Report on RESEARCH COMPLIANCE
News and Analysis for Colleges, Universities and Teaching Hospitals

November 15, 2007

This week's headlines

Uniform Research Progress Report Format Proposed

JAMA Study: Epidemiologists See Negative Impact of Privacy Rule on Research

Amendment to FAR Proposed Requiring Code of Ethics for Contractors

ORI Will Send E-Mails in Preparation for Annual Report on Possible Research Misconduct

DoD Appropriations Act Signed; Contains Unpopular F&A Cap

OMB Proposes Government-Wide Guidance on Trafficking in Persons

NOTE: There will be no Report on Research Compliance weekly e-mail next week. The next issue will be dated November 29, 2007.

Full text articles appear below and at www.reportonresearchcompliance.com, which also contains archives of articles.

Uniform Research Progress Report Format Proposed

The National Science Foundation is soliciting public comment on the much anticipated standardized Research Performance Progress Report format. The objective of this initiative — undertaken by NSF on behalf of the Chief Financial Officers Council's Grants Policy Committee, the Grants.gov Executive Board, and the National Science & Technology Council's Research Business Models Subcommittee — is to establish a uniform format for reporting performance on federally funded research projects. According to the notice, “Development of standard reporting categories will facilitate the development of a common electronic solution for collecting the information in lieu of collecting it through numerous agency-unique reporting forms currently used.” This proposed format is for interim progress reports only, and once implemented, will replace other formats. Comments on the proposed RPPR format must be received by Jan. 8, 2008, and electronic submission is encouraged. Link: www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/index.jsp.

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JAMA Study: Epidemiologists See Negative Impact of Privacy Rule on Research

Nearly 70% of surveyed researchers believe the HIPAA patient privacy rule has added "uncertainty, delay and cost" to research, according to results of what may be the first national study of clinical scientists' views on the four-year-old federal regulation. The findings appear in the Nov. 14, 2007, issue of Journal of the American Medical Association. Author Roberta Ness, chair of the department of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, surveyed 1,500 research epidemiologists about the effect of the rule on research. Just 10% said they thought the rule strengthened privacy protections, and 11% said they were altering their behavior by not proposing research they thought their institutional review board would shoot down due to the rule. An editorial appearing in the same issue, however, says the most negative influence on research is not the privacy rule, but “overregulation.” Link to abstracts: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/298/18/2164?eaf. (A fee/subscription is required for full text.)

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Amendment to FAR Proposed Requiring Code of Ethics for Contractors

The Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require contractors to have a code of ethics and business conduct, to establish and maintain specific internal controls to detect and prevent improper conduct in connection with the award or performance of federal contracts or subcontracts, and to notify federal contracting officers without delay whenever they become aware of violations of federal criminal law with regard to such contracts or subcontracts. Comments on the proposal should be sent to the FAR Secretariat by Jan. 14, 2008. Link: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-5670.pdf.

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ORI Will Send E-Mails in Preparation for Annual Report on Possible Research Misconduct

In its latest quarterly newsletter, the Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services, reminds institutions that it will send e-mails next month to officials responsible for submitting the 2007 Annual Report on Possible Research Misconduct. The e-mails will contain the password and IPF number for an institution to use in submitting the report due March 1, 2008. Institutions are required to submit an annual report to maintain their research misconduct assurance. Link: http://ori.dhhs.gov/documents/newsletters/vol15_no4.pdf.

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DoD Appropriations Act Signed; Contains Unpopular F&A Cap

As expected and perhaps dreaded, President Bush signed the Department of Defense appropriations legislation (Pub.L. 110-116) on Nov. 13, 2007, that sets a 35% cap on negotiated indirect cost rates on Department of Defense “contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements entered into after the date of the enactment of this Act using funds made available in this Act for fiscal year 2008 for basic research.” A number of higher ed associations oppose the cap, including the Association of American Universities, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the Council on Governmental Relations, which had earlier issued a joint statement expressing strong opposition to the cap and arguing, “An arbitrary cap of this kind creates a disincentive for universities to conduct defense basic research.” According to The Chronicle on Higher Education, the legislation does include a 4.5% increase in department spending on basic research. Link: http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/d110laws.html (Click on range encompassing Pub.L. 110-116). Link to statement: www.cogr.edu. Link to The Chronicle: http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/11/708n.htm (Subscription required).

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OMB Proposes Government-Wide Guidance on Trafficking in Persons

The Office of Management and Budget published interim final guidance “establishing a government-wide award term for agencies to include in grants and cooperative agreements as part of their implementation of paragraph (g) of section 106 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (22 USC 7104).” The statute requires federal awarding agencies to include a condition authorizing termination of the award if the recipient or a subrecipient engages in certain activities related to trafficking in persons. The effective date of the interim final guidance is Dec. 13, 2007. However, comments will be accepted until Jan. 14, 2008, to be considered in preparing final guidance; electronic submission is encouraged. Link: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-22056.pdf.

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