118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5536 

AN ACT 

To require transparency in notices of funding opportunity, 

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, 
2 

•HR 5536 EH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grant Transparency 

3 Act of 2023’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NOTICES OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TRANS5 PARENCY. 

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’— 

8 (A) has the meaning given the term ‘‘Exec9 utive agency’’ in section 105 of title 5, United 

10 States Code; and 

11 (B) does not include the Government Ac12 countability Office. 

13 (2) COMPETITIVE GRANT.—The term ‘‘competi14 tive grant’’ means a discretionary award (as defined 

15 in section 200.1 of title 2, Code of Federal Regula16 tions) awarded by an agency— 

17 (A) through a grant agreement or coopera18 tive agreement under which the agency makes 

19 payment in cash or in kind to a recipient to 

20 carry out a public purpose authorized by law; 

21 and 

22 (B) the recipient of which is selected from 

23 a pool of applicants through the use of merit24 based selection procedures for the purpose of al25 locating funds authorized under a grant pro26 gram of the agency. 
3 

•HR 5536 EH

1 (3) EVALUATION OR SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

2 The term ‘‘evaluation or selection criteria’’ means 

3 standards or principles for judging, evaluating, or 

4 selecting an application for a competitive grant. 

5 (4) NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY.—The 

6 term ‘‘notice of funding opportunity’’ has the mean7 ing given the term in section 200.1 of title 2, Code 

8 of Federal Regulations. 

9 (5) RATING SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘rating sys10 tem’’— 

11 (A) means a system of evaluation of com12 petitive grant applications to determine how 

13 such applications advance through the selection 

14 process; and 

15 (B) includes— 

16 (i) a merit criteria rating rubric; 

17 (ii) an evaluation of merit criteria; 

18 (iii) a methodology to evaluate and 

19 rate based on a point scale; and 

20 (iv) an evaluation to determine wheth21 er a competitive grant application meets 

22 evaluation or selection criteria. 

23 (b) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.—Each notice 

24 of funding opportunity issued by an agency for a competi25 tive grant shall include— 
4 

•HR 5536 EH

1 (1) a description of any rating system and eval2 uation and selection criteria the agency uses to as3 sess applications for the competitive grant; 

4 (2) a statement of whether the agency uses a 

5 weighted scoring method and a description of any 

6 weighted scoring method the agency uses for the 

7 competitive grant, including the amount by which 

8 the agency weights each criterion; and 

9 (3) any other qualitative or quantitative merit10 based approach the agency uses to evaluate an appli11 cation for the competitive grant. 

12 (c) APPLICATIONS; DATA ELEMENTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

14 Management and Budget, in coordination with the 

15 Executive department designated under section 

16 6402(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, shall de17 velop data elements relating to grant applications to 

18 ensure common reporting by each agency with re19 spect to applications received in response to each no20 tice of funding opportunity of the agency. 

21 (2) CONTENTS.—The data elements developed 

22 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 (A) the number of applications received; 

24 and 
5 

•HR 5536 EH

1 (B) the city and State of each organization 

2 that submitted an application. 

3 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—With respect to a 

4 particular competitive grant, nothing in this Act shall be 

5 construed to supersede any requirement with respect to 

6 a notice of funding opportunity for the competitive grant 

7 in a law that authorizes the competitive grant. 

8 (e) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds 

9 are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of car10 rying out this Act. 

11 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall take effect on 

13 the date that is 120 days after the date of enact14 ment of this Act. 

15 (2) NO RETROACTIVE EFFECT.—This Act shall 

16 not apply to a notice of funding opportunity issued 

17 before the date of enactment of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2024. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5536 

AN ACT 

To require transparency in notices of funding 

opportunity, and for other purposes.