H.R. 2101 — Duplicative Grant Consolidation Act

This section prohibits the head of an executive agency from awarding a federal grant to (1) an applicant determined by the agency head or Inspector General to have received another grant from a different executive agency for the same or identical purpose, except for institutions of higher education; and (2) an applicant determined by the agency head or Inspector General to have submitted a fraudulent application. If a duplicative application is identified, the heads of the relevant agencies must jointly determine which agency, if any, awards the grant.

This section requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, not later than one year after enactment, to make available to executive agency heads and inspectors general an electronic system to determine, before awarding grants or during audits or investigations, whether grant applicants have received or applied for other grants for the same or identical purpose from other agencies. The system must include, at minimum, the awardee name, principal investigator, award period, agency point of contact, and abstract. Separately, this section directs the Director to establish an electronic system containing information on all federal research awards to identify substantially equivalent research proposed or funded across multiple grant applications to the same or different agencies (i.e., same research objective and design or closely related).

This section directs 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, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the feasibility of using artificial intelligence to rapidly identify—for grant applications submitted to executive agency heads—(1) whether the applicant has received or submitted an application to another executive agency for the same or identical purpose; and (2) waste, fraud, and abuse.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) applicable time period, as the period from the later of a covered grant application's submission date or the date the system required under section 2(a) is established through the date grant funds are no longer expended; (2) appropriate congressional committees, as the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, House Committee on Appropriations, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Senate Committee on Appropriations; (3) covered application, as a grant application to an executive agency submitted after the system under section 2(a) is established or, if before that date, with funds still being expended on that date; (4) executive agency, as an agency in the executive branch of the federal government; and (5) institution of higher education, as defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002).