Lawmakers propose electronic tracking system for federal grant applications
Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) speaks during a markup meeting with the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill on September 20, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Bice introduced legislation Nov. 20 that would create a tracking system for federal grants to reduce duplication and fraud. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The legislation from Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., would also explore the use of artificial intelligence “to rapidly identify” duplicative or fraudulent grant applications.
A trio of House Republicans proposed legislation this week that would create a new electronic tracking system — and look into leveraging artificial intelligence capabilities — to review federal grant applications for identical or fraudulent submissions.
The bill — the Decreasing Overlapping Grants Efficiently, or DOGE, Act — is a nod to President-elect Donald Trump’s announced commission for reducing federal waste, known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
The proposal was introduced on Wednesday by Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., and is co-sponsored by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Blake Moore, R-Utah.
The measure’s main focus is to limit grant awards to recipients who have already received a grant from another agency for similar or identical purposes, or who have submitted a fraudulent application.
“Taxpayers deserve responsible stewardship over their dollars, and one of the ways this can be accomplished is through minimizing waste through mitigating essentially equivalent work,” Bice’s office said in a one-pager of the bill that was provided to Nextgov/FCW.
Within one year of the bill’s enactment, the Office of Management and Budget would have to establish a tracking and deconfliction system for federal grant applications that can be accessed by the heads of executive agencies or inspectors general before any grants are awarded.
The legislation would also require OMB — in consultation with the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology — to submit a report to relevant congressional committees “on the feasibility of leveraging artificial intelligence to rapidly identify” similar or identical grant applications.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Bice said her bill “would create a deconfliction and tracking system for federal grants that not only reduces waste but also builds confidence in how public funds are distributed and managed."