a representative capacity and shall not be appointed as 
a special government employee or receive a salary as a 
Federal employee, but may receive travel expenses, includ-
ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with ap-
plicable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(d) CO-CHAIRS.—The Board shall be co-chaired by— 
(1) the Associate Administrator for the Aca-
demic Research Enterprise, appointed pursuant to 
subsection (g); and 
(2) a member of the Board who satisfies the 
criteria described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of 
subsection (b), appointed by the President. 
(e) DUTIES.—In general, the Board shall— 
(1) provide advice to the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget, the Director of the Of-
fice of Science and Technology Policy, and the heads 
of Federal research funding agencies on actions that 
each could take to make Federal regulation of the 
academic research enterprise more efficient and less 
burdensome; 
(2) promote a comprehensive approach to regu-
lating the academic research enterprise at the Fed-
eral level and to improve and maintain a Federal 
regulatory environment that is conducive to efficient 
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performance of the Federal-university research part-
nership, including identification of regulations that 
are duplicative or impose significant costs or unnec-
essary burdens; 
(3) meet not less than semiannually; 
(4) facilitate efforts within the Federal Govern-
ment to coordinate new and existing regulations, 
policies, guidance, and application and reporting for-
mats; 
(5) review existing regulations, policies, and 
guidance documents that may be outmoded, ineffec-
tive, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, with the 
goal of modifying, streamlining, or repealing, as 
needed; 
(6) identify legislative mandates that Federal 
agencies and research institutions believe are unnec-
essary or outdated; 
(7) recommend ad hoc working groups to ad-
dress particular regulations, policies, and guidance 
documents reviewed or identified by the Board under 
paragraph (5) or (6) governing the research enter-
prise that are under development or targeted for re-
form; 
(8) provide for coordination of regulations 
among Federal agencies and maximize consultation 
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with the groups affected by Federal research regula-
tions at an early stage; 
(9) assist research agencies in fostering a cul-
ture of integrity at research institutions in order to 
achieve the highest standards in institutional and in-
dividual behavior; and 
(10) submit to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions, the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Government 
Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, the Committee on Science, Space, 
and Technology, and the Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform of the House of Represent-
atives, an annual report on progress made by the 
Board toward reforming and streamlining research 
regulations, policies, and guidance documents, and 
make such report publicly available. 
(f) SUBMISSION OF REGULATORY PLANS.—The head 
of each Federal research funding agency shall— 
(1) provide to the Board a regulatory plan, to 
be updated annually, with regulations, policies, and 
guidance documents that the agency head expects to 
issue in proposed or final form during the upcoming 
fiscal year to facilitate review by the Board; 
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(2) include, to the extent possible, alternatives 
to be considered and preliminary estimates of costs 
and benefits of the items contained in the plan; and 
(3) submit to the Board draft regulatory ac-
tions, policies, and guidance documents as the docu-
ments become available. 
(g) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ACADEMIC 
RESEARCH ENTERPRISE.—Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, after 
consultation with the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget and the Director of the Office of Science 
and Technology Policy, shall appoint from among the cur-
rent full-time equivalent employees or individuals em-
ployed pursuant to the Intergovernmental Personnel Act 
of 1970 (42 U.S.C. 4701 note) within the Office of Infor-
mation and Regulatory Affairs an Associate Administrator 
for the Academic Research Enterprise. The Associate Ad-
ministrator shall— 
(1) serve as a liaison between the Office of In-
formation and Regulatory Affairs and the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy; 
(2) act as Co-Chair of the Board; 
(3) meet with representatives from Federal 
agencies, research institutions, and other Federal 
and non-Federal stakeholder entities relevant to the 
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Federal research enterprise several times per year; 
and 
(4) establish working groups from the members 
of the Board, which may include non-Board mem-
bers with relevant expertise to working groups as 
recommended by the Board, to address particular 
regulations, policies, and guidance documents gov-
erning the Federal research enterprise that are 
under development or targeted for reform by the 
Board. 
(h) APPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Research Policy 
Board shall be treated as an advisory committee subject 
to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 
(i) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 
than 24 months after the establishment of the Board, and 
every 24 months thereafter, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to Congress and make publicly available a report 
that— 
(1) assesses the performance of the Board, in-
cluding the quality of collaboration between the non- 
Federal and Federal members of the Board to advise 
on the regulatory process (including the develop-
ment, reform, and harmonization of regulations, 
policies, and guidance documents), including wheth-
er— 
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(A) the Federal agency heads presented 
the regulatory plans required by subsection (f); 
(B) the non-Federal members had the op-
portunity to effectively comment on such plans; 
(C) the comments had an impact on the 
final rules developed; and 
(D) working groups were established as re-
quired by subsection (g)(4); 
(2) makes recommendations for improving col-
laboration, as necessary, for accomplishing the re-
quirements of this section; 
(3) assesses the degree to which Federal re-
search funding agencies and the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget take into account the input of the 
Board when promulgating new regulations, policies, 
and guidance documents, or harmonizing or reform-
ing existing regulations and policies; and 
(4) considers any other issues which the Comp-
troller General may find relevant to the performance 
and purposes of the Board. 
(j) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall ex-
pire ten years after the date of enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 5. EXCEPTIONS TO SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING 
UNDER THE SINGLE AUDIT ACT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall exempt prime grant-receiv-
ing institutions from the monitoring of a subrecipient’s 
single audit of institutional systems and business practices 
related to the requirements under chapter 75 of title 31, 
United States Code, if— 
(1) the prime and subrecipient are research in-
stitutions subject to audits under such chapter; and 
(2) the subaward is for the performance of 
work that is required to be listed on a recipient’s 
schedule of expenditures of Federal awards. 
(b) SINGLE AUDIT DEFINED.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘single audit’’ means the practices related to the re-
quirements under chapter 75 of title 31, United States 
Code, as implemented in part 200 of title 2, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations. 
SEC. 6. MICRO-PURCHASE THRESHOLD FOR PROCURE-
MENT SOLICITATIONS BY RESEARCH INSTI-
TUTIONS. 
(a) MICRO-PURCHASE THRESHOLD.—Except as pro-
vided in subsection (b), the threshold for purchases by re-
search institutions using Federal grant funds without re-
quiring competitive quotations shall be not less than 
$10,000, adjusted periodically to account for inflation. 
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(b) REVIEWS AND AUDITS REQUIRED FOR HIGHER 
THRESHOLD.—The Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget may revise the threshold for purchases re-
ferred to in subsection (a) to be greater than $10,000 if 
the Director determines that procurement system reviews 
and single audits support the higher threshold. 
(c) STRATEGIC SOURCING AGREEMENTS.—For pur-
chases referred to in subsection (a), the Director shall en-
courage research institutions to use strategic sourcing 
agreements to assure favorable pricing on high volume, 
low-cost purchases. 
(d) ADDITIONAL EXCEPTION FOR PROCUREMENT BY 
NONCOMPETITIVE PROPOSALS.—For a purchase referred 
to in subsection (a) that exceeds the threshold applicable 
under subsection (a) or (b), the Director may allow the 
purchase to be carried out through solicitation of a pro-
posal from only one source, but only if the procurement 
is necessary for research, scientific, or other programmatic 
reasons, such as instances in which the purchase is for 
a specialized service or of a necessary quality that is avail-
able only from a single vendor, or if only one vendor can 
deliver in the required time frame. 
(e) UNIFORM GUIDANCE.—The Director shall revise 
the Uniform Guidance to conform with the requirements 
of this section. For purposes of the preceding sentence, 
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the term ‘‘Uniform Guidance’’ means the uniform admin-
istrative requirements, cost principles, and audit require-
ments for Federal awards contained in part 200 of title 
2 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 
SEC. 7. SHARED DATABASE OF RESEARCHER INFORMA-
TION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy shall establish a working 
group within the National Science and Technology Council 
with the responsibility to coordinate Federal research 
funding agency policies in developing a central database 
of researcher information, including researchers’ expertise, 
employment, education, and professional accomplish-
ments, for use by research institutions in applying for re-
search grants from Federal scientific funding agencies. 
(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The working group shall— 
(1) identify the policy issues and barriers that 
must be addressed in developing such a database; 
(2) ensure that the database provides a single 
source of information for research profiles across 
Federal research funding agencies, including, to the 
extent practicable, information on researchers’ cur-
rent and pending Federal support, expertise, employ-
ment, education professional accomplishments, and 
other items as appropriate; 
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(3) work to reduce the administrative burden 
associated with Federal grant submission and re-
porting requirements by use of the database across 
Federal research funding agencies; 
(4) ensure that the database developed is the 
least burdensome possible for research institutions 
applying for Federal grants that still allows for the 
collection of information necessary for Federal re-
search funding agencies; 
(5) determine whether the database can be 
made more efficient through linkages to databases 
developed under the public access plans of Federal 
research funding agencies (pursuant to the memo-
randum on ‘‘Increasing Access to the Results of 
Federally Funded Scientific Research’’ published by 
the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Feb-
ruary 22, 2013); 
(6) determine how to best leverage resources on 
researcher information from non-Federal sources 
such as researcher identifiers; 
(7) ensure that the database cross-references 
other Federal award databases, including any sys-
tem of award management operated by the Govern-
ment Services Administration; and 
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(8) recommend a Federal research funding 
agency to administer the database. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than one year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 
transmit a report to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions, the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation, the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Government Affairs, the Committee on En-
ergy and Natural Resources, and the Committee on Armed 
Services of the Senate, and the Committee on Armed Serv-
ices, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Com-
mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 
of Representatives, describing the actions taken develop 
the database described in subsection (a). 
SEC. 8. MODIFICATION OF DUTIES OF INSPECTORS GEN-
ERAL AT RESEARCH AGENCIES. 
(a) 
UNRESOLVED
INSPECTOR
GENERAL
REC-
OMMENDATION.—The head of any Federal research fund-
ing agency that has received a recommendation from the 
Inspector General for that agency that the Inspector Gen-
eral determines has not been adequately resolved, shall an-
nually provide to such Inspector General a written expla-
nation why the recommendation has not been acted upon 
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and the status within the agency of resolving the rec-
ommendation. 
(b) AGENCY DETERMINATION.—If the head of a Fed-
eral research funding agency receives a recommendation 
described in subsection (a) and determines that the rec-
ommendation has been adequately resolved, the head of 
that agency shall be exempt from the requirements of sub-
section (a) for that recommendation and any substantially 
similar recommendation after providing the Inspector 
General for that agency with a written explanation of the 
determination of the head of the agency. 
(c) UNSUSTAINED FINDINGS.—For each audit of a 
research institution conducted by an Inspector General, 
the Inspector General shall include in each public report, 
including the semiannual report required under section 5 
of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), only 
such disallowed costs found in the audit which are sus-
tained by the head of the agency. 
SEC. 9. REVIEW OF PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT ESTI-
MATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall— 
(1) periodically review estimates of the hours 
spent by research institutions to meet the burdens 
imposed by Federal research funding agencies sub-
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mitted in accordance with subchapter I of chapter 
35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly re-
ferred to as the Paperwork Reduction Act); and 
(2) determine whether the estimates of hours 
are reasonable and based on consistent metrics 
across Federal research funding agencies. 
(b) AGENCY RESPONSE TO BURDEN HOUR ESTI-
MATES.—During the development of burden hour esti-
mates, the head of the Federal research funding agency 
developing the estimate shall be required to respond to all 
comments regarding the reasonableness of burden hour es-
timates. 
(c) FINDING.—If the Director determines that the es-
timates of hours described in subsection (a) for a par-
ticular Federal research funding agency is not reasonable 
and consistent, the head of the agency shall submit to the 
Director— 
(1) revised estimates; or 
(2) if the estimates are not revised, a justifica-
tion for such estimates. 
(d) BURDEN DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘‘burden’’ has the meaning given that term in section 3502 
of title 44, United States Code. 
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SEC. 10. PUBLIC ACCESS WORKING GROUP DUTIES. 
Section 103(b) of the America COMPETES Reau-
thorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6623(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (10), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(11) examine the procedures of Federal 
science agencies regarding requirements for pro-
viding public access to the results of federally funded 
research and identify methods for reducing the bur-
dens of compliance on funded researchers, university 
research administrators, publishers, and others im-
pacted by agency public access policies.’’. 
Æ 
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