I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3784 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify the treatment of 
technical errors in applications for Federal TRIO programs, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 
Mr. DAVIDSON (for himself, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. POLIQUIN, 
and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
the treatment of technical errors in applications for Fed-
eral TRIO programs, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Common Sense Oppor-
tunities Act’’. 
SEC. 2. APPLICATION STATUS. 
Section 402A(c)(7) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(c)(7)) is amended by striking 
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‘‘8 months’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘4 
months’’. 
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF TECHNICAL ERRORS IN APPLICA-
TIONS. 
Section 402A(c)(8) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(c)(8)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(D) TREATMENT OF TECHNICAL ERRORS 
IN APPLICATIONS.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Except as pro-
vided in clause (ii), the Secretary may not 
reject an application for a grant or con-
tract under this chapter solely because 
such application contains a technical error. 
‘‘(ii) 
EXCEPTION.—The 
Secretary 
may reject an application for a grant or 
contract under this chapter solely because 
such application contains a technical error 
only if— 
‘‘(I) the Secretary provides notice 
of the technical error by email and 
phone to the primary contact person, 
authorized representative, and project 
director identified in the application 
and, as part of such notice, specifi-
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cally identifies the technical error in 
the text of the application; 
‘‘(II) during a period of not 
fewer than 7 business days after pro-
viding notice to the applicant under 
subclause (I), and in accordance with 
clause (iii), the Secretary allows the 
applicant to submit a revised applica-
tion that corrects the technical error 
identified in such notice; and 
‘‘(III) the applicant— 
‘‘(aa) does not submit to the 
Secretary a revised application 
that corrects the technical error 
identified in the notice under 
subclause (I) before the expira-
tion of the period described in 
subclause (II); or 
‘‘(bb) submits to the Sec-
retary a revised application that 
contains a new technical error or 
does not correct the technical 
error identified in the notice 
under subclause (I). 
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‘‘(iii) TREATMENT OF REVISED APPLI-
CATIONS.—The Secretary shall treat a re-
vised application submitted under clause 
(ii)(II) in the same manner as a timely 
submitted application that did not contain 
the technical error corrected in such re-
vised application. The peer review score of 
a revised application submitted under 
clause (ii)(II) shall not be reviewable by 
any officer or employee of the Department 
of Education other than the Secretary. 
‘‘(iv) TECHNICAL ERROR DEFINED.— 
In this subparagraph, the term ‘technical 
error’ means a nonsubstantive error in an 
application, including an error in for-
matting, spacing, number of pages, font 
size or style, and an error in rounding or 
any other typographical error in a pro-
posed budget.’’. 
SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 
Section 402H(a)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–18(a)(1)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
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(2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 
at the end; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(F) identify each entity that received a 
grant or contract under this chapter during the 
period covered by the report and indicate the 
dollar amount of each such grant or contract; 
‘‘(G) identify each entity that applied for, 
but did not receive, a grant or contract under 
this chapter during the period covered by the 
report and indicate the reason that the entity 
did not receive the grant or contract for which 
it applied; and 
‘‘(H) set forth the information described in 
subparagraphs (F) and (G) separately for each 
State and local educational agency concerned.’’. 
Æ 
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