I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 50 

To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grant Reporting Effi5 ciency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019’’ or the 

6 ‘‘GREAT Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

8 The purposes of this Act are to— 

9 (1) modernize reporting by recipients of Federal 

10 grants and cooperative agreements by creating and 

11 imposing data standards for the information that 


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1 grants and cooperative agreement recipients must 

2 report to the Federal Government; 

3 (2) implement the recommendation by the Di4 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, 

5 under section 5(b)(6) of the Federal Funding Ac6 countability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 

7 U.S.C. 6101 note), which includes the development 

8 of a ‘‘comprehensive taxonomy of standard defini9 tions for core data elements required for managing 

10 Federal financial assistance awards’’; 

11 (3) reduce burden and compliance costs of re12 cipients of Federal grants and cooperative agree13 ments by enabling technology solutions, existing or 

14 yet to be developed, by both the public and private 

15 sectors, to better manage data recipients already 

16 provide to the Federal Government; and 

17 (4) to strengthen oversight and management of 

18 Federal grants and cooperative agreements by agen19 cies through consolidated collection and display of 

20 and access to open data that has been standardized, 

21 and where appropriate, transparency to the public. 

22 SEC. 3. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING. 

23 (a) AMENDMENT.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 

24 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the 

25 following new chapter: 


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1 ‘‘CHAPTER 64—DATA STANDARDS FOR 

2 GRANT REPORTING 

3 ‘‘SEC. 6401. DEFINITIONS. 

4 ‘‘In this chapter: 

5 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 

6 meaning given that term in section 552(f) of title 5. 

7 ‘‘(2) CORE DATA ELEMENTS.—The term ‘core 

8 data elements’ means data elements that are not 

9 program-specific in nature and are required by agen10 cies for all or the vast majority of Federal grant and 

11 cooperative assistance recipients for purposes of re12 porting. 

13 ‘‘(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 

14 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg15 et. 

16 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL AWARD.—The term ‘Federal 

17 award’— 

18 ‘‘(A) means the transfer of anything of 

19 value for a public purpose of support or stimu20 lation authorized by a law of the United States, 

21 including financial assistance and Government 

22 facilities, services, and property; 

23 ‘‘(B) includes grants, subgrants, awards, 

24 and cooperative agreements; and 

25 ‘‘(C) does not include— 


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1 ‘‘(i) conventional public information 

2 services or procurement of property or 

3 services for the direct benefit or use of the 

4 Government; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) an agreement that provides 

6 only— 

7 ‘‘(I) direct Government cash as8 sistance to an individual; 

9 ‘‘(II) a subsidy; 

10 ‘‘(III) a loan; 

11 ‘‘(IV) a loan guarantee; or 

12 ‘‘(V) insurance. 

13 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

14 the head of the standard-setting agency. 

15 ‘‘(6) STANDARD-SETTING AGENCY.—The term 

16 ‘standard-setting agency’ means the Executive de17 partment designated under section 6402(a)(1). 

18 ‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 

19 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

20 each commonwealth, territory or possession of the 

21 United States, and each federally recognized Indian 

22 Tribe. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 6402. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION OF STANDARD-SETTING

2 AGENCY.—The Director shall designate the Execu3 tive department (as defined in section 101 of title 5) 

4 that issues the most Federal awards in a calendar 

5 year as the standard-setting agency. 

6 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.—Not 

7 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

8 this chapter, the Secretary and the Director shall es9 tablish Governmentwide data standards for informa10 tion reported by recipients of Federal awards. 

11 ‘‘(3) DATA ELEMENTS.—The data standards 

12 established under paragraph (2) shall include, at a 

13 minimum— 

14 ‘‘(A) standard definitions for data elements 

15 required for managing Federal awards; and 

16 ‘‘(B) unique identifiers for Federal awards 

17 and entities receiving Federal awards that can 

18 be consistently applied Governmentwide. 

19 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The data standards established under 

20 subsection (a) shall include core data elements and may 

21 cover any information required to be reported to any agen22 cy by recipients of Federal awards, including audit-related 

23 information reported under chapter 75 of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards required 

2 to be established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent 

3 reasonable and practicable— 

4 ‘‘(1) render information reported by recipients 

5 of Federal grant and cooperative agreement awards 

6 fully searchable and machine-readable; 

7 ‘‘(2) be nonproprietary; 

8 ‘‘(3) incorporate standards developed and main9 tained by voluntary consensus standards bodies; 

10 ‘‘(4) be consistent with and implement applica11 ble accounting and reporting principles; and 

12 ‘‘(5) incorporate the data standards established 

13 under the Federal Funding Accountability and 

14 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 

15 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the data 

16 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Di17 rector shall consult with, as appropriate— 

18 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of the Treasury, to ensure 

19 that the data standards incorporate the data stand20 ards created under the Federal Funding Account21 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

22 6101 note); 

23 ‘‘(2) the head of each agency that issues Fed24 eral awards; 


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1 ‘‘(3) recipients of Federal awards and organiza2 tions representing recipients of Federal awards; 

3 ‘‘(4) private sector experts; 

4 ‘‘(5) members of the public, including privacy 

5 experts, privacy advocates, and industry stake6 holders; and 

7 ‘‘(6) State and local governments. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 6403. GUIDANCE APPLYING DATA STANDARDS FOR 

9 GRANT REPORTING. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

11 date of the enactment of this chapter— 

12 ‘‘(1) the Secretary and the Director shall issue 

13 guidance to all agencies directing the agencies to 

14 apply the data standards established under section 

15 6402 to all applicable reporting by recipients of Fed16 eral grant and cooperative agreement awards; and 

17 ‘‘(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance ap18 plying the data standards to audit-related informa19 tion reported under chapter 75. 

20 ‘‘(b) GUIDANCE.—The guidance issued under this 

21 section shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable— 

23 ‘‘(A) minimize the disruption to existing 

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1 ents of Federal grant and cooperative agree2 ment awards; and 

3 ‘‘(B) explore opportunities to implement 

4 modern technologies within Federal award re5 porting; 

6 ‘‘(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for 

7 categories of grants if the Director publishes a list 

8 of such exceptions, including exceptions for Indian 

9 Tribes and Tribal organizations consistent with the 

10 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

11 Act; and 

12 ‘‘(3) take into consideration the consultation re13 quired under section 6402(d). 

14 ‘‘SEC. 6404. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS. 

15 ‘‘Not later than 3 years after the date of the enact16 ment of this chapter, the head of each agency shall ensure 

17 that all of the agency’s grants and cooperative agreements 

18 use data standards for all future information collection re19 quests and amend existing information collection requests 

20 covered by chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly referred to 

21 as the Paperwork Reduction Act) to comply with the data 

22 standards established under section 6402, consistent with 

23 the guidance issued by the Secretary and the Director 

24 under section 6403.’’. 


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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 The table of chapters for subtitle V of title 31, United 

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat4 ing to chapter 63 the following new item: 

‘‘64. Data Standards for Grant Reporting 6401’’. 

5 SEC. 4. SINGLE AUDIT ACT. 

6 (a) AMENDMENTS.— 

7 (1) Section 7502(h) of title 31, United States 

8 Code, is amended by inserting before ‘‘to a Federal 

9 clearinghouse’’ the following ‘‘in an electronic form 

10 consistent with the data standards established under 

11 chapter 64,’’. 

12 (2) Section 7505 of title 31, United States 

13 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 

14 new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related infor16 mation reported under this chapter to be reported in an 

17 electronic form consistent with the data standards estab18 lished under chapter 64.’’. 

19 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 2 years after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue 

21 guidance requiring audit-related information reported 

22 under chapter 75 of title 31, United States Code, to be 

23 reported in an electronic form consistent with the data 

24 standards established under chapter 64 of title 31, United 

25 States Code, as added by section 3. 


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1 SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFOR2 MATION; PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMA3 TION AS OPEN DATA. 

4 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—Not later than 

5 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

6 Secretary and the Director shall enable the collection, pub7 lic display, and maintenance of Federal award information 

8 as a Governmentwide data set, using the data standards 

9 established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States 

10 Code, as added by section 3, subject to reasonable restric11 tions established by the Director to ensure protection of 

12 personally identifiable and otherwise sensitive information. 

13 (b) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 

14 and the Director shall require the publication of recipient15 reported data collected from all agencies on a single public 

16 portal. Information may be published on an existing Gov17 ernmentwide website as determined appropriate by the Di18 rector. 

19 (c) FOIA.—Nothing in this section shall require the 

20 disclosure to the public of information that would be ex21 empt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 

22 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Infor23 mation Act’’). 

24 SEC. 6. EVALUATION OF NONPROPRIETARY IDENTIFIERS. 

25 (a) DETERMINATION REQUIRED.—The Director and 

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1 etary identifiers under section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, 

2 United States Code, as added by section 3(a). 

3 (b) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In making the 

4 determination required pursuant to subsection (a), the Di5 rector and the Secretary shall consider factors such as ac6 cessibility and cost to recipients of Federal awards, agen7 cies that issue Federal awards, private-sector experts, and 

8 members of the public, including privacy experts and pri9 vacy advocates. 

10 (c) PUBLICATION AND REPORT ON DETERMINA11 TION.—Not later than the earlier of 1 year after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act or the date on which the Sec13 retary and Director establish data standards pursuant to 

14 section 6402(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code, as 

15 added by section 3(a), the Secretary and the Director shall 

16 publish and submit to the Committees on Oversight and 

17 Government Reform of the House of Representatives and 

18 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen19 ate a report explaining the reasoning for the determination 

20 made pursuant to subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act, the terms ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘Director’’, ‘‘Fed23 eral award’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have the meaning given 

24 those terms in section 6401 of title 31, United States 

25 Code, as added by section 3(a). 


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1 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

3 Act, shall be construed to require the collection of data 

4 that is not otherwise required pursuant to any Federal 

5 law, rule, or regulation. 

6 SEC. 9. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

7 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

8 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

9 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

10 amounts otherwise authorized. 

Æ 


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