Transcript FFATA - Office of Grant and Research Development

WELCOME
Bob Beattie
UMich e-Business Point of Contact
UMich Grants.gov Liaison
Managing Senior Project Representative for
Electronic Research Administration
Division of Research Development and Administration
University of Michigan
Editor, eRA Corner, NCURA Magazine
[email protected]
(734) 936-1283
I AM GOING TO DISCUSS
Public Law No. 109-282
BACKGROUND
PART 1: Prime Awards January, 2008
Where to look. What is there.
PART 2: Sub-awards January, 2009
What is supposed to be there. Who is doing what.
http://www.ncura.edu/content/news/newsletter/docs/news_septoct07.pdf
BACKGROUND
Congressional Record: September 13, 2006 (House)
Page H6498-H6501
FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY AND
TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2006
Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the
rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2590) to require full disclosure
of all entities and organizations receiving Federal funds.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 2590
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
...
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
Tom Davis of Virginia
“This legislation puts into place a framework that sheds
light on the Federal grant process, allowing anyone with
access to the Internet the ability to review and search
financial assistance rewards. Sunshine,
Mr. Speaker, is the best disinfectant. This legislation will
provide greater transparency in the grant-making process
and require continued improvement of the already existing,
but inadequate transparency, in Federal contract awards.”
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, the bill we are considering today,
S. 2950, requires the Office of Management and Budget to
create a searchable database of federal grants and contracts
accessible to the public on the Internet. I am pleased to
support this bill.
The bill before us today is stronger and more comprehensive
than the bill passed by the House in June. While the House
bill covered only grants, the database created under this
legislation will include all federal grants and contracts. If
this bill is implemented properly, any citizen with Internet
access will be able to examine a comprehensive set of
records for information about federal spending. For each
grant or contract awarded, the database will include details
about the recipient of the award, as well as the amount of
the award, the purpose of the funding action, and other
relevant information.
Do these guys really think that
American citizens will be empowered with
ability to hold the government accountable
for each spending decision?
Will there be a reduction in wasteful
spending in the government?
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of
2006 (S. 2590) is an Act of Congress that requires the full
disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds
beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by
the Office of Management and Budget. This bill was introduced
by Senator Tom Coburn and Senators Barack Obama,
Tom Carper and John McCain on April 6, 2006 and passed
unanimously in the Senate on September 7, 2006 and was
passed in the House on September 13, 2006. The bill was
signed into law by President George W. Bush on September 26,
2006.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates S. 2590 will cost
$15 million over its authorized time period of 2007 - 2011. The
website USAspending.gov opened in December 2007 as a
result of the act.
President Bush signs the bill.
HIGHLIGHTS
Not later than January 1, 2008, the Office of Management and Budget shall, in accordance
with this section, section 204 of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347; 44
U.S.C. 3501 note), and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403 et seq.),
ensure the existence and operation of a single searchable website, accessible by the public at
no cost to access, that includes for each Federal award-(A) the name of the entity receiving the award;
(B) the amount of the award;
(C) information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, the North
American Industry Classification System code or Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
number (where applicable), program source, and an award title descriptive of the purpose of
each funding action;
(D) the location of the entity receiving the award and the primary location of
performance under the award, including the city, State, congressional district, and country;
(E) a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award and of the parent entity of the
recipient, should the entity be owned by another entity; and
(F) any other relevant information specified by the Office of Management and Budget.
Agencies now must organize and categorize this information for access by the
public and ensure it is in a searchable and downloadable format consistent
with the technological solution the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act Taskforce recommends.
Agencies that do not now collect these data elements in single or multiple
systems, or that do not update this information at least monthly, must gather
this data and have a reliable process in place to produce this data on at least a
monthly basis no later than June 1, 2007. This includes all transactions
executed on or after October 1, 2006 greater than $25,000 with organizations
(not individuals), including grants, loans, awards, cooperative agreements,
other forms of financial assistance, contracts, purchase orders, task orders,
and delivery orders.
In limited cases for which meeting this deadline is not practical, your Taskforce
member should provide your Agency plan for consideration to the Chair of the
Taskforce, Robert Shea, Associate Director for Management, so long as your
plan meets the requirements of Public Law No. 109-282.
http://www.grants.gov/assets/FFATAMemo2.pdf
http://www.fedspending.org/
http://www.ffata.org/ffata/
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
http://www.usaspending.gov/
RULES FOR REPORTING SUBCONTRACTS
This rule applies to contracts with values equal to or greater than
$500 million awarded and performed in the United States, and
requires the awardees to report all first tier subcontract awards
exceeding $1 million.
Transparency Act, Grant
Sub-Award Pilot Update
Andrea Brandon, USDA
Transparency Act Grant
Sub-Award Pilot
• Pilot currently set for June 23, 2008 through August 23,
2008
• Open to States, Local Governments, Universities, Tribes,
Non-Profits, etc.
• Currently have 53 pilot participants (not counting
duplicate representatives from the same organization)
• 10 Government; 18 Non-profits; 25 Colleges &
Universities.; 0 Tribal Entities
Transparency Act Grant
Sub-Award Pilot
• FFATA Sub-Award Work Group will be working on DRAFT
Regulations (will publish for 30 day comment period by the end of
May 2008):
a.30 day reporting requirement
b.Additional data elements
c. How to report to the Sub-Award database
d.Liability for data (First Tier vs. Sub-Awardee)
e.How many tiers down to report
f. Format for data elements
g.Whether to include deobligation data or not
h.Thresholds
Transparency Act Grant
Sub-Award Pilot
• GPC Pre-Award Work Group is
finalizing the DRAFT
regulations on the use of the
DUNS number and CCR.gov for
grant Sub-Awards; and the
Term and Condition to be used
on all awards.
• DRAFT regulations will be sent
to GPC and OMB
simultaneously; to be published
for 30 day comment period by
the end of March 2008.
Transparency Act Grant
Sub-Award Pilot
• The OMB E-Government office will soon
look at possible IT Solutions for the grant
Sub-Award pilot.
• Possible identification of IT solution before
mid April 2008.
• Once IT solution is identified; will work with
pilot participants to finalize the instructions
for how the pilot will take place.
Transparency Act Grant
Sub-Award Pilot
• Would like more pilot participants –
especially from the Tribal Community
• Would like to make sure that we can test
multiple levels of Sub-Award reporting
from the same grant in several instances
during the pilot
Next Grants Policy Committee webcast: June 19, 1pm-3pm
WHO PAYS FOR THE SUBAWARD SYSTEM?
Another important issue that must be addressed is how of the cost of
compliance can be recovered by universities and others.
What the law means by "reasonable costs" that can be included as
indirect in a grant or contract is uncertain.
A policy will have to be developed to address this, but no timetable
has been discussed. It is also worth nothing that the law addresses
only allow for a recovery of costs associated with anything other than
subaward data collection--collection on prime awards and contracts
is not mentioned, and, presumably, not permitted.
Even if some cost recovery is allowed, it is doubtful that it will serve
many universities the way the law is written. Many have already hit
its indirect cost cap and would not be able to charge above that for
any costs associated with FFATA compliance.
NIH
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-028.html
NIH
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-030.html
NSF
January 2008 Grants Policy Guide
Quic kTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this pic ture.