With the congressional vote (81-13 in the Senate and 322-87 in the House) to override the Presidential veto, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA for FY 2021) is now officially enacted. The NDAA maintains restrictions from previous years (e.g. Section 899 restriction on use of equipment or services from companies such as Huawei, ZTE, etc.) and includes a new Section-223 which has a direct impact on universities. The full text of Section-223 is included as Attachment-1. This new section introduces a number of requirements for any application for a research and development award. The following is a high-level summary:

• Each covered individual listed on the application (the definition provided is similar to key personnel) must disclose all current and pending support, certify the information is accurate at the time of the application, update the information at the time of the award, and provide updates as requested by the agency.
• The definition of current and pending research support in the act requires the disclosure of resources regardless of “whether the resource is made available through the entity applying for a research and development award or directly to the individual."
• The entity applying for the award certify that each covered individual who is employed by the entity and listed on the application has been made aware of the disclosure requirements.
• Introduces enforcement measures against:
  • The individual who knowingly fails to fully disclose. The enforcement measures include potential rejection of the application, temporary or permanent debarment, and referral to federal law enforcement agencies to determine whether any criminal or civil laws were violated.
  • The entity, if the entity knew that a covered individual failed to disclose the required information and the entity did not take steps to remedy such nondisclosure before the application was submitted or did not inform the individuals of their disclosure requirements.

Questions regarding the NDAA and/or the above summary? Contact Rachel Cahoon.