Calling for all Commenters To Respond to OMB’s Newly Proposed Uniform Guidance Revisions

It’s here!! The long-awaited proposed revisions to the uniform guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200) — as well as other documents contained in Title 2, Subtitle A, of the Code of Federal Regulations — were unveiled in today’s Federal Register.

The proposed changes are extensive, and the grants community should take the time to read through the 44-page notice so that stakeholders can fully understand what these changes will mean. OMB is accepting comments on the proposed revisions through March 23. Comments can be sent to Regulations.gov and should have the reference ID “OMB-2019-0005”. OMB requests that stakeholders provide clarity as to the section of the guidance that their comment is referencing by beginning each comment with the section number. For example, if the comment is on 2 C.F.R. §200.1, include [§200.1] before the comment.

OMB also will hold a public forum tomorrow from 12-12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, as well as another listening session public forum on Feb. 4 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, to explain the changes.

The revisions incorporate changes to implement goals under the President’s Management Agenda and its “Results-Oriented Accountability for Grants” Cross-Agency Priority Goal, as well as other administrative priorities. The revisions also implement statutory requirements and align Title 2 with other authoritative source requirements and clarifications of existing requirements. Additionally, OMB proposes adding a new 2 C.F.R. Part 183 to implement Never Contract with the Enemy.

Among some of the noteworthy proposed revisions to the uniform guidance include:

• Moving all definitions in Subpart A to §200.1 and deleting §200.2-99.
• Implementing the increased micro-purchase and simplified acquisition threshold as established under Presidential Memorandum M-18-18.
• Proposing to revise §200.204, ”Federal awarding agency review of merit proposals,” and 200.203, “Notices of funding opportunities” to strengthen merit review and the notices of funding opportunities. According to OMB, these proposed revisions require agencies to extend their merit review process for all grants and cooperative agreements to all awards in which the federal awarding agency has the discretion to choose the recipient. Proposed changes to §200.204 also clarify the objective of the merit review process — to select recipients most likely to be successful in delivering results based on the program objectives outlined in a new section §200.202, “Program planning and design” — and thus the merit review process should be designed accordingly.
• Changing the procurement provision citations to so that procurement by states would be §200.316, instead of §200.317, and general procurement standards would be §200.317 (instead of §200.318), and changing other procurement provision citations accordingly, while adding §200.321, “Domestic preferences for procurement,” which encourages federal award recipients, to the extent permitted by law, to maximize use of goods, products and materials produced in the U.S. when procuring goods and services under federal awards.
• Proposing changes to §200.343, “Closeout,” based on lessons learned from the implementation the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act (GONE Act), thereby proposing to increase the number of days for recipients to submit closeout reports and liquidate all financial obligations from 90 days to 120 days.
• Expanding the use of the de minimis indirect cost rate in §200.414(f) to all nonfederal entities, if desired, where previously it was only available to recipients with no previously negotiated indirect cost rate.
• Adding a new §200.414(h), which would require that all negotiated indirect cost rate agreements from nonfederal entities be made available publicly on an OMB-designated federal website.

There are myriad other changes in the proposal pertaining to the uniform guidance and other documents in Title 2. We encourage everyone to make their views known about this proposal, whether they agree with the proposed revisions or have concerns about the changes. If there was a time to make your voice heard, this is it!

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