H. R. 150 

One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE FIRST SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and nineteen 

An Act 

To modernize Federal grant reporting, 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; 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. 
H. R. 150—2 

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. 

‘‘§ 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 programspecific 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. 

‘‘(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. 
H. R. 150—3 

‘‘(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. 

‘‘§ 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 auditrelated 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; 
H. R. 150—4 

‘‘(4) private sector experts; 

‘‘(5) members of the public, including privacy experts, privacy advocates, auditors, and industry stakeholders; and 

‘‘(6) State and local governments. 

‘‘§ 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. 

‘‘§ 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.’’. 
H. R. 150—5 

(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 auditrelated 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. 
H. R. 150—6 

(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. 

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. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.