No official summary available for this bill.
[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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), 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.
Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), 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.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line