I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5084
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve accountability of research
corporations established at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 10, 2002
Mr. BUYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve account-
ability of research corporations established at Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Research Corporations Accountability Act of
2002’’.
SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCOUNTABILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS RESEARCH CORPORA-
TIONS.
(a) AUDITS AND IMPROVED ANNUAL REPORT.—Sub-
section (b) of section 7366 of title 38, United States Code,
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(b)(1) Not later than March 1 each year, each such
corporation shall submit to the Secretary a report con-
cerning the preceding calendar year. Each such annual re-
port shall include the following:
‘‘(A) A detailed statement of the corporation’s
operations, activities, and accomplishments during
the preceding calendar year.
‘‘(B) A description of each research project or
activity for which funds were provided by the cor-
poration during that year or for which funds were
provided by the corporation during a preceding year
and that is ongoing during the year covered by the
report, including, for each such project or activity,
the title of the project or activity and a description
of the purpose of the project or activity.
‘‘(C) A statement of the amount of funds con-
trolled by the corporation as of the first day, and as
of the last day, of the year covered by the report and
a statement of the amount of funds received, shown
by source, during the year.
‘‘(D) An itemized accounting of all disburse-
ments made during the year.
‘‘(E) The most recent audit of the corporation
under paragraph (2).
‘‘(F) Such other information as may be nec-
essary to enable the Secretary to prepare the annual
report to congressional committees required under
section 7367 of this title.
‘‘(2) A corporation with a balance of funds under its
control in excess of $300,000 at any time during a cal-
endar year shall obtain an audit of the corporation for that
year. Any other corporation shall obtain an independent
audit of the corporation at least once every three years.
The report on any such audit shall specifically state
whether the corporation audited made any payment, or
provided any travel, during the period covered by the audit
to a member of the board of directors of the corporation
and, if so, the amount and recipient of any such payment
or travel.
‘‘(3) Any audit under paragraph (2) shall be per-
formed by an independent auditor and shall be performed
in accordance with generally accepted Government audit-
ing standards and in accordance with Office of Manage-
ment and Budget Circular A–133.
‘‘(4) The Inspector General of the Department shall
each year review the most recent audit under paragraph
(2) of not less than 10 percent of the corporations de-
scribed in the first sentence of paragraph (2) and not less
than 10 percent of the corporations described in the sec-
ond sentence of that paragraph. As part of such review,
the Inspector General shall determine whether the audit
was carried out in accordance with generally accepted
Government auditing standards, as required by paragraph
(3).’’.
(b) ANNUAL REPORT
OF SECRETARY.—(1) Sub-
chapter IV of chapter 73 of such title is amended—
(A) by inserting after subsection (c) of section
7366 the following:
‘‘§ 7367. Annual report to congressional committees’’;
and
(B) in the text immediately following the sec-
tion heading inserted by subparagraph (A)—
(i) by striking ‘‘(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)’’;
(ii) by inserting after the first sentence the
following new sentence: ‘‘Each such report shall
be based on the annual reports submitted by
the corporations to the Secretary under section
7366(b) of this title and shall be submitted not
later than May 1 of the year following the year
covered by such reports.’’; and
(iii) by striking ‘‘The report shall’’ and in-
serting the following:
‘‘(b) Each such report shall’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating
to section 7366 the following new item:
‘‘7367. Annual report to congressional committees.’’.
(c) EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH RE-
SEARCH CORPORATIONS.—Section 7368 of such title is
amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2003’’ and inserting
‘‘December 31, 2006’’.
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