Based on the lack of any perceptible value for the agencies or the public, we recommend that Congress repeal the mandate for reporting on executive compensation and that the FAR Council subsequently revise the relevant contract clauses. Doing so will save millions of dollars and liberate additional contractor and government resources to focus on what matters most—achieving the missions of the federal government and serving ...more »
The government should make efforts to reduce focus on the micro accounting of grant expenditures and move towards a system where the peer review process and program managers base future funding decisions on broader measures of appropriate expenditures of cost. Princeton University suggests that one useful guide might be the IRS rules: in general, any expenditure that would normally be considered taxable income (apart ...more »
Consider an effort to have PUBLIC LAW 96-511—DEC. 11, 1980 (Paper Reduction Act) updated or encourage a new public law so as to change the focus to reducing administrative burden (i.e. creation of a “Administrative Burden Reduction Act”). The goal would be to (1) engage the research community on an ongoing basis to create efficiencies, (2) encompass a risk analysis for all types of administrative activities to match ...more »
Comment from June 10 Data Act Summit breakout session on Recipient Reporting:
There needs to be alignment of Federal Spending elements and the elements in the CDERL and elements like entity classification
Allow for easier way to obtain and record RSVP volunteer timesheets. Currently the signature piece is unclear. As long as the supervisor at the site signs off that should be more than enough.
Given that the main product of federally-funded research is typically publications, Princeton University suggests that it would seem sensible to allow submission of PDFs of publications where they have already appeared as a result of the work funded by the grant, and reduce the reliance on extensive research summaries. If nothing has been published, then it makes sense to ask for a report on preliminary progress. NSF ...more »
The requirement to list PubMed Central ID #s is a HUGE time and effort burden for research administrators. That is the #1 requirement I would change. There must be other ways to track compliance with the Public Access Policy.
For each person paid from the grant who worked >160 hours (1 person month) during the grant year, there must be a Commons ID (including the completion of Personal Profile Information). There also needs to be information about the total number of hours each person worked on the grant during grant year so that person months can be calculated. This information is required for undergraduate who may be paid hourly as student ...more »
Government understandably wants to data-mine progress reports. The loss of Fastlane reporting, with its PDF structure, in exchange for plain text/fillable fields in Research.gov, is an example of this. However, the reporting format in Research.gov is ridiculously time-consuming. It has generated an extreme, labor-intensive, administrative burden. Not one Principle Investigator I know wants anything to do with Research.gov, ...more »
2. Eliminate Two Layer IRB and IACUC Review of Human and Vertebrate Animal Research - Institutions receiving federal funds for research with human subjects or vertebrate animals are required to maintain a Federal-wide Assurance (FWA) or Animal Welfare Assurance (AWA) with the DHHS Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) or Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), respectively. Institutions thereby accept the responsibility ...more »
Institutions must manage data for multiple highly complex loan, grant, and work study sources for Title IV aid. Creating uniform interfaces and navigation across existing systems would assist the administrators responsible for maintaining data in multiple portals.
The FAR requires semi-annual submission of Individual Subcontract Reports (ISRs) for all federal agencies, as well as Summary Subcontract Reports (SSRs) for DoD and NASA, and annual submission of SSRs for civilian agencies. In addition to the submissions required during performance of a covered contract, ISRs are required to be submitted within 30 days of contract completion. Amending the FAR, at a minimum, and the ...more »