University Regulation Streamlining and Harmonization Act of 2016

University Regulation Streamlining and Harmonization Act of 2016

This bill directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish a Research Policy Board to review proposed federal regulations, as well as major policies and guidance governing the conduct of scientific and engineering research, at specified research institutions.

The President shall appoint an Associate Administrator for the Academic Research Enterprise from within the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, who shall serve as a liaison between such office and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

OMB shall exempt prime grant-receiving institutions from the monitoring of a subrecipient's single audit of institutional systems and business practices if certain circumstances exist. A single audit is an audit of a non-federal entity that includes its financial statements and federal awards.

The threshold for purchases by research institutions using federal grant funds without requiring competitive quotations shall be at least $10,000.

The OSTP shall establish a working group within the National Science and Technology Council to coordinate federal research funding agency policies in developing a central database of researcher information for research institutions to use when applying for research grants from federal scientific funding agencies.

OMB shall periodically review estimates of the hours spent by research institutions in meeting the burdens imposed by federal research funding agencies under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 is amended to require the interagency public access committee to examine the procedures of federal science agencies in furnishing public access to the results of federally funded research and identify methods for reducing the burdens of compliance placed on those affected by agency public access policies.