                the scientific development or execution of a research 
                and development project proposed to be carried out with 
                a research and development award from a Federal 
                research agency (as such term is defined in section 
                10001 of the Research and Development, Competition, and 
                Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18901)); or
                    (B) is designated as a covered individual by the 
                Federal research agency concerned.
            (5) Entity of concern.--The term ``entity of concern'' 
        means an entity organized under the laws of any country of 
        concern, including any United States subsidiary of such entity 
        or any entity that acts on behalf of any such entity.
            (6) Research and development award.--The term ``research 
        and development award''--
                    (A) means support provided to an individual or 
                entity by a covered agency to carry out research and 
                development activities, which may include support in 
                the form of a grant, contract, other transaction, or 
                cooperative agreement; and
                    (B) does not include a transaction for the 
                procurement of goods or services to meet the 
                administrative needs of a covered agency.
            (7) Support.--The term ``support''--
                    (A) means a grant or other financial support made 
                by an individual or entity;
                    (B) includes any in-kind contribution requiring a 
                commitment of time and directly supporting the research 
                and development efforts, such as the provision of 
                office or laboratory space, equipment, supplies, 
                employees, or students; and
                    (C) includes any other award or benefit, including 
                any honorarium, prize, or paid travel for a speaking 
                engagement or meeting, provided to any covered 
                individual on a research and development award or to an 
                institution of higher education (as such term is 
                defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 
                1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101)) on behalf of covered individual.
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