Sneak Preview: Stakeholders Object to Numerous Post-award Issues in OMB Proposal

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) While many stakeholders responding to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed revisions to the uniform guidance applauded some specific changes, such as making the de minimis indirect cost rate available to any nonfederal entity, they did raise concerns about other proposed revisions pertaining to the provisions in Subparts D and E.

OMB received a total of 215 comments as of the March 23 deadline date on the proposed revisions of the uniform guidance, as well as on other guidance in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, including 2 C.F.R. Parts 25 and 170 and the addition of a new 2 C.F.R. Part 183 on Never Contract with the Enemy. The comments were submitted by a wide range of stakeholders including individuals; consultants; federal, state and local officials; tribal organizations; universities and research university associations; auditors and other entities.

One common concern among many stakeholders centered around OMB’s plan to remove the period of performance provision (§200.309) and move the next several provisions (including the procurement provisions) up, whereby the provision, for example, at §200.317 would become §200.316. Stakeholders were concerned that this would prove burdensome as they would be faced with the administrative task of rewriting their internal policies to denote the corrected citation, with some suggesting that OMB simply make §200.309 a “reserved” provision and maintain the current numerical order. (Commenters addressed this similar concern related to the proposed insertion of a new provision at §200.202, which would affect the numbering of the subsequent provisions throughout Subpart C.)

OMB’s proposed revision to §200.414(f) to make the de minimis indirect cost rate available to any nonfederal entity rather than those that currently did not have a negotiated indirect cost rate, was supported by key stakeholders. “Institutions, which in the past had a negotiated [facilities and administrative] rate, but no longer have one, [would be] eligible to use the de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs,” said the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), which represents research universities and institutions, in its comments, adding that this was “a helpful change.”

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