Sneak Preview: EPA Adds Provisions to General Terms, Conditions
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated the EPA General Terms and Conditions (effective since Oct. 1, 2022) for its grant programs to include five new topics of discussion. Among these include a provision on whistleblower protections, which is also a topic added to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) recently announced proposed revisions to the uniform guidance.
The five new EPA terms and conditions apply to the agency’s financial assistance awards issued on or after Aug. 8.
EPA’s new whistleblower provision cites protections established at 41 U.S.C. 4712 providing that an employee of the recipient or a subrecipient may not be discharged, demoted or otherwise discriminated against as a reprisal for disclosing to a covered person or body information that the employee reasonably believes is evidence of gross mismanagement of a federal grant or subaward, a gross waste of federal funds, an abuse of authority relating to a federal grant or subaward, a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or a violation of law, rule or regulation related to a federal grant or subaward. This language mirrors a new provision that OMB has proposed to include at §200.217 of the uniform guidance.
“Covered persons or bodies” include: (1) a member of Congress or a representative of a committee of Congress; (2) an Inspector General; (3) the Government Accountability Office; (4) federal employee responsible for contract or grant oversight or management at the relevant agency; (5) an authorized official of the Department of Justice or other law enforcement agency; (6) a court or grand jury; or (7) a management official or other employee of the contractor, subcontractor or grantee who has the responsibility to investigate, discover or address misconduct. Consistent with 41 U.S.C. 4712(d), recipients and subrecipients shall inform their employees in writing, in the predominant language of the workforce or organization, of employee whistleblower rights and protections under 41 U.S.C. 4712.
Another new provision within the EPA document addresses post-award disclosure of current and pending support on research grants. EPA now states that a recipient is required to notify the agency if there has been a change in support for the principal investigator (PI) and/or major co-investigators listed on EPA’s key contacts form (EPA Form 5700-54) since submission of its application or the last reporting period in the performance report. If so, the recipient must report the change within 30 calendar days to the EPA project officer, and should include the information in the next due performance report.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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