[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2101 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2101
To prohibit the award of Federal grants to applicants submitting
duplicative or fraudulent applications, to require the Director of
Office of Management and Budget to establish a tracking and
deconfliction system for Federal grant applications, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 14, 2025
Mrs. Bice (for herself and Mr. Self) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the award of Federal grants to applicants submitting
duplicative or fraudulent applications, to require the Director of
Office of Management and Budget to establish a tracking and
deconfliction system for Federal grant applications, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Duplicative Grant Consolidation
Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AWARD OF FEDERAL GRANTS TO APPLICANTS SUBMITTING
DUPLICATIVE OR FRAUDULENT APPLICATIONS.
(a) No Award on Basis of Duplicative Application.--
(1) Prohibition.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided for under
subparagraph (B), the head of an executive agency may
not award a grant to an applicant determined by the
head of the agency or the Inspector General of the
agency to have received another grant from the head of
another executive agency for the same or identical
purpose.
(B) Exception.--The prohibition under subparagraph
(A) related to the award of grants for the same or
identical purposes shall not apply to an applicant that
is an institution of higher education.
(2) Determination.--In the case that the head of an
executive agency or the Inspector General of the agency
determines that an applicant for a grant has submitted an
application for another grant from another executive agency for
the same or identical purpose, the heads of such agencies shall
jointly determine which agency is the appropriate agency to
award the grant, if such grant is to be awarded to such
applicant.
(b) No Award on Basis of Fraudulent Application.--The head of an
executive agency may not award a grant to an applicant determined by
the head of the agency or the Inspector General of the agency to have
submitted a fraudulent application for such grant.
SEC. 3. TRACKING AND DECONFLICTION SYSTEM FOR FEDERAL GRANT
APPLICATIONS.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget shall make available to the heads of executive agencies,
including the Inspectors General of such agencies, an electronic system
through which the head of an executive agency may determine before
awarding a grant, or through which an Inspector General of an executive
agency may determine in conducting an audit or investigation, whether
any applicant for such grant has received, or submitted an application
to the head of another executive agency for, another grant for the same
or identical purpose.
(b) Contents of System.--The system shall contain at a minimum, the
name of the awardee, the principal investigator, the award period,
agency point of contact, and an abstract.
(c) Essentially Equivalent Work.--The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall establish an electronic system which
contains information for all federal research awards through which the
head of an executive agency may determine before awarding a grant, or
through which an Inspector General of an executive agency may determine
in conducting an audit or investigation, whether--
(1) substantially the same research is proposed for funding
in more than one grant application submitted to the same
Federal agency;
(2) substantially the same research is submitted to two or
more different Federal agencies for review and funding
consideration; or
(3) a specific research objective and the research design
for accomplishing an objective are the same or closely related
in two or more proposals or awards, regardless of the funding
source.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF LEVERAGING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO
IDENTIFY DUPLICATIVE FEDERAL GRANT APPLICATIONS.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in
consultation with the Secretary of Energy, the Director of the National
Science Foundation, and the Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, shall submit to the appropriate Congressional
committees a report on the feasibility of leveraging artificial
intelligence to rapidly identify, with respect to an application for a
grant submitted to the head of an executive agency--
(1) whether an applicant for such grant has received, or
submitted an application to the head of another executive
agency for, another grant for the same or identical purpose;
and
(2) waste, fraud, and abuse.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Applicable time period.--The term ``applicable time
period'' means--
(A) with respect to a covered application for a
grant awarded after the date on which system is
established under section 2(a), during the period--
(i) beginning on the date on which such
application is submitted; and
(ii) ending on the date on which amounts
under the grant are no longer being expended;
and
(B) with respect to a covered application for a
grant awarded before the date on which the system is
established under section 2(a), during the period--
(i) beginning on that date; and
(ii) ending on the date on which amounts
under the grant are no longer being expended.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate.
(3) Covered application.--The term ``covered application''
means an application for a grant submitted to the head of an
executive agency--
(A) after the date on which the system is
established under section 2(a); and
(B) before that date, if amounts under the grant
are still being expended on such date.
(4) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' means
an agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government.
(5) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given such
term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C.1002).
<all>