II 

Calendar No. 30 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 303 

[Report No. 111–7] 

To reauthorize and improve the Federal Financial Assistance Management 

Improvement Act of 1999. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. CARPER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

MARCH 11, 2009 

Reported by Mr. LIEBERMAN, without amendment 

A BILL 

To reauthorize and improve the Federal Financial Assistance 

Management Improvement Act of 1999. 

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 ‘‘Federal Financial As5 sistance Management Improvement Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION. 

2 Section 11 of the Federal Financial Assistance Man3 agement Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) 

4 is amended— 

5 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AND

6 SUNSET’’; and 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘and shall cease to be effective 

8 8 years after such date of enactment’’. 

9 SEC. 3. WEBSITE RELATING TO FEDERAL GRANTS. 

10 Section 6 of the Federal Financial Assistance Man11 agement Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) 

12 is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 

14 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 

15 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(e) WEBSITE RELATING TO FEDERAL GRANTS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish 

19 and maintain a public website that serves as a cen20 tral point of information and access for applicants 

21 for Federal grants. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—To the maximum extent pos23 sible, the website established under this subsection 

24 shall include, at a minimum, for each Federal 

25 grant— 

26 ‘‘(A) the grant announcement; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the statement of eligibility relating to 

2 the grant; 

3 ‘‘(C) the application requirements for the 

4 grant; 

5 ‘‘(D) the purposes of the grant; 

6 ‘‘(E) the Federal agency funding the 

7 grant; and 

8 ‘‘(F) the deadlines for applying for and 

9 awarding of the grant. 

10 ‘‘(3) USE BY APPLICANTS.—The website estab11 lished under this subsection shall, to the greatest ex12 tent practical, allow grant applicants to— 

13 ‘‘(A) search the website for all Federal 

14 grants by type, purpose, funding agency, pro15 gram source, and other relevant criteria; 

16 ‘‘(B) apply for a Federal grant using the 

17 website; 

18 ‘‘(C) manage, track, and report on the use 

19 of Federal grants using the website; and 

20 ‘‘(D) provide all required certifications and 

21 assurances for a Federal grant using the 

22 website.’’; and 

23 (3) in subsection (g), as so redesignated, by 

24 striking ‘‘All actions’’ and inserting ‘‘Except for acVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:30 Mar 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S303.RS S303

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1 tions relating to establishing the website required 

2 under subsection (e), all actions’’. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION. 

4 The Federal Financial Assistance Management Im5 provement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended 

6 by striking section 7 and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 7. EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months after 

9 the date of enactment of the Federal Financial Assistance 

10 Management Improvement Act of 2009, and every 2 years 

11 thereafter until the date that is 15 years after the date 

12 of enactment of the Federal Financial Assistance Manage13 ment Improvement Act of 2009, the Director shall submit 

14 to Congress a report regarding the implementation of this 

15 Act. 

16 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each report under sub18 section (a) shall include, for the applicable period— 

19 ‘‘(A) a list of all grants for which an appli20 cant may submit an application using the 

21 website established under section 6(e); 

22 ‘‘(B) a list of all Federal agencies that pro23 vide Federal financial assistance to non-Federal 

24 entities; 


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1 ‘‘(C) a list of each Federal agency that has 

2 complied, in whole or in part, with the require3 ments of this Act; 

4 ‘‘(D) for each Federal agency listed under 

5 subparagraph (C), a description of the extent of 

6 the compliance with this Act by the Federal 

7 agency; 

8 ‘‘(E) a list of all Federal agencies exempt9 ed under section 6(d); 

10 ‘‘(F) for each Federal agency listed under 

11 subparagraph (E)— 

12 ‘‘(i) an explanation of why the Fed13 eral agency was exempted; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) a certification that the basis for 

15 the exemption of the Federal agency is still 

16 applicable; 

17 ‘‘(G) a list of all common application forms 

18 that have been developed that allow non-Fed19 eral entities to apply, in whole or in part, for 

20 multiple Federal financial assistance programs 

21 (including Federal financial assistance pro22 grams administered by different Federal agen23 cies) through a single common application; 

24 ‘‘(H) a list of all common forms and re25 quirements that have been developed that allow 


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1 non-Federal entities to report, in whole or in 

2 part, on the use of funding from multiple Fed3 eral financial assistance programs (including 

4 Federal financial assistance programs adminis5 tered by different Federal agencies); 

6 ‘‘(I) a description of the efforts made by 

7 the Director and Federal agencies to commu8 nicate and collaborate with representatives of 

9 non-Federal entities during the implementation 

10 of the requirements under this Act; 

11 ‘‘(J) a description of the efforts made by 

12 the Director to work with Federal agencies to 

13 meet the goals of this Act, including a descrip14 tion of working groups or other structures used 

15 to coordinate Federal efforts to meet the goals 

16 of this Act; and 

17 ‘‘(K) identification and description of all 

18 systems being used to disburse Federal finan19 cial assistance to non-Federal entities. 

20 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—The second re21 port submitted under subsection (a), and each sub22 sequent report submitted under subsection (a), shall 

23 include— 

24 ‘‘(A) a discussion of the progress made by 

25 the Federal Government in meeting the goals of 


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1 this Act, including the amendments made by 

2 the Federal Financial Assistance Management 

3 Improvement Act of 2009, and in implementing 

4 the strategic plan submitted under section 8, 

5 including an evaluation of the progress of each 

6 Federal agency that has not received an exemp7 tion under section 6(d) towards implementing 

8 the strategic plan; and 

9 ‘‘(B) a compilation of the reports sub10 mitted under section 8(c)(3) during the applica11 ble period. 

12 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE PERIOD.—In this 

13 section, the term ‘applicable period’ means— 

14 ‘‘(1) for the first report submitted under sub15 section (a), the most recent full fiscal year before 

16 the date of the report; and 

17 ‘‘(2) for the second report submitted under sub18 section (a), and each subsequent report submitted 

19 under subsection (a), the period beginning on the 

20 date on which the most recent report under sub21 section (a) was submitted and ending on the date of 

22 the report.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Financial Assistance 

3 Management Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 

4 note) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating sections 8, 9, 10, and 11 

6 as sections 9, 10, 11, and 12, respectively; and 

7 (2) by inserting after section 7, as amended by 

8 this Act, the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 8. STRATEGIC PLAN. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

11 the date of enactment of the Federal Financial Assistance 

12 Management Improvement Act of 2009, the Director shall 

13 submit to Congress a strategic plan that— 

14 ‘‘(1) identifies Federal financial assistance pro15 grams that are suitable for common applications 

16 based on the common or similar purposes of the 

17 Federal financial assistance; 

18 ‘‘(2) identifies Federal financial assistance pro19 grams that are suitable for common reporting forms 

20 or requirements based on the common or similar 

21 purposes of the Federal financial assistance; 

22 ‘‘(3) identifies common aspects of multiple Fed23 eral financial assistance programs that are suitable 

24 for common application or reporting forms or re25 quirements; 


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1 ‘‘(4) identifies changes in law, if any, needed to 

2 achieve the goals of this Act; and 

3 ‘‘(5) provides plans, timelines, and cost esti4 mates for— 

5 ‘‘(A) developing an entirely electronic, web6 based process for managing Federal financial 

7 assistance, including the ability to— 

8 ‘‘(i) apply for Federal financial assist9 ance; 

10 ‘‘(ii) track the status of applications 

11 for and payments of Federal financial as12 sistance; 

13 ‘‘(iii) report on the use of Federal fi14 nancial assistance, including how such use 

15 has been in furtherance of the objectives or 

16 purposes of the Federal financial assist17 ance; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) provide required certifications 

19 and assurances; 

20 ‘‘(B) ensuring full compliance by Federal 

21 agencies with the requirements of this Act, in22 cluding the amendments made by the Federal 

23 Financial Assistance Management Improvement 

24 Act of 2009; 


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1 ‘‘(C) creating common applications for the 

2 Federal financial assistance programs identified 

3 under paragraph (1), regardless of whether the 

4 Federal financial assistance programs are ad5 ministered by different Federal agencies; 

6 ‘‘(D) establishing common financial and 

7 performance reporting forms and requirements 

8 for the Federal financial assistance programs 

9 identified under paragraph (2), regardless of 

10 whether the Federal financial assistance pro11 grams are administered by different Federal 

12 agencies; 

13 ‘‘(E) establishing common applications and 

14 financial and performance reporting forms and 

15 requirements for aspects of the Federal finan16 cial assistance programs identified under para17 graph (3), regardless of whether the Federal fi18 nancial assistance programs are administered 

19 by different Federal agencies; 

20 ‘‘(F) developing mechanisms to ensure 

21 compatibility between Federal financial assist22 ance administration systems and State systems 

23 to facilitate the importing and exporting of 

24 data; 


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1 ‘‘(G) developing common certifications and 

2 assurances, as appropriate, for all Federal fi3 nancial assistance programs that have common 

4 or similar purposes, regardless of whether the 

5 Federal financial assistance programs are ad6 ministered by different Federal agencies; and 

7 ‘‘(H) minimizing the number of different 

8 systems used to disburse Federal financial as9 sistance. 

10 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In developing and imple11 menting the strategic plan under subsection (a), the Direc12 tor shall consult with representatives of non-Federal enti13 ties and Federal agencies that have not received an exemp14 tion under section 6(d). 

15 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

17 after the date on which the Director submits the 

18 strategic plan under subsection (a), the head of each 

19 Federal agency that has not received an exemption 

20 under section 6(d) shall develop a plan that de21 scribes how the Federal agency will carry out the re22 sponsibilities of the Federal agency under the stra23 tegic plan, which shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) clear performance objectives and 

2 timelines for action by the Federal agency in 

3 furtherance of the strategic plan; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the identification of measures to im5 prove communication and collaboration with 

6 representatives of non-Federal entities on an 

7 on-going basis during the implementation of 

8 this Act. 

9 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—The head of each Fed10 eral agency that has not received an exemption 

11 under section 6(d) shall consult with representatives 

12 of non-Federal entities during the development and 

13 implementation of the plan of the Federal agency 

14 developed under paragraph (1). 

15 ‘‘(3) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after 

16 the date on which the head of a Federal agency that 

17 has not received an exemption under section 6(d) de18 velops the plan under paragraph (1), and every 2 

19 years thereafter until the date that is 15 years after 

20 the date of enactment of the Federal Financial As21 sistance Management Improvement Act of 2009, the 

22 head of the Federal agency shall submit to the Di23 rector a report regarding the progress of the Federal 

24 agency in achieving the objectives of the plan of the 

25 Federal agency developed under paragraph (1).’’. 


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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 Section 5(d) of the Federal Financial Assistance Manage3 ment Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) 

4 is amended by inserting ‘‘, until the date on which the 

5 Federal agency submits the first report by the Federal 

6 agency required under section 8(c)(3)’’ after ‘‘subsection 

7 (a)(7)’’. 


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Calendar No. 30 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 303 

[Report No. 111–7] 

A BILL 

Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999. 

To reauthorize and improve the Federal Financial 

MARCH 11, 2009 

Reported without amendment 


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