IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5049 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To provide for improved management and oversight of major 

multi-user research facilities funded by the National 

Science Foundation, to ensure transparency and accountability of construction and management costs, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NSF Major Research 

3 Facility Reform Act of 2016’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

7 the Director of the Foundation. 

8 (2) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ 

9 means the National Science Foundation established 

10 under section 2 of the National Science Foundation 

11 Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1861). 

12 (3) MAJOR MULTI-USER RESEARCH FACILITY.— 

13 The term ‘‘major multi-user research facility’’ means 

14 a science and engineering infrastructure construction 

15 project that exceeds the lesser of 10 percent of a Di16 rectorate’s annual budget or $100,000,000 in total 

17 project cost that is funded in the major research 

18 equipment and facilities construction account, or any 

19 successor thereto. 

20 SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT OF LARGE FACILI21 TIES. 

22 (a) LARGE FACILITIES OFFICE.—The Director shall 

23 maintain a Large Facilities Office. The functions of the 

24 Large Facilities Office shall be to support the research 

25 directorates in the development, implementation, and asVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 16, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.RFS H5049

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1 sessment of major multi-user research facilities, including 

2 by— 

3 (1) serving as the Foundation’s primary re4 source for all policy or process issues related to the 

5 development and implementation of major multi-user 

6 research facilities; 

7 (2) serving as a Foundation-wide resource on 

8 project management, including providing expert as9 sistance on nonscientific and nontechnical aspects of 

10 project planning, budgeting, implementation, man11 agement, and oversight; 

12 (3) coordinating and collaborating with research 

13 directorates to share best management practices and 

14 lessons learned from prior projects; and 

15 (4) assessing projects during preconstruction 

16 and construction phases for cost and schedule risk. 

17 (b) OVERSIGHT OF LARGE FACILITIES.—The Direc18 tor shall appoint a senior agency official as head of the 

19 Large Facilities Office whose responsibility is oversight of 

20 the development, construction, and transfer to operations 

21 of major multi-user research facilities across the Founda22 tion. 

23 (c) POLICIES FOR LARGE FACILITY COSTS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ensure 

25 that the Foundation’s polices for developing and 


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1 maintaining major multi-user research facility con2 struction costs are consistent with the best practices 

3 described in the March 2009 Government Account4 ability Office Report GAO–09–3SP, or any successor 

5 report thereto, the Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR part 

6 200, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation as ap7 propriate. 

8 (2) COST PROPOSAL ANALYSIS.— 

9 (A) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—The Direc10 tor shall ensure that an external cost proposal 

11 analysis is conducted for any major multi-user 

12 research facility. 

13 (B) RESOLUTION OF ISSUES FOUND.—The 

14 Director, or a senior agency official within the 

15 Office of the Director designated by the Direc16 tor, shall certify in writing that all issues identi17 fied during the cost analysis, including any 

18 findings of unjustified or questionable cost 

19 items, are resolved before the Foundation may 

20 execute a construction agreement with respect 

21 to the project. 

22 (C) TRANSMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—The 

23 Director shall transmit each certification made 

24 under subparagraph (B) to the Committee on 

25 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 


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1 Representatives, the Committee on Commerce, 

2 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 

3 Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

4 Representatives, and the Committee on Appro5 priations of the Senate. 

6 (3) INCURRED COST AUDITS.—The Director 

7 shall ensure that an incurred cost audit is conducted 

8 at least biennially on any major multi-user research 

9 facility, in accordance with Government Auditing 

10 Standards as established in Government Account11 ability Office Report GAO–12–331G, or any suc12 cessor report thereto, with the first incurred cost 

13 audit to commence no later than 12 months after 

14 execution of the construction agreement. 

15 (4) CONTINGENCIES.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided for 

17 in subparagraph (C)(ii), the Foundation shall— 

18 (i) provide oversight for contingency 

19 in accordance with Cost Principles Uni20 form Guidance in 2 CFR part 200.433, or 

21 any successor thereto, and the Federal Ac22 quisition Regulation as appropriate, except 

23 as provided in this paragraph; and 

24 (ii) not make any award which pro25 vides for contributions to a contingency reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 16, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.RFS H5049

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1 serve held or managed by the awardee, as 

2 defined in 2 CFR part 200.433(c). 

3 (B) UPDATING POLICY MANUAL.—The 

4 Foundation shall update its Large Facilities 

5 Manual and any other applicable guidance for 

6 contingencies on major multi-user research fa7 cilities with regard to estimating, monitoring, 

8 and accounting for contingency. 

9 (C) FOUNDATION REQUIREMENTS.—The 

10 policy updated under subparagraph (B) shall 

11 require that the Foundation— 

12 (i) may only include contingency 

13 amounts in an award in accordance with 

14 Cost Principles Uniform Guidance in 2 

15 CFR part 200.433, or any successor there16 to, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

17 as appropriate; and 

18 (ii) shall retain control over funds 

19 budgeted for contingency, but may dis20 burse budgeted contingency funds incre21 mentally to the awardee to ensure project 

22 stability and continuity. 

23 (D) AWARDEE REQUIREMENTS.—The pol24 icy updated under subparagraph (B) shall re25 quire that an awardee shall— 


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1 (i) provide verifiable documentation to 

2 support any amounts proposed for contin3 gencies; and 

4 (ii) support requests for the release of 

5 contingency funds with evidence of a bona 

6 fide need and that the amounts allocated 

7 to the performance baseline are reasonable 

8 and allowable. 

9 (E) CURRENT AWARDEES.—The Founda10 tion shall work with awardees for whom awards 

11 with contingency provisions have been made be12 fore the date of enactment of this Act— 

13 (i) to determine if any of their use of 

14 contingency funds represents out-of-scope 

15 changes for which Foundation’s prior writ16 ten approval was not obtained; and 

17 (ii) if out-of-scope changes are found, 

18 to identify any financial action that may be 

19 appropriate. 

20 (5) MANAGEMENT FEES.— 

21 (A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

22 term ‘‘management fee’’ means a portion of an 

23 award made by the Foundation for the purpose 

24 of covering ordinary and legitimate business ex25 penses necessary to maintain operational staVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 16, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.RFS H5049

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1 bility which are not otherwise allowable under 

2 Cost Principles Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR 

3 part 200, Subpart E, or any successor regula4 tion thereto. 

5 (B) LIMITATION.—The Foundation may 

6 provide a management fee under an award only 

7 if the awardee provides justification as to the 

8 need for such funds. In such cases, the Founda9 tion shall take into account the awardee’s over10 all financial circumstances when determining 

11 the amount of the fee if justified. 

12 (C) FINANCIAL INFORMATION.—The 

13 Foundation shall require award applicants to 

14 provide income and financial information cov15 ering a period of no less than 3 prior years (or 

16 in the case of an entity established less than 3 

17 years prior to the entity’s application date, the 

18 period beginning on the date of establishment 

19 and ending on the application date), including 

20 cash on hand and net asset information, in sup21 port of a request for management fees. The 

22 Foundation shall also require awardees to re23 port to the Foundation annually any sources of 

24 non-Federal funds received in excess of $50,000 

25 during the award period. 


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1 (D) EXPENSE REPORTING.—The Founda2 tion shall require awardees to track and report 

3 to the Foundation annually all expenses reim4 bursed or otherwise paid for with management 

5 fee funds, in accordance with Federal account6 ing practices as established in Government Ac7 countability Office Report GAO–12–331G, or 

8 any successor report thereto. 

9 (E) AUDITS.—The Inspector General of 

10 the Foundation may audit any Foundation 

11 award for compliance with this paragraph. 

12 (F) PROHIBITED USES.—An awardee may 

13 not use management fees for— 

14 (i) costs allowable under Cost Prin15 ciples Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR part 

16 200, Subpart E, or any successor regula17 tion thereto; 

18 (ii) alcoholic beverages; 

19 (iii) tickets to concerts, sporting, or 

20 other entertainment events; 

21 (iv) vacation or other travel for non22 business purposes; 

23 (v) charitable contributions, except for 

24 a charitable contribution of direct benefit 


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1 to the project or activity supported by the 

2 management fee; 

3 (vi) social or sporting club member4 ships; 

5 (vii) meals or entertainment for non6 business purposes; 

7 (viii) luxury or personal items; 

8 (ix) lobbying, as described in the Uni9 form Guidance at 2 CFR 200.450; or 

10 (x) any other purpose the Foundation 

11 determines is inappropriate. 

12 (G) REVIEW.—The Foundation shall re13 view management fee usage for each Founda14 tion award on at least an annual basis for com15 pliance with this paragraph and the Founda16 tion’s Large Facilities Manual. 

17 (6) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

19 submit to Congress a report describing the Founda20 tion’s policies for developing and managing major 

21 multi-user research facility construction costs, in22 cluding a description of any aspects of the policies 

23 that diverge from the best practices recommended in 

24 Government Accountability Office Report GAO–09– 


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1 3SP, or any successor report thereto, and the Uni2 form Guidance in 2 CFR part 200. 

3 (7) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Director shall en4 sure that the Foundation shall take the enforcement 

5 actions specified in 45 CFR 92.43 for noncompli6 ance with this section. 

7 SEC. 4. WHISTLEBLOWER EDUCATION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Foundation shall be subject 

9 to section 4712 of title 41, United States Code. 

10 (b) EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—The Foundation 

11 shall provide education and training for Foundation man12 agers and staff on the requirements of such section 4712, 

13 and provide information on such section to all awardees, 

14 contractors, and employees of such awardees and contrac15 tors. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 14, 2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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