[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 87 (Tuesday, May 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26674-26676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09567]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice of Investigation and Record Requests

AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department publishes a letter, dated April 24, 2020, 
notifying the University of Texas System of an investigation related to 
the University of Texas System's reports of defined gifts and 
contracts, including restricted and conditional gifts or contracts, 
from or with a statutorily defined foreign source.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Shaheen, U.S. Department of 
Education, Office of the General Counsel, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 
6E300, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 453-6339. Email: 
[email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-
877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department publishes this letter, dated 
April 24, 2020, notifying the University of Texas System of an 
investigation related to the University of Texas System's reports of 
defined gifts and contracts, including restricted and conditional gifts 
or contracts, from or with a statutorily defined foreign source. The 
letter to the University of Texas System is in the Appendix of this 
notice.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Reed D. Rubinstein,
Principal Deputy General Counsel, Delegated the Authority to Perform 
the Functions and Duties of the General Counsel.

Appendix--Letter to University of Texas System

April 24, 2020
James B. Milliken, Chancellor Office of the Chancellor The University 
of Texas System 210 West 7th St. Austin, TX 78701
Re: Notice of 20 U.S.C. 1011f Investigation and Record Request/
University of Texas System
Dear Chancellor Milliken:
    Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) 
requires institutions of higher education (IHEs), including the 
University of Texas System (UT), to fully report statutorily defined 
gifts, contracts, and/or restricted and conditional gifts or contracts 
from or with a foreign source to the U.S. Department of Education 
(Department). These reports are posted at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/foreign-gifts.
    According to UT's Medical Branch (UTMB), it is responsible for the 
operation of the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) under UTMB's 
Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. GNL, in turn, has 
substantial contractual relations with a maximum biocontainment 
laboratory (MCL) in Wuhan, China (Wuhan MCL) (also known as the Wuhan 
Institute of Virology) which is upon information and belief owned by 
the Chinese government's Chinese Academy of Sciences. See https://www.utmb.edu/gnl/news/2018/11/28/scientific-diplomacy-and-international-cooperation-key-say-bsl4-directors; https://nationalinterest.org/blog/coronavirus/wuhan-institute-virology-origin-coronavirus-or-conspiracy-nonsense-144082; https://www.foxnews.com/world/wuhan-laboratory-china-coronavirus-controversy. On November 28, 
2018, GNL claimed in SCIENCE Magazine:
    We direct a newly constructed MCL in Wuhan, China (Z.Y.) and an 
established MCL in the United States (J.W.L), in Galveston, Texas. In 
preparation for the opening of the new

[[Page 26675]]

China MCL, we engaged in short- and long-term personnel exchanges 
focused on biosafety training, building operations and maintenance, and 
collaborative scientific investigations in biocontainment. We succeeded 
in transferring proven best practices to the new Wuhan facility. Both 
labs recently signed formal cooperative agreements that will streamline 
future scientific and operational collaborations on dangerous 
pathogens, although funding for research and the logistics of 
exchanging specimens are challenges that we have yet to solve.

https://www.utmb.edu/gnl/news/2018/11/28/scientific-diplomacy-and-international-cooperation-key-say-bsl4-directors.

    Between June 6, 2014, and June 3, 2019, UT reported approximately 
twenty-four contracts with various Chinese state-owned universities and 
ten contracts with Huawei Technologies, all purportedly worth a 
reported total of $12,987,896. It is not clear, however, whether UT has 
in fact reported all gifts from or contracts with or relating to the 
Wuhan MCL, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and/or all other foreign 
sources, including agents and instrumentalities of the government of 
the Peoples' Republic of China. Therefore, to verify UT's compliance 
with Section 117, the Department requests that your Institution produce 
the following records within thirty (30) days. Unless otherwise noted, 
the relevant time frame for these requests is January 1, 2012 through 
the present.
    1. True copies of each gift or donation agreement, contract, and/or 
conditional gift or donation agreement or contract to which your 
Institution and the Wuhan MCL, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or the 
Chinese Academy of Sciences are parties.
    2. True copies of each gift or donation agreement, contract, and/or 
conditional gift or donation agreement or contract with or between your 
Institution and any of the following:

a. BGp Inc.
b. Educational Advisors Deda Co. Ltd.
c. Xi'an Jintong University
d. University of Beijing
e. University of Shanghai
f. Dalian Auto Tech. Inc.
g. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
h. Tafel New Energy Tech Co. Ltd.
i. Zhejiang Normal University
j. ATEC Shenzhen Expressway Engineering
k. Huawei Software Technologies Co. Ltd.
l. Beijing Normal University
m. Nanjing University
n. China University of Mining and Technology
o. Chengdu Technological University
p. Sichuan University
q. Southwest Jiaotong University
r. Jilin University
s. South China University of Technology
t. China University of Petroleum
u. Southwest Petroleum University
v. Shandong University of Science and Technology
w. The Communist Party of China, its agents, employees, 
representatives, and instrumentalities (including but not limited to 
the agents, employees, representatives, and instrumentalities of 
entities such as the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, 
Central Office, and Politburo Standing Committee; the General Office of 
the Central Military Commission; the Chinese Ministry of Education; the 
Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology; the People's Liberation 
Army; the Chinese Ministry of State Security; the Chinese Ministry of 
Industry and Information Technology; the Chinese Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs; the Chinese Ministry of National Defense; the Central Bank of 
the People's Republic of China; and any People's Republic of China 
province, autonomous region, or municipality)

    3. A complete list identifying and providing the last known contact 
information for your Institution's faculty and staff (including full 
and part time employees and contractors) involved in the 
administration, direction, or scientific and/or other research 
cooperation, fund raising, or any other efforts involving (a) the Wuhan 
MCL; and/or (b) persons employed by or agents for any of the entities 
listed in section 2(a)-(w) above. The geographic location of your 
Institution's faculty and staff and/or of the persons employed by or 
agents for any of the listed entities is not determinative of your 
obligations hereunder (e.g., all employees, agents, lobbyists, and 
attorneys of or for the listed entities must also be identified and 
disclosed regardless of citizenship and place of residence). Provided 
contact information should include names, position(s) held, email 
addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and a brief description of 
the administration, direction, scientific and/or other research 
cooperation, fund raising, and/or other efforts associated with the 
listed person.
    4. A complete list identifying and providing last known contact 
information for your Institution's administrators, contractors, or 
other personnel with responsibility for and/or oversight of faculty and 
staff involved in any capacity with the Wuhan MCL. The geographic 
location of the administrators, contractors, or other personnel at the 
time of cooperation or other execution of efforts is in no way 
determinative of such involvement. Provided contact information should 
include names, specific responsibilities, position(s) held, email 
addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.
    5. All records (including but not limited to emails and true copies 
of contracts and/or gift or donation agreements) of, regarding, or 
relating to (a) the Wuhan MCL, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 
MCL researcher Shi Zhengli, and Eric Yuan, Chief Executive Officer of 
Zoom Communications; and/or (b) any gift, contract, or conditional gift 
or contract from or with the Communist Party of China, its agents, 
employees, representatives, and instrumentalities.
    6. All records (including but not limited to emails and true copies 
of contracts and/or gift or donation agreements) of, regarding, or 
related to gifts, contracts and/or restricted or conditional gifts or 
contracts to or with the Institution from or with any foreign source. 
The time frame for this request is January 1, 2016, to the present.
    The Department requests that UT produce records as follows:
     Searches for records in electronic form should include 
searches of all relevant mobile devices, hard drives, network drives, 
offline electronic folders, thumb drives, removable drives, records 
stored in the cloud, and archive files, including, but not limited to, 
backup tapes. Do not time stamp or modify the content, the create date, 
or the last date modified of any record and do not scrub any metadata. 
Electronic records should be produced in native format. For emails, 
please place responses in one .pst file per employee. For .pdf files, 
please provide searchable file format and not image file format.
     All email searches should be conducted by the agency's 
information technology department, or its equivalent, and not by the 
individuals whose records are being searched. Please provide the name 
and contact information of the individual(s) who conducted the search, 
as well as an explanation of how the search was conducted.
     To the extent practicable, please produce all records in a 
searchable electronic format and not hardcopies. Should you have any 
questions about the method or format of production please contact the 
undersigned to coordinate.
    As used in this Notice of Investigation and Information Request:

[[Page 26676]]

    ``Agent'' has its plain and ordinary meaning, indicating that a 
person, organization, or entity, is acting on behalf of another person, 
organization, or entity, whether that agency is disclosed or 
undisclosed.
    ``Contract'' has the meaning given at 20 U.S.C. 1011f(h)(1).
    ``Faculty'' refers to all teaching positions at the university 
(including professors of all ranks, teachers, lecturers, and/or 
researchers whether in a classroom, laboratory, or other educational 
environment--whether physically or electronically present).
    ``Foreign source'' has the meaning given at 20 U.S.C. 1011f(h)(2).
    ``Gift'' has the meaning given at 20 U.S.C. 1011f(h)(3).
    ``Institution'' has the meaning given at 20 U.S.C. 1011f(h)(4) and 
for the purposes of this request includes all UT campuses and 
facilities. Section 117 requires that when an institution receives the 
benefit of a gift from or a contract with a foreign source in the 
applicable amount, even if by an agent (e.g., employee) and through an 
intermediary (e.g., non-profit organization), it must disclose the gift 
or contract to the Department. Where a legal entity (e.g., centers, 
boards, foundations, research groups, partnerships, or non-profit 
organizations, whether or not organized under the laws of the United 
States and including, by way of example and not limitation, UTMB and 
GNL) operates substantially for the benefit or under the auspices of an 
IHE, there is a rebuttable presumption that when that legal entity 
receives money or enters into a contract with a foreign source, it is 
for the benefit of the institution, and, thus, must be disclosed.
    ``Record'' means all recorded information, regardless of form or 
characteristics, made or received, and including metadata, such as 
email and other electronic communication, word processing documents, 
PDF documents, animations (including PowerPointTM and other 
similar programs) spreadsheets, databases, calendars, telephone logs, 
contact manager information, internet usage files, network access 
information, writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound 
recordings, images, financial statements, checks, wire transfers, 
accounts, ledgers, facsimiles, texts, animations, voicemail files, data 
generated by calendaring, task management and personal information 
management (PIM) software (such as Microsoft Outlook), data created 
with the use of personal data assistants (PDAs), data created with the 
use of document management software, data created with the use of paper 
and electronic mail logging and routing software, and other data or 
data compilations, stored in any medium from which information can be 
obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the 
responding party into a reasonably usable form. The term ``recorded 
information'' also includes all traditional forms of records, 
regardless of physical form or characteristics.
    ``Restricted or conditional gift or contract'' has the meaning 
given at 20 U.S.C. 1011f(h)(5).
    ``Staff'' refers to all members of the university involved in 
administration of the university and its obligations and commitments 
(including deans of all ranks, administration officials, and support 
personnel).
    ``Wuhan MCL'' refers to the maximum biocontainment laboratory in 
Wuhan, China, as referenced in GNL documents, and which may also be 
known as the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
    If UT asserts attorney-client or attorney-work product privilege 
for a given record, then it must prepare and submit a privilege log 
expressly identifying each such record and describing it so the 
Department may assess the claim's validity. Please note that no other 
privileges apply. UT's record and data preservation obligations are 
outlined at Exhibit A.
    Please note that Section 117(f), 20 U.S.C. 1011f(f), provides that 
whenever it appears an IHE has failed to fully comply with the law, the 
Secretary of Education may, among other things, request that the 
Attorney General commence an enforcement action to compel compliance 
and to recover the full costs to the United States of obtaining 
compliance, including all associated costs of investigation and 
enforcement. Please further note there may also be other penalties 
triggered by the knowing and intentional submission of false reports 
and/or information.
    The Department recognizes that the COVID-19 virus may have a 
significant impact on certain UT operations. Nonetheless, the critical 
importance of the Department's investigation into the accuracy of UT's 
foreign source reporting with respect to the Wuhan MCL and other 
Chinese Communist Party-related persons and entities is not diminished. 
Accordingly, the Department expects UT's timely response to this 
investigation.
    This investigation is being directed by the Department's Office of 
the General Counsel. To arrange transmission of the requested 
information, or should you have any other questions, please contact:
Paul R. Moore, Esq. Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of 
Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Room 6E300 Washington, DC 20202 
[email protected].

    Sincerely yours,

Reed D. Rubinstein,

Principal Deputy General Counsel delegated the authority and duties 
of the General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2020-09567 Filed 5-4-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P