Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The partnership between the Federal Government and institutions of higher education, affiliated medical centers, and independent research institutes has been enormously beneficial for the Nation, providing economic growth, a highly skilled workforce, and discoveries that have improved people’s lives. Regulation of federally funded research institutions, when done efficiently, serves to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and that human and animal research subjects are treated ethically.
A survey conducted by the Federal Demonstration Partnership in 2012 found that 42 percent of faculty time related to the conduct of federally funded research at research institutions is spent on activities other than research, with 19.3 percent specifically related to administrative activities. A study of the Federal regulatory impact on institutes of higher education led by Vanderbilt University involving 13 public and private universities estimated that the total cost of compliance with research regulations for all research institutions ranged from 11 to 25 percent of total research expenditures and reached an estimated 10 billion dollars across the country.
Advances in technology, recordkeeping, and internal controls allow awardees to document charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages in increasingly efficient ways, including through payroll certification, which can increase accountability and reduce burdens relative to personal activity reports. Past efforts by the Federal Government, in particular through the Uniform Guidance implemented by the Office of Management and Budget in 2014, have made progress in reducing regulatory burdens.
However, problems still remain as noted by the National Academies’ report in September of 2015, which found that continuing expansion of the Federal regulatory system and its ever-growing requirements are diminishing the effectiveness of the nation’s research investment by directing investigators’ time away from research . Streamlining research regulations and moving toward harmonized regulations based on data-driven cost-benefit analyses across Federal research funding agencies will help maximize the impact of research dollars while minimizing waste, fraud, and abuse.