[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 203 (Monday, December 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H10295-H10298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GRANT REPORTING EFFICIENCY AND AGREEMENTS TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2019
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the
Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 150) to modernize Federal grant
reporting, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:
Senate amendment:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Grant
Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of
2019'' or the ``GREAT Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Data standards for grant reporting.
Sec. 5. Single Audit Act.
Sec. 6. Consolidation of assistance-related information; publication of
public information as open data.
Sec. 7. Evaluation of nonproprietary identifiers.
Sec. 8. Rule of construction.
Sec. 9. No additional funds authorized.
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 those recipients are
required by law to report to the Federal Government;
(2) implement the recommendation by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget contained in the report
submitted under section 5(b)(6) of the Federal Funding
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101
note) relating to 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, for
use in both the public and private sectors to better manage
the data that recipients already provide to the Federal
Government; and
(4) strengthen oversight and management of Federal grants
and cooperative agreements by agencies by consolidating the
collection and display of and access to open data that has
been standardized and, where appropriate, increasing
transparency to the public.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, the terms ``agency'', ``Director'', ``Federal
award'', and ``Secretary'' have the meanings given those
terms in section 6401 of title 31, United States Code, as
added by section 4(a) of this Act.
SEC. 4. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING.
(a) Amendment.--Subtitle V of title 31, United States Code,
is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the following:
``CHAPTER 64--DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING
``Sec.
``6401. Definitions.
``6402. Data standards for grant reporting.
``6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting.
``6404. Agency requirements.
``Sec. 6401. Definitions
``In this chapter:
``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' has the meaning given the
term in section 552(f) of title 5.
``(2) Core data elements.--The term `core data elements'
means data elements relating to financial management,
administration, or management that--
``(A) are not program-specific in nature or program-
specific outcome measures, as defined in section 1115(h) of
this title; and
``(B) are required by agencies for all or the vast majority
of recipients of Federal awards for purposes of reporting.
[[Page H10296]]
``(3) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
``(4) Executive department.--The term `Executive
department' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of
title 5.
``(5) 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 a grant, a subgrant, a cooperative
agreement, or any other transaction; and
``(C) does not include a transaction or agreement--
``(i) that provides for conventional public information
services or procurement of property or services for the
direct benefit or use of the Government; or
``(ii) that provides only--
``(I) direct Government cash assistance to an individual;
``(II) a subsidy;
``(III) a loan;
``(IV) a loan guarantee; or
``(V) insurance.
``(6) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the head of
the standard-setting agency.
``(7) Standard-setting agency.--The term `standard-setting
agency' means the Executive department designated under
section 6402(a)(1).
``(8) 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 that administers the
greatest number of programs under which Federal awards are
issued in a calendar year as the standard-setting agency.
``(2) Establishment of standards.--Not later than 2 years
after the date of 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 recipients
of Federal awards that can be consistently applied
Governmentwide.
``(b) Scope.--The data standards established under
subsection (a)--
``(1) shall include core data elements;
``(2) may cover information required by law to be reported
to any agency by recipients of Federal awards, including
audit-related information reported under chapter 75 of this
title; and
``(3) may not be used by the Director or any agency to
require the collection of any data not otherwise required
under Federal law.
``(c) Requirements.--The data standards established under
subsection (a) shall, to the extent reasonable and
practicable--
``(1) render information reported by recipients of Federal
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--
``(1) the Secretary of the Treasury to ensure that the data
standards established under subsection (a) incorporate the
data standards established 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, auditors, and industry stakeholders; and
``(6) State and local governments.
``Sec. 6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant
reporting
``(a) In General.--Not later than 3 years after the date of
enactment of this chapter--
``(1) the Secretary and the Director shall jointly issue
guidance to all agencies directing the agencies to apply the
data standards established under section 6402(a) to all
applicable reporting by recipients of Federal awards; and
``(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance applying the
data standards established under section 6402(a) to audit-
related information reported under chapter 75 of this title.
``(b) Guidance.--The guidance issued under subsection (a)
shall--
``(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable--
``(A) minimize the disruption of existing reporting
practices of, and not increase the reporting burden on,
agencies or recipients of Federal awards; and
``(B) explore opportunities to implement modern
technologies in reporting relating to Federal awards;
``(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for classes
of Federal awards, including exceptions for Federal awards
granted to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations consistent
with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance
Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), if the Director publishes a
list of those exceptions and submits the list to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of
the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the
House of Representatives; and
``(3) take into consideration the consultation required
under section 6402(d).
``(c) Updating Guidance.--
``(1) In general.--Not less frequently than once every 10
years, the Director shall update the guidance issued under
subsection (a).
``(2) Procedures.--In updating guidance under paragraph
(1), the Director shall, to the maximum extent practicable,
follow the procedures for the development of the data
standards and guidance prescribed under this section and
section 6402.
``Sec. 6404. Agency requirements
``Not later than 1 year after the date on which guidance is
issued or updated under subsection (b) or (c), respectively,
of section 6403, the head of each agency shall--
``(1) ensure that all of the Federal awards that the agency
issues use data standards for all future information
collection requests; and
``(2) amend existing information collection requests under
chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly known as the `Paperwork
Reduction Act') to comply with the data standards established
under section 6402 of this chapter, in accordance with the
guidance issued by the Secretary and the Director under
section 6403 of this chapter.''.
(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:
``64. Data standards for grant reporting....................6401''.....
SEC. 5. SINGLE AUDIT ACT.
(a) Amendments.--
(1) Audit requirements.--Section 7502(h) of title 31,
United States Code, is amended, in the matter preceding
paragraph (1), by inserting ``in an electronic form in
accordance with the data standards established under chapter
64 and'' after ``the reporting package,''.
(2) Regulations.--Section 7505 of title 31, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related information
reported under this chapter to be reported in an electronic
form in accordance with the data standards established under
chapter 64.''.
(b) Guidance.--Not later than 3 years after the date of
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 that title, as added by
section 4(a) of this Act.
SEC. 6. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFORMATION;
PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION AS OPEN DATA.
(a) Collection of Information.--Not later than 5 years
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and
the Director shall, using the data standards established
under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, as added by
section 4(a) of this Act, enable the collection, public
display, and maintenance of Federal award information as a
Governmentwide data set, subject to reasonable restrictions
established by the Director to ensure protection of
personally identifiable information and otherwise sensitive
information.
(b) Publication of Information.--The Secretary and the
Director shall require the publication of data reported by
recipients of Federal awards that is collected from all
agencies on a single public portal, which may be 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. 7. EVALUATION OF NONPROPRIETARY IDENTIFIERS.
(a) Determination Required.--The Director and the Secretary
shall determine whether to use nonproprietary identifiers
described in section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, United States
Code, as added by section 4(a) of this Act.
(b) Factors to Be Considered.--In making the determination
under 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, privacy advocates, transparency experts, and
transparency advocates.
(c) Publication and Report on Determination.--Not later
than the earlier of 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act or the date on which the Director and the Secretary
establish data standards under section 6402(a)(2) of title
31, United States Code, as added by section 4(a) of this Act,
the Director and the Secretary shall publish and submit to
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Reform of
the House of Representatives a report explaining the
reasoning for the determination made under subsection (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 under any Federal law, rule, or
regulation.
[[Page H10297]]
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Gomez) and the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms.
Foxx) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous materials on H.R. 150.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
{time} 1700
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act,
introduced by Representative Virginia Foxx and myself, would
standardize reporting for recipients of Federal grants and cooperative
agreements.
Grant recipients often have to report the same information in
different ways because Federal agencies do not use the same forms or
even the same terms to describe required information, often making it
difficult for organizations and businesses to apply for Federal grants.
Under this bill, the Director of OMB and the Secretary of Health and
Human Services would be required to establish governmentwide data
standards for grant reporting. This bill would encourage OMB and HHS to
make the information grant recipients report fully searchable and
machine readable. This would provide greater transparency into the
money spent on grants because spending data would be more usable.
This bill would require that data collected from grant recipients be
published on a single public portal.
The bill we are considering today is a version that the Senate has
amended and makes certain technical changes to that bill. This is a
good, commonsense measure that will ease burdens on the private sector
and improve the efficiency of government operations.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this bill, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
I rise in support of our bill, one that now awaits a final vote in
Congress before it heads to the President's desk.
I thank Representative Jimmy Gomez for helping author this piece of
legislation, the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency
Act, or GREAT Act. Representative Gomez has been a tremendous partner
on this bipartisan, bicameral bill to create more transparency,
efficiency, and accountability in the Federal grant reporting process,
and I thank him for his hard work.
Mr. Speaker, according to USAspending.gov, in 2019, the Federal
Government awarded $764.9 billion in grants funding to State agencies,
local and Tribal governments, agencies, nonprofits, universities, and
other organizations. Roughly translated, this equates to the gross
domestic product of Switzerland--or more than the GDP of every country
outside the G20.
Within our Federal Government, there are 26 agencies awarding Federal
grants, and all of them continue to rely on outdated, burdensome,
document-based forms to collect and track grant dollars. Society has
moved into a new age of information and technology, and it is time that
our government follow suit.
The GREAT Act represents bipartisan legislation to modernize the
Federal grant reporting process. It would do so by mandating a
standardized data structure for information that recipients report to
Federal agencies. Unless the reporting requirements for Federal grants
are searchable, the auditing process will continue to yield waste and
inefficiency at best and, potentially, fraud and abuse at worst.
Adopting a governmentwide open data structure for all the information
grantees report will alleviate compliance burden, provide instant
insights for grantor agencies and Congress, and enable easy access to
data for oversight, analytics, and program evaluation.
Digitizing and, therefore, automating the reporting process would
have a twofold effect:
First, it would allow greater scrutiny of how the money is being
spent.
Second, it allows grantees to maximize every dollar they receive from
the government to ensure it goes back into communities, supporting
local businesses, organizations, and education.
Lastly, the GREAT Act has received a broad breadth of support from an
array of good government groups and associations within the grant
recipient community.
The coalition endorsing the GREAT Act includes the Association of
Government Accountants, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the American
Library Association, the Data Coalition, the Grant Professionals
Association, the Native American Finance Officers Association, and the
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.
In order to fix the way Federal grants are reported, we must move
from a document-centric reporting system to a data superhighway. I urge
my colleagues in the House and the Senate to support the GREAT Act and
bring grant reporting into the 21st century.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers on my side.
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance
of my time.
Mr. Speaker, our current post-award grant reporting process is a
cumbersome, document-based process. It burdens administrators and grant
recipients. It hinders agencies in their ability to manage grant
programs and conduct performance evaluations.
These problems are exacerbated for those conducting governmentwide
and congressional oversight work, but that comes to an end today if we
pass this bill. As I said earlier, this week's vote on the GREAT Act is
the legislation's final stop in Congress before it heads to the
President's desk.
In addition to thanking Representative Gomez, I thank Senators
Lankford and Peters and their staffs for their tireless work this
Congress. Put simply, we could not have gotten this important
legislation through Congress without their sponsorship of the Senate
companion bill and their advocacy throughout this process.
Further, I thank my House bill's original cosponsors for their work
on this bipartisan achievement: Congressman Gomez, Congressman Walker,
Congressman Quigley, Congressman DesJarlais, Congresswoman Robin Kelly,
Congressman Palmer, and Congressman Kilmer.
Again, Mr. Speaker, the fragmented, decentralized, and redundant
grant reporting structure ends this week.
Instead, we usher in a new age, one that moves this government
spending from Document Street to a data superhighway with the passage
of this legislation. When we do, it will mark a great moment not just
for our Nation's grant recipients and those working for the common good
but, ultimately, the American taxpayer.
The transparency, accountability, and efficiencies that this
legislation is bound to produce are ultimately intended for them. I
proudly ask that my colleagues support this bipartisan legislation, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina,
Representative Foxx, for her partnership on this legislation.
I know, during such a historic week on a variety of fronts, this bill
might be little noticed 20, 30, or 40 years from now, but what people
should notice is that a progressive Democrat from Los Angeles and a
conservative Member from North Carolina could spot a problem that was
impacting our constituents, our businesses, our nonprofits, and that we
saw a problem that needed a solution. It might not always be the
perfect solution, but it is definitely a great solution. What we are
showing is that we can work, once again, for the American people.
I thank the gentlewoman for her example, and I know that, in the
future, we can continue to work together on even bigger and more
meaningful legislation. Let's let this be a reminder that
[[Page H10298]]
our country continues to work on behalf of everyone.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez) that the House suspend the rules
and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 150.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was concurred in.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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