GREAT Act

To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019 GREAT Act 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 grants and cooperative agreement recipients must report to the Federal Government; (2) implement the recommendation by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, under section 5(b)(6) of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 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, by both the public and private sectors, to better manage data recipients already provide to the Federal Government; and (4) to strengthen oversight and management of Federal grants and cooperative agreements by agencies through consolidated collection and display of and access to open data that has been standardized, and where appropriate, transparency to the public. 3. Data standards for grant reporting (a) Amendment Subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the following new chapter: 64 DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING 6401. Definitions In this chapter: (1) Agency The term agency (2) Core data elements The term core data elements (3) Director The term Director (4) 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 grants, subgrants, awards, and cooperative agreements; and (C) does not include— (i) conventional public information services or procurement of property or services for the direct benefit or use of the Government; or (ii) an agreement that provides only— (I) direct Government cash assistance to an individual; (II) a subsidy; (III) a loan; (IV) a loan guarantee; or (V) insurance. (5) Secretary The term Secretary (6) Standard-setting agency The term standard-setting agency (7) State The term State 6402. Data standards for grant reporting (a) In general (1) Designation of standard-setting agency The Director shall designate the Executive department (as defined in section 101 of title 5) that issues the most Federal awards in a calendar year as the standard-setting agency. (2) Establishment of standards Not later than 1 year after the date of the 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 entities receiving Federal awards that can be consistently applied Governmentwide. (b) Scope The data standards established under subsection (a) shall include core data elements and may cover any information required to be reported to any agency by recipients of Federal awards, including audit-related information reported under chapter 75 of this title. (c) Requirements The data standards required to be established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent reasonable and practicable— (1) render information reported by recipients of Federal grant and cooperative agreement 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 (d) Consultation In establishing the data standards under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Director shall consult with, as appropriate— (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, to ensure that the data standards incorporate the data standards created under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 (2) the head of each agency that issues Federal awards; (3) recipients of Federal awards and organizations representing recipients of Federal awards; (4) private sector experts; (5) members of the public, including privacy experts, privacy advocates, and industry stakeholders; and (6) State and local governments. 6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting (a) In general Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this chapter— (1) the Secretary and the Director shall issue guidance to all agencies directing the agencies to apply the data standards established under section 6402 to all applicable reporting by recipients of Federal grant and cooperative agreement awards; and (2) the Director shall prescribe guidance applying the data standards to audit-related information reported under chapter 75. (b) Guidance The guidance issued under this section shall— (1) to the extent reasonable and practicable— (A) minimize the disruption to existing reporting practices for agencies and for recipients of Federal grant and cooperative agreement awards; and (B) explore opportunities to implement modern technologies within Federal award reporting; (2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for categories of grants if the Director publishes a list of such exceptions, including exceptions for Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations consistent with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; and (3) take into consideration the consultation required under section 6402(d). 6404. Agency requirements Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this chapter, the head of each agency shall ensure that all of the agency’s grants and cooperative agreements use data standards for all future information collection requests and amend existing information collection requests covered by chapter 35 . (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 new item: 64. Data Standards for Grant Reporting 6401 . 4. Single audit act (a) Amendments (1) Section 7502(h) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting before to a Federal clearinghouse in an electronic form consistent with the data standards established under chapter 64, (2) Section 7505 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (d) Such guidance shall require audit-related information reported under this chapter to be reported in an electronic form consistent with the data standards established under chapter 64. . (b) Guidance Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guidance requiring audit-related information reported under chapter 75 chapter 64 5. Consolidation of assistance-related information; publication of public information as open data (a) Collection of information Not later than 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Director shall enable the collection, public display, and maintenance of Federal award information as a Governmentwide data set, using the data standards established under chapter 64 (b) Publication of information The Secretary and the Director shall require the publication of recipient-reported data collected from all agencies on a single public portal. Information may be published on 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 6. Evaluation of nonproprietary identifiers (a) Determination required The Director and the Secretary shall determine whether to use nonproprietary identifiers under section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, United States Code, as added by section 3(a). (b) Factors To be considered In making the determination required pursuant to 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 and privacy advocates. (c) Publication and report on determination Not later than the earlier of 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act or the date on which the Secretary and Director establish data standards pursuant to section 6402(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code, as added by section 3(a), the Secretary and the Director shall publish and submit to the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report explaining the reasoning for the determination made pursuant to subsection (a). 7. Definitions In this Act, the terms agency Director Federal award Secretary 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 pursuant to any Federal law, rule, or regulation. 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.

Summary: Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019 or the GREAT Act This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget, jointly with the executive department that issues the most federal grant awards, to (1) establish government-wide data standards for information reported by grant recipients, (2) issue guidance directing federal agencies to apply those standards, and (3) require the publication of recipient-reported data collected from all agencies on a single public website.