119-hr2101

[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).
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