IB 
Union Calendar No. 738 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4887 
[Report No. 115–947] 
To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 29, 2018 
Ms. FOXX (for herself, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. ISSA, Mr. QUIGLEY, and Mr. KIL-
MER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Oversight and Government Reform 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 
Additional sponsors: Mr. WALKER, Mr. DESJARLAIS, and Ms. KELLY of 
Illinois 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 29, 2018] 
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A BILL 
To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other 
purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grant Reporting Effi-
ciency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2018’’ or the 
‘‘GREAT Act’’. 
SEC. 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 re-
port to the Federal Government; 
(2) implement the recommendation by the Direc-
tor 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 note), 
which includes the development of a ‘‘comprehensive 
taxonomy of standard definitions for core data ele-
ments required for managing Federal financial assist-
ance awards’’; 
(3) reduce burden and compliance costs of recipi-
ents of Federal grants and cooperative agreements by 
enabling technology solutions, existing or yet to be de-
veloped, by both the public and private sectors, to bet-
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ter manage data recipients already provide to the 
Federal Government; and 
(4) to strengthen oversight and management of 
Federal grants and cooperative agreements by agen-
cies through consolidated collection and display of 
and access to open data that has been standardized, 
and where appropriate, transparency to the public. 
SEC. 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: 
‘‘CHAPTER 64—DATA STANDARDS FOR 
GRANT REPORTING 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘6401. Definitions. 
‘‘6402. Data standards for grant reporting. 
‘‘6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting. 
‘‘6404. Agency requirements. 
‘‘§ 6401. Definitions 
‘‘In this chapter: 
‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the mean-
ing given that term in section 552(f) of title 5. 
‘‘(2) CORE
DATA
ELEMENTS.—The term ‘core 
data elements’ means data elements that are not pro-
gram-specific in nature and are required by agencies 
for all or the vast majority of Federal grant and co-
operative assistance recipients for purposes of report-
ing. 
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‘‘(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 
‘‘(4) FEDERAL
AWARD.—The term ‘Federal 
award’— 
‘‘(A) means the transfer of anything of 
value for a public purpose of support or stimula-
tion 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 serv-
ices for the direct benefit or use of the Gov-
ernment; or 
‘‘(ii) an agreement that provides 
only— 
‘‘(I) direct Government cash as-
sistance to an individual; 
‘‘(II) a subsidy; 
‘‘(III) a loan; 
‘‘(IV) a loan guarantee; or 
‘‘(V) insurance. 
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‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the head of the standard-setting agency. 
‘‘(6) STANDARD-SETTING
AGENCY.—The term 
‘standard-setting agency’ means the Executive depart-
ment designated under section 6402(a)(1). 
‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each State 
of the United States, the District of Columbia, each 
commonwealth, territory or possession of the United 
States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 
‘‘§ 6402. Data standards for grant reporting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) DESIGNATION OF STANDARD-SETTING AGEN-
CY.—The Director shall designate the Executive de-
partment (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 re-
ported by recipients of Federal awards. 
‘‘(3) DATA ELEMENTS.—The data standards es-
tablished under paragraph (2) shall include, at a 
minimum— 
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‘‘(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 in-
formation reported under chapter 75 of this title. 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards required to 
be established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent rea-
sonable and practicable— 
‘‘(1) render information reported by recipients of 
Federal grant and cooperative agreement awards fully 
searchable and machine-readable; 
‘‘(2) incorporate standards developed and main-
tained by voluntary consensus standards bodies; 
‘‘(3) be consistent with and implement applica-
ble accounting and reporting principles; and 
‘‘(4) incorporate the data standards established 
under the Federal Funding Accountability and 
Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 
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‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the data stand-
ards 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 note); 
‘‘(2) the head of each agency that issues Federal 
awards; 
‘‘(3) recipients of Federal awards and organiza-
tions 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 Fed-
eral grant and cooperative agreement awards; and 
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‘‘(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance apply-
ing the data standards to audit-related information 
reported under chapter 75. 
‘‘(b) GUIDANCE.—The guidance issued under this sec-
tion shall— 
‘‘(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable— 
‘‘(A) minimize the disruption to existing re-
porting practices for agencies and for recipients 
of Federal grant and cooperative agreement 
awards; and 
‘‘(B) explore opportunities to implement 
modern technologies within Federal award re-
porting; 
‘‘(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 re-
quired 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 
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data standards for all future information collection requests 
and amend existing information collection requests covered 
by chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly referred to as the Pa-
perwork Reduction Act) to comply with the data standards 
established under section 6402, consistent with the guidance 
issued by the Secretary and the Director under section 
6403.’’. 
(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’’. 
SEC. 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’’ the following ‘‘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 infor-
mation reported under this chapter to be reported in an 
electronic form consistent with the data standards estab-
lished under chapter 64.’’. 
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(b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 2 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guid-
ance requiring audit-related information reported under 
chapter 75 of title 31, United States Code, to be reported 
in an electronic form consistent with the data standards 
established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, 
as added by section 3. 
SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFOR-
MATION; PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMA-
TION AS OPEN DATA. 
(a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—Not later than 4 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary and the Director shall enable the collection, public 
display, and maintenance of Federal award information as 
a Governmentwide data set, using the data standards estab-
lished under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, as 
added by section 3, subject to reasonable restrictions estab-
lished by the Director to ensure protection of personally 
identifiable and otherwise sensitive information. 
(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 Gov-
ernmentwide website as determined appropriate by the Di-
rector. 
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(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’’). 
SEC. 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 de-
termination required pursuant to subsection (a), the Direc-
tor and the Secretary shall consider factors such as accessi-
bility and cost to recipients of Federal awards, agencies 
that issue Federal awards, private-sector experts, and mem-
bers 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 sec-
tion 3(a), the Secretary and the Director shall publish and 
submit to the Committees on Oversight and Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives and Homeland Secu-
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rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report ex-
plaining the reasoning for the determination made pursu-
ant to subsection (a). 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the terms ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘Director’’, ‘‘Federal 
award’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have the meaning given those 
terms in section 6401 of title 31, United States Code, as 
added by section 3(a). 
SEC. 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. 
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Union Calendar No. 738 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4887 
[Report No. 115–947] 
A BILL 
To modernize Federal grant reporting, and for 
other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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