I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 420
To impose limitations on the amount of indirect costs allowable under Federal
research awards to institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY15, 2025
Mr. C
LINEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Science, Space, and Technology
A BILL
To impose limitations on the amount of indirect costs allow-
able under Federal research awards to institutions of
higher education, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Grant Ac-4
countability Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON INDIRECT COSTS ALLOWABLE 6
UNDER FEDERAL RESEARCH AWARDS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 8
(1) L
IMIT ON INDIRECT COSTS .—The total 9
amount of indirect costs allowable under a Federal 10
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•HR 420 IH
research award to an institution of higher education 1
may not exceed the total amount of indirect costs al-2
lowable under private research awards, as calculated 3
using the average indirect cost rate applicable to 4
such awards. 5
(2) P
RIVATE RESEARCH AWARD RATE .—The 6
Director of the Office of Management and Budget 7
shall determine, not less frequently than annually, 8
the average indirect cost rate applicable to private 9
research awards for purposes of paragraph (1). 10
(3) D
ETERMINATION OF INDIRECT COSTS .—In 11
determining ‘‘indirect costs’’ for purposes of this 12
subsection, the guidelines under subpart E of title 2, 13
Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regula-14
tions) for determining indirect costs charged to Fed-15
eral awards shall be used. 16
(b) C
OMPTROLLER GENERALSTUDY ONINDIRECT 17
C
OSTSUNDERFEDERAL AND PRIVATERESEARCH 18
A
WARDS.— 19
(1) S
TUDY.—The Comptroller General of the 20
United States shall conduct a study on— 21
(A) the indirect cost rates allowable under 22
Federal research awards to institutions of high-23
er education, including awards made by the Na-24
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•HR 420 IH
tional Institutes of Health, the National Science 1
Foundation, and other such organizations; and 2
(B) the indirect cost rates allowable under 3
private research awards to institutions of higher 4
education. 5
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The study under paragraph 6
(1) shall include an assessment of— 7
(A) the average indirect cost rates allow-8
able under Federal and private research 9
awards, respectively; 10
(B) the research fields that receive the 11
highest levels of funding from Federal and pri-12
vate research awards, respectively; 13
(C) the average amount of indirect costs 14
allowable under Federal and private research 15
awards that are used to fund administrative 16
staff, including administrative staff with re-17
sponsibilities relating to diversity, equity, and 18
inclusion; and 19
(D) the measures implemented by organi-20
zations that make Federal research awards, in-21
cluding the National Institutes of Health and 22
the National Science Foundation, to ensure 23
such organizations are implementing indirect 24
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•HR 420 IH
cost rate-setting guidance in a consistent man-1
ner. 2
(3) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the 3
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 4
General shall submit to Congress a report on the re-5
sults of the study conducted under paragraph (1). 6
The report shall include such recommendations as 7
the Comptroller General considers appropriate to im-8
prove the system for determining indirect cost rates 9
and tracking reimbursements for indirect costs 10
under Federal research awards. 11
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
(1) F
EDERAL RESEARCH AWARD .—The term 13
‘‘Federal research award’’ means support provided 14
to an individual or entity by a department or agency 15
of the Federal Government to carry out research ac-16
tivities, which may include support in the form of a 17
grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or other 18
such transaction. 19
(2) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 20
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 21
meaning given such term in section 102 of the High-22
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 23
(3) P
RIVATE RESEARCH AWARD .—The term 24
‘‘private research award’’ means an award made by 25
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a private sector organization to support research ac-1
tivities at an institution of higher education. 2
Æ
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