A new Congressional Budget Office report says a proposed House bill that would require the National Science Foundation to subject its research facilities to audits would cost approximately $10 million from fiscal years 2017 through 2021.CBO said in the report published Tuesday that the passage of the NSF Major Research Facility Reform Act of 2016 would not result in on-budget deficit growth “in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.â€
The proposed legislation also lacks private-sector or intergovernmental mandates based on the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not have an impact on revenues and direct spending, CBO noted.
According to the report, the House bill contains provisions that would direct NSF to provide its staff with additional training and education to protect employees that report possible misappropriation of funds and require the foundation to pay management fees related to research awards.
The agency made the cost estimate based on the request of House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 27.
