The purpose of this subpart is to supplement other regulations that implement national policy requirements, to the extent that it is necessary to provide additional guidance to DoD grants officers.

(a) Certifications—(1) Policy. Certifications of compliance with national policy requirements are to be obtained from recipients only for those national policies where a statute, Executive order, or codified regulation specifically states that a certification is required. Other national policy requirements may be addressed by obtaining representations or assurances (see paragraph (b) of this section). Grants officers should utilize methods for obtaining certifications, in accordance with Executive Order 12866 (3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 638), that minimize administration and paperwork.

(2) Procedures. (i) When necessary, grants officers may obtain individual, written certifications.

(ii) Whenever possible, and to the extent consistent with statute and codified regulation, grants officers should identify the certifications that are required for the particular type of recipient and program, and consolidate them into a single certification provision that cites them by reference.

(A) If a grants officer elects to have proposers incorporate certifications by reference into their proposals, he or she must do so in one of the two following ways. When required by statute or codified regulation, the solicitation must include the full text of the certifications that proposers are to provide by reference. In other cases, the grants officer may include language in the solicitation that informs the proposers where the full text may be found (e.g., in documents or computer network sites that are readily available to the public) and offers to provide it to proposers upon request.

(B) Appendix A to this part provides language that may be used for incorporating by reference the certification on lobbying, which currently is the only certification requirement that commonly applies to DoD grants and agreements. Because that certification is required by law to be submitted at the time of proposal, rather than at the time of award, Appendix A includes language to incorporate the certification by reference into a proposal.

(C) Grants officers may incorporate certifications by reference in award documents when doing so is consistent with statute and codified regulation (that is not the case for the lobbying certification addressed in paragraph (a)(2)(ii)(B) of this section). The provision that a grants officer would use to incorporate certifications in award documents, when consistent with statute and codified regulation, would be similar to the provision in Appendix A to this part, except that it would be modified to state that the recipient is providing the required certifications by signing the award document or by accepting funds under the award.

(b) Representations and assurances. Many national policies, either in statute or in regulation, require recipients of grants and cooperative agreements to make representations or provide assurances (rather than certifications) that they are in compliance with the policies. Part 1122 of the DoDGARs (2 CFR part 1122) provides standard wording of general award terms and conditions to address several of the more commonly applicable national policy requirements. These terms and conditions may be used to obtain required assurances and representations for national policy matters covered in part 1122 at the time of award, which is as effective and more efficient and less administratively burdensome than obtaining them at the time of each proposal. If any other assurances or representations must be obtained at the time of proposal, grants officers should use the most efficient method for doing so—e.g., for a program that has a program announcement and applications using the standard application form (SF-424 5 ), the program announcement should include the texts of the required assurances and representations and clearly state that the applicant's electronic signature of the SF-424 will serve to affirm its agreement with each representation or assurance.

An annual appropriations act can include general provisions stating national policy requirements that apply to the use of funds (e.g., obligation through a grant or cooperative agreement) appropriated by the act. Because these requirements are of limited duration (the period during which a given year's appropriations are available for obligation), and because they can vary from year to year and from one agency's appropriations act to another agency's, the grants officer must know the agency(ies) and fiscal year(s) of the appropriations being obligated by a given grant or cooperative agreement, and may need to consult legal counsel if he or she does not know the requirements applicable to those appropriations.

(a) Purpose. (1) The purpose of this section is to implement 10 U.S.C. 983 as it applies to grants. Under that statute, DoD Components are prohibited from providing funds to institutions of higher education that have policies or practices, as described in paragraph (c) of this section, restricting campus access of military recruiters or the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

(2) By addressing the effect of 10 U.S.C. 983 on grants and cooperative agreements, this section supplements the DoD's primary implementation of that statute in 32 CFR part 216, “Military Recruiting and Reserve Officer Training Corps Program Access to Institutions of Higher Education.” Part 216 establishes procedures by which the Department of Defense identifies institutions of higher education that have a policy or practice described in paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) Definition specific to this section. “Institution of higher education” in this section has the meaning given at 32 CFR 216.3, which is different than the meaning given at § 22.105 for other sections of this part.

(c) Statutory requirement of 10 U.S.C. 983. No funds made available to the Department of Defense may be provided by grant to an institution of higher education (including any subelement of such institution) if the Secretary of Defense determines that the institution (or any subelement of that institution) has a policy or practice that either prohibits, or in effect prevents:

(1) The Secretary of a Military Department from maintaining, establishing, or operating a unit of the Senior ROTC (in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 654 and other applicable Federal laws) at that institution (or any subelement of that institution);

(2) A student at that institution (or any subelement of that institution) from enrolling in a unit of the Senior ROTC at another institution of higher education;

(3) The Secretary of a Military Department or Secretary of Homeland Security from gaining access to campuses, or access to students (who are 17 years of age or older) on campuses, for purposes of military recruiting in a manner that is at least equal in quality and scope to the access to campuses and to students that is provided to any other employer; or

(4) Access by military recruiters for purposes of military recruiting to the following information pertaining to students (who are 17 years of age or older) enrolled at that institution (or any subelement of that institution):

(i) Names, addresses, and telephone listings.

(ii) Date and place of birth, levels of education, academic majors, degrees received, and the most recent educational institution enrolled in by the student.

(d) Policy—(1) Applicability to cooperative agreements. As a matter of DoD policy, the restrictions of 10 U.S.C. 983,as,apply,as.

(2) Deviations. Grants officers may not deviate from any provision of this section without obtaining the prior approval of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Requests for deviations shall be submitted, through appropriate channels, to: Director for Basic Research, OASD(R&E), 3040 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-3040.

(e) Grants officers' responsibility. (1) A grants officer shall not award any grant or cooperative agreement to an institution of higher education that has been identified pursuant to the procedures of 32 CFR part 216. Such institutions are identified as being ineligible in the Exclusions area of the System for Award Management (SAM Exclusions). The exclusion types in SAM Exclusions broadly indicate the nature of an institution's ineligibility, as well as the effect of the exclusion, and the Additional Comments field may have further details about the exclusion. Note that OMB guidance in 2 CFR 180.425 and 180.430, as implemented by the Department of Defense at 2 CFR part 1125, require a grants officer to check the SAM Exclusions prior to determining that a recipient is qualified to receive an award.

(2) A grants officer shall not consent to a subaward of DoD funds to such an institution, under a grant or cooperative agreement to any recipient, if the subaward requires the grants officer's consent.

(3) A grants officer shall include the following award term in each grant or cooperative agreement with an institution of higher education (note that this requirement does not flow down and that recipients are not required to include the award term in subawards):

(4) If an institution of higher education refuses to accept the award term in paragraph (e)(3) of this section, the grants officer shall:

(i) Determine that the institution is not qualified with respect to the award. The grants officer may award to an alternative recipient.

(ii) Transmit the name of the institution, through appropriate channels, to the Director for Accession Policy, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy (ODUSD(MPP)), 4000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-4000. This will allow ODUSD(MPP) to decide whether to initiate an evaluation of the institution under 32 CFR part 216, to determine whether it is an institution that has a policy or practice described in paragraph (c) of this section.

(5) With respect to any pre-existing award to an institution of higher education that currently is listed in SAM Exclusions pursuant to a determination under 32 CFR part 216, a grants officer:

(i) Shall not obligate additional funds available to the DoD for the award. A grants officer therefore must check SAM Exclusions before approving an incremental funding action or other additional funding for any pre-existing award to an institution of higher education. The grants officer may not obligate the additional funds if the cause and treatment code indicates that the reason for an institution's SAM Exclusions listing is a determination under 32 CFR part 216 that institutional policies or practices restrict campus access of military recruiters or ROTC.

(ii) Shall not approve any request for payment submitted by such an institution (including payments for costs already incurred).

(iii) Shall:

(A) Terminate the award unless he or she has a reason to believe, after consulting with the ODUSD(MPP), 4000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-4000), that the institution may be removed from SAM Exclusions in the near term and have its eligibility restored; and

(B) Suspend any award that is not immediately terminated, as well as all payments under it.

(f) Post-award administration responsibilities of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). As the DoD office assigned responsibility for performing field administration services for grants and cooperative agreements with institutions of higher education, the ONR shall disseminate the list it receives from the ODUSD(MPP) of institutions of higher education identified pursuant to the procedures of 32 CFR part 216 to:

(1) ONR field administration offices, with instructions to:

(i) Disapprove any payment requests under awards to such institutions for which post-award payment administration was delegated to the ONR; and

(ii) Alert the DoD offices that made the awards to their responsibilities under paragraphs (e)(5)(i) and (e)(5)(iii) of this section.

(2) Awarding offices in DoD Components that may be identified from data in the Defense Assistance Awards Data System (see 32 CFR 21.520 through 21.555) as having awards with such institutions for which post-award payment administration was not delegated to ONR. The ONR is to alert those offices to their responsibilities under paragraph (e)(5) of this section.

Grants officers shall include appropriate award terms or conditions, if a recipient's activities under an award will be subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3500, et seq.):

(a) Generally, the Act only applies to Federal agencies—it requires agencies to obtain clearance from the Office of Management and Budget before collecting information using forms, schedules, questionnaires, or other methods calling either for answers to:

(1) Identical questions from ten or more persons other than agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the United States.

(2) Questions from agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the United States which are to be used for statistical compilations of general public interest.

(b) The Act applies to similar collections of information by recipients of grants or cooperative agreements only when:

(1) A recipient collects information at the specific request of the awarding Federal agency; or

(2) The terms and conditions of the award require specific approval by the agency of the information collection or the collection procedures.

(a) Statutory requirement. The Metric Conversion Act of 1975, as amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 205) and implemented by Executive Order 12770 (3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 343), states that:

(1) The metric system is the preferred measurement system for U.S. trade and commerce.

(2) The metric system of measurement will be used, to the extent economically feasible, in federal agencies' procurements, grants, and other business-related activities.

(3) Metric implementation shall not be required to the extent that such use is likely to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to United States firms.

(b) Responsibilities. DoD Components shall ensure that the metric system is used, to the maximum extent practicable, in measurement-sensitive activities supported by programs that use grants and cooperative agreements, and in measurement-sensitive outputs of such programs.