Lankford to Bring Transparency to Grant Process

Press Release

Congressman James Lankford (R-OK), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform, today announced the introduction of H.R. 3433 the Grant Reform and New Transparency (GRANT) Act of 2011. The GRANT Act directs agencies to establish uniform standards for how they notice, award, and disclose discretionary competitive grants, ultimately increasing transparency of the award process.

"Federal agencies award more than $50 billion annually in discretionary and competitive grants, but have little to no standards for disclosing the process of awarding these taxpayer dollars," said Congressman Lankford. "The current process lacks transparency and makes it difficult for grant applicants to navigate the system or for lawmakers to hold agencies accountable for the distribution of taxpayer dollars. "When twenty-three federal grant making departments and agencies offer over 1,670 grant programs, clear standards should be a no-brainer."

The legislation will provide much needed transparency by requiring that each agency post on a central grants website:

- basic information about each grant opportunity, including a description of the evaluation factors that will be used to evaluate and rank grant applications.

- grant award information, such as a copy of the successful grant application and award decision documentation, including rankings of successful applicants' proposals.

- the final report at the conclusion of the performance of the grant.

The bill protects national security and certain proprietary information by not requiring agencies to post information on the website that would otherwise be exempt under the Freedom of Information Act.

Agencies will also be required to screen potential grantees to make sure they are capable of actually performing the grant and have the necessary financial systems in place to protect taxpayer money.

In addition, agencies will have to provide losing applicants for grants valued at more than $100,000 with an opportunity for a debriefing, if requested.

Finally, the bill requires agencies to post on the website a grant solicitation forecast identifying potential grant opportunities that it expects in the upcoming year.

The legislation can be viewed here, and is slated to be considered at a business meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

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