Notice2023-00890
New Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment Policy for Recipients of NASA Financial Assistance Awards
Primary source
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Published
January 30, 2023
Issuing agencies
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Abstract
To address undue foreign influence in NASA-supported research and ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, NASA has developed a new conflict of interest (COI) and conflict of commitment (COC) disclosure policy and an associated term and condition applicable to entities implementing NASA financial assistance awards (i.e., grants or cooperative agreements). Grants Policy and Compliance (GPC) in NASA's Office of Procurement is soliciting public comment on the Agency's proposed policy and term and condition. After obtaining and considering public comment, it is NASA's intention to implement the new policy and term and condition through a revision to the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5930-5932]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-00890]
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
[Notice: 23-001]
New Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment Policy for
Recipients of NASA Financial Assistance Awards
AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Notice of request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: To address undue foreign influence in NASA-supported research
and ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, NASA has
developed a new conflict of interest (COI) and conflict of commitment
(COC) disclosure policy and an associated term and condition applicable
to entities implementing NASA financial assistance awards (i.e., grants
or cooperative agreements). Grants Policy and Compliance (GPC) in
NASA's Office of Procurement is soliciting public comment on the
Agency's proposed policy and term and condition. After obtaining and
considering public comment, it is NASA's intention to implement the new
policy and term and condition through a revision to the NASA Grant and
Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM).
DATES: Comments must be received by March 1, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Please address comments to Christopher Murguia, Senior
Analyst, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters,
300 E Street SW, Rm. 5L32, Washington, DC 20546; telephone 202-909-
5918; or email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#52313a203b21263d223a37207c377c3f272035273b33123c3321337c353d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="57343f253e242338273f32257932793a222530223e361739362436793038">[email protected]</span></a>v. We encourage respondents
to submit comments via email to ensure timely receipt. We cannot
guarantee that mailed comments will be received before the comment
closing date. Please include ``COI/COC Policy'' in the subject line of
email messages.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Murguia, email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#395a514b504a4d5649515c4b175c17544c4b5e4c50587957584a58175e56"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9efdf6ecf7edeaf1eef6fbecb0fbb0f3ebecf9ebf7ffdef0ffedffb0f9f1">[email protected]</span></a>v; telephone 202-909-5918.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations in the report GAO-21-130
Federal Research: Agencies Need to Enhance Policies to Address Foreign
Influence, NASA is taking steps to address undue foreign influence in
research and ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars. NASA
is proposing a new policy that requires financial assistance award
recipients to (1) maintain written and enforced policies that require
covered individuals to disclose COI and COC to the recipient entity;
(2) eliminate or, where appropriate, manage or reduce the disclosed
conflict; and (3) disclose to NASA any conflict that cannot be
eliminated, managed, or reduced. NASA's policy also describes how the
Agency will address disclosures and the enforcement actions the Agency
may take if a covered individual knowingly fails to disclose required
information. The policy is accompanied by a term and condition
requiring award recipients to comply with the COI and COC disclosure
requirements that will be placed into all NASA financial assistance
awards after the policy is implemented.
The policy will be implemented as a revision to GCAM section 3.3,
Conflicts of Interest Policy, and the term and condition will be
implemented as an addition to NASA's standard grant and cooperative
agreement terms and conditions template located in GCAM, Appendix D,
Award Terms and Conditions. The full text of the policy and term and
condition is provided below.
The GCAM, section 3.3, Conflicts of Interest Policy, will be
revised in its entirety as follows:
[Begin Provision]
1. For the purposes of section 3.3, the following definitions
apply:
a. The term ``conflict of interest,'' or ``COI,'' means a situation
in which an individual, or the individual's spouse or dependent
children, has a significant financial interest or financial
relationship, whether with a domestic or foreign entity, that could
directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, reporting, or
funding of research or other award-related activities. Examples of
potential COI include, but are not limited to, holding an executive
position, director position, or equity over a certain dollar amount in
a company that stands to benefit from award-related activities,
receiving financial compensation in the form of consulting payments or
payment for services from a company that stands to benefit from award-
related activities, or intellectual property rights or royalties from
such rights whose value may be affected by the outcome of award-related
activities.
b. The term ``conflict of commitment,'' or ``COC,'' means a non-
financial conflict of interest in which an individual accepts or incurs
conflicting obligations, whether domestic or foreign, between or among
multiple employers or other entities. COC includes conflicting
commitments of time and effort, including obligations to dedicate time
in excess of institutional or funding agency policies or commitments.
COC also includes obligations to improperly share information with, or
to withhold information from, an employer or NASA, as well as other
conflicting obligations that threaten research security and integrity.
Examples of potential COC include, but are not limited to, current or
pending employment; positions, appointments, or affiliations such as
titled academic, professional, or institutional appointments, whether
remuneration is received and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary
(including adjunct, visiting, or honorary positions); and participation
in or applications to foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment
or similar programs.
[[Page 5931]]
c. The term ``covered individual'' means an individual who (a)
contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific
development or execution of a project proposed to be carried out with
an award from a Federal research agency and (b) is designated as a
covered individual by the Federal research agency concerned. NASA
designates as covered individuals any principal investigator (PI),
project director (PD), co-principal investigator (Co-PI), co-project
director (Co-PD), and/or any other person listed as a team member in
Section VI, Team Members, of the Cover Page for Proposal Submitted to
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (form NRESS-300).
2. All NASA grant and cooperative agreement recipients shall
maintain a written and enforced policy addressing actual, apparent, and
potential COI and COC, both foreign and domestic. A prime or pass-
through award recipient shall be responsible for ensuring that its
subrecipients, if any, follow the requirements of this section.
a. Each recipient entity's policy shall designate an official(s) to
solicit and review COI and COC disclosures from each covered individual
who is planning to participate in, or is participating in, a NASA-
funded award. The designated official(s) shall review all covered
individuals' disclosures; determine whether an actual, apparent, or
potential COI or COC exists; and, if so, determine the actions that
have been and shall be taken to eliminate or, where appropriate, manage
or reduce the conflict. Examples of conditions or restrictions that a
recipient or subrecipient might impose to manage, reduce, or eliminate
a conflict include, but are not limited to:
i. Public disclosure of the COI or COC;
ii. Monitoring of research by independent evaluators;
iii. Modification of the research plan;
iv. Change of personnel or personnel responsibilities, or
disqualification of personnel from participation in all or a portion of
the NASA-funded activity;
v. Divestiture of significant financial interests that create the
COI or COC (e.g., sale of an equity interest); or
vi. Severance of relationships that create the COI or COC.
b. The entity's policy shall ensure that covered individuals have
provided all required disclosures to the entity at the time a proposal
is submitted to NASA. It shall also require that covered individuals
update those disclosures on an annual basis or as soon as any new
actual, apparent, or potential COI or COC arises. The policy shall
include adequate enforcement mechanisms and provide for sanctions where
appropriate.
3. Consistent with title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR)
200.112, Conflict of interest, an entity applying for or currently
receiving NASA grant or cooperative agreement funding shall disclose to
NASA in writing any actual, apparent, or potential COI or COC if such
conflict cannot be eliminated or appropriately managed or reduced in
accordance with the entity's policy. In addition, such entity shall
disclose to NASA in writing any actual, apparent, or potential COI or
COC involving any foreign governments, their instrumentalities, or any
other entities owned, funded, or otherwise controlled by a foreign
government, as well as any measures the entity has taken to eliminate
or, where appropriate, manage or reduce the COI or COC.
a. An entity currently implementing a NASA grant or cooperative
agreement shall disclose via email the actual, apparent, or potential
conflict to the cognizant NASA Grant Officer and Technical Officer
listed on their award. If an award recipient needs to correct
inaccurate or incomplete COI or COC disclosures, they shall inform the
cognizant NASA Grant Officer and Technical Officer listed on their
award via email as soon as possible.
b. An entity applying for a NASA grant or cooperative agreement
shall clearly and explicitly disclose the conflict in its proposal. If
an applicant needs to correct inaccurate or incomplete COI or COC
disclosures in a submitted proposal, they shall inform the NASA
technical point of contact listed in the relevant Notice of Funding
Opportunity via email as soon as possible.
4. When an entity discloses to NASA a COI or COC that cannot be
eliminated, managed, or reduced, the cognizant Grant Officer (if the
conflict pertains to an active award) or program official (if the
conflict pertains to a proposal that is under consideration), or one of
their delegates, will report the conflict to OGC as follows:
a. For disclosures pertaining to active awards, the Grant Officer
will report the conflict to the NASA Shared Services Center's (NSSC)
Office of the General Counsel (OGC) and copy the award's Technical
Officer. The NSSC OGC will then inform HQ OGC of the reported conflict.
In consultation with OGC, the Grant Officer must assess whether the
circumstances disqualify an entity or individual from holding the award
and adhere to the policy in paragraph (i) below if enforcement or other
actions are necessary.
i. If a Grant Officer must take enforcement or other actions after
conducting the review described above, then they will do so in
accordance with the remedies for noncompliance and termination
provisions in 2 CFR 200.339 through 200.343. Remedies for noncompliance
include but are not limited to, temporarily withholding payment,
disallowing all or part of the cost of an award activity, wholly or
partly suspending or terminating the award, initiating referrals for
consideration of suspension or debarment proceedings, and withholding
further Federal awards.
ii. A Grant Officer intending to take enforcement or other action
per paragraph (i) above will notify each entity subject to such action
about the specific reason for the action and will adhere to the
requirements in GCAM section 7.13, Appealing a Suspended or Terminated
Award, as necessary.
b. For disclosures pertaining to proposals under consideration, the
program official must report the conflict to the appropriate OGC. In
consultation with OGC, the program official will assess whether the
circumstances disqualify an entity or individual from participating in
the competition for award and reject the proposal if necessary.
i. A program official intending to take enforcement action per
paragraph (b) above will notify each entity subject to such action
about the specific reason for the action and will adhere to the
requirements in GCAM section 7.13, Appealing a Suspended or Terminated
Award, as necessary.
c. When an entity discloses to NASA that it has a foreign
government COI or COC, as directed above, the cognizant Grant Officer
(if the conflict pertains to an active award) or program official (if
the conflict pertains to a proposal that is under consideration), or
one of their delegates, must assess and determine whether the
circumstances should disqualify the entity from continuing to hold the
award or participating in the competition for award. This determination
is to be made by the relevant Grant Officer or program official in
consultation with OGC and the NASA Office of International and
Interagency Relations (OIIR), as appropriate. If NASA determines that
an applicant or recipient will be disqualified from participating in a
competition for award or continuing to hold an award due to a foreign
government conflict, then NASA will offer the applicant or recipient an
opportunity to address the conflict or affiliation prior to removing a
proposal
[[Page 5932]]
from consideration or taking action on an award.
d. If fraud, misrepresentation, or related misconduct is suspected
in relation to any disclosure submitted to NASA, then the Grant Officer
or program official also will refer the matter to the NASA Office of
Inspector General (OIG) and the OGC Acquisition Integrity Program.
5. Enforcement.
a. If a covered individual knowingly fails to disclose required
information, NASA may take one or more of the following enforcement or
other actions:
i. Reject a proposal,
ii. Suspend or terminate an award,
iii. Temporarily or permanently discontinue any or all funding for
the covered individual or entity,
iv. Refer recipients for consideration of suspension or debarment
proceedings;
v. Refer the failure to disclose to the NASA OIG for further
investigation or to Federal law enforcement authorities to determine
whether any criminal or civil laws were violated;
vi. Report the entity in the Contractor Performance Assessment
Reporting System (CPARS) to alert other Federal agencies to the
noncompliance;
vii. Take one or more of the actions described in 2 CFR 200.339,
Remedies for noncompliance; or
viii. Take such other actions against the covered individual or
entity as authorized under applicable law or regulations.
b. If an enforcement or other action is necessary, NASA will adhere
to the regulations in 2 CFR 200.340, Termination; Sec. 200.341,
Notification of termination requirement; and Sec. 200.342,
Opportunities to object, hearings, and appeals.
[End Provision]
The GCAM, Appendix D, Award Terms and Conditions, will be revised
to include the following:
[Begin Provision]
D39. Disclosure Requirements
(a) All NASA grant and cooperative agreement recipients shall
comply with the conflict of interest and conflict of commitment
disclosure requirements in section 3.3, Conflicts of Interest Policy,
of the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM).
[End Provision]
Cheryl Parker,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-00890 Filed 1-27-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7510-13-P
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