I 

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. 

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 Recipient Ac5 countability for Necessary Transparency Act of 2023’’ or 

6 the ‘‘GRANT Act of 2023’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The United States Department of Edu2 cation identified several universities receiving Fed3 eral research and development funding that did not 

4 report foreign gifts as required by law. 

5 (2) The United States Department of Edu6 cation found 6 universities of the 12 they inves7 tigated received gifts that amounted to more than 

8 $1,300,000,000 from foreign sources, including the 

9 People’s Republic of China, Qatar, and the Russian 

10 Federation. 

11 (3) On April 13, 2023, the United States Envi12 ronmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector 

13 General issued a memorandum concerning ‘‘Disclo14 sure of Foreign Support for EPA Research.’’ 

15 (4) The EPA’s OIG ‘‘identified a concern re16 garding the lack of a requirement for EPA research 

17 grant recipients to report foreign support after re18 ceiving a grant award.’’ 

19 (5) According to the memorandum, ‘‘[a]s of 

20 March 22, 2023, the EPA only required grant appli21 cants to disclose all active and pending research sup22 port before receiving a grant award.’’ 

23 (6) The National Security Presidential Memo24 randum—33 requires Federal research and develop25 ment recipients to disclose any involvement in proVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:34 Jan 29, 2024 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642

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1 grams sponsored by foreign governments, instrumen2 talities, entities, including foreign government spon3 sored talent recruitment programs. 

4 (7) The memorandum also provides guidance to 

5 require both pre-award and post-award disclosures. 

6 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH AND DE7 VELOPMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS REQUIRED. 

8 (a) RECIPIENT REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSE.—The 

9 head of a covered agency shall require in the terms and 

10 conditions of any research and development award issued 

11 by the covered agency that— 

12 (1) the recipient of the award disclose within 30 

13 days after the date on which the recipient receives 

14 any support from a country of concern or an entity 

15 of concern a description of such support; and 

16 (2) any covered individual report to the recipi17 ent within 30 days after a commitment of any sup18 port or the receipt of any support from a country of 

19 concern or entity of concern, which shall be disclosed 

20 to the covered agency within 14 days after any such 

21 report. 

22 (b) COOPERATION WITH INSPECTORS GENERAL.— 

23 The head of any covered agency shall cooperate with the 

24 inspectors general in order to ensure compliance with the 

25 requirements of this section. 


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1 (c) USE OF THE COLLECTED DISCLOSURE INFORMA2 TION.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Director of the National Science 

4 Foundation shall— 

5 (1) establish and maintain a searchable data6 base on a website for any disclosure made to a cov7 ered agency pursuant to subsection (a); 

8 (2) require covered agencies to transmit by elec9 tronic means an unredacted copy of the report re10 quired pursuant to subsection (a) to the Director; 

11 (3) make the website publicly available (in elec12 tronic and downloadable format); 

13 (4) ensure website and content is searchable 

14 and sortable; and 

15 (5) make each such report available on the 

16 website not later than 30 days after receipt of the 

17 report. 

18 (d) STUDY ON RESEARCH SECURITY CONCERNS.— 

19 (1) TRANSMISSION OF REPORTS TO NATIONAL

20 COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY CENTER.— 

21 Not later than 7 days after the date on which a re22 port is submitted pursuant to subsection (c)(2), the 

23 Director of the National Science Foundation shall 

24 transmit by electronic means an unredacted copy of 


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1 such report to the Director of the National Counter2 intelligence and Security Center. 

3 (2) ANALYSIS.—The Director of the National 

4 Counterintelligence and Security Center shall— 

5 (A) perform an analysis of each report 

6 submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) to identify 

7 broader research security concerns or patterns 

8 of misconduct by each country of concern or en9 tity of concern; and 

10 (B) share the analysis with Congress and 

11 the intelligence and Federal law enforcement 

12 agencies, including the inspector general office 

13 of each covered agency. 

14 (3) NSF ANALYSIS.—Not later than 60 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di16 rector of the National Science Foundation, through 

17 the Research Security and Integrity Information 

18 Sharing Analysis Organization, shall submit to Con19 gress and provide to the Director of the National 

20 Counterintelligence and Security Center an analysis 

21 and other information related to the information dis22 closed pursuant to subsection (a). 

23 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than January 

24 15 of each year, the head of each covered agency shall 


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1 submit to Congress a report on compliance with the re2 quirements of this section for the previous fiscal year. 

3 (f) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to any re4 search and development award issued on or after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act. 

6 (g) ENFORCEMENT.— 

7 (1) ACTIONS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—The head 

8 of a covered agency shall take one or more of the 

9 following enforcement actions with respect to a re10 cipient of a research and development award made 

11 by that agency that is not in compliance with sub12 section (a): 

13 (A) Temporarily withhold cash payments 

14 pending correction of the deficiency by the non15 Federal entity. 

16 (B) Disallow (that is, deny both use of 

17 funds and any applicable matching credit for) 

18 all or part of the cost of the activity or action 

19 not in compliance. 

20 (C) Wholly or partly suspend or terminate 

21 the Federal award. 

22 (D) Initiate suspension or debarment pro23 ceedings as authorized under part 180 of title 

24 2, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 

25 the date of enactment of this Act) and Federal 


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1 awarding agency regulations (or in the case of 

2 a pass-through entity, recommend such a pro3 ceeding be initiated by a Federal awarding 

4 agency). 

5 (E) Withhold further Federal awards for 

6 the project or program. 

7 (F) Place the covered individual into the 

8 integrity and performance system designated by 

9 the Office of Management and Budget acces10 sible through the System of Award Manage11 ment (‘‘SAM.gov’’) (currently the Federal 

12 Awardee Performance and Integrity Informa13 tion System (FAPIIS)). 

14 (G) Refer the failure to disclose under sub15 section (a) to the Inspector General of the 

16 agency concerned for further investigation or to 

17 Federal law enforcement authorities to deter18 mine whether criminal or civil laws were vio19 lated. 

20 (H) Take such other actions against the 

21 recipient as are authorized under applicable law 

22 or regulations. 

23 (I) Recoup all funding up to and including 

24 the full amount of the award. 


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1 (2) EVIDENTIARY STANDARDS.—A covered 

2 agency seeking suspension or debarment under para3 graph (1) shall abide by the procedures and evi4 dentiary standards set forth in part 180 of title 2, 

5 Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act). 

7 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

9 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 

10 United States Code. 

11 (2) COUNTRY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘coun12 try of concern’’ means the People’s Republic of 

13 China (including the Special Administrative Regions 

14 of China, including Hong Kong and Macau), the 

15 Russian Federation, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and 

16 Venezuela, including any agency or instrumentality. 

17 (3) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 

18 agency’’ means an agency that awards a research 

19 and development award. 

20 (4) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

21 individual’’ means an individual who— 

22 (A) contributes in a substantive, meaning23 ful way to the scientific development or execu24 tion of a research and development project pro25 posed to be carried out with a research and deVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Jan 29, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642

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1 velopment award from a Federal research agen2 cy (as such term is defined in section 10001 of 

3 the Research and Development, Competition, 

4 and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18901)); or 

5 (B) is designated as a covered individual 

6 by the Federal research agency concerned. 

7 (5) ENTITY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘entity of 

8 concern’’ means an entity organized under the laws 

9 of any country of concern, including any United 

10 States subsidiary of such entity or any entity that 

11 acts on behalf of any such entity. 

12 (6) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD.— 

13 The term ‘‘research and development award’’— 

14 (A) means support provided to an indi15 vidual or entity by a covered agency to carry 

16 out research and development activities, which 

17 may include support in the form of a grant, 

18 contract, other transaction, or cooperative 

19 agreement; and 

20 (B) does not include a transaction for the 

21 procurement of goods or services to meet the 

22 administrative needs of a covered agency. 

23 (7) SUPPORT.—The term ‘‘support’’— 

24 (A) means a grant or other financial sup25 port made by an individual or entity; 


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1 (B) includes any in-kind contribution re2 quiring a commitment of time and directly sup3 porting the research and development efforts, 

4 such as the provision of office or laboratory 

5 space, equipment, supplies, employees, or stu6 dents; and 

7 (C) includes any other award or benefit, 

8 including any honorarium, prize, or paid travel 

9 for a speaking engagement or meeting, provided 

10 to any covered individual on a research and de11 velopment award or to an institution of higher 

12 education (as such term is defined in section 

13 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

14 U.S.C. 1101)) on behalf of covered individual. 

Æ 


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