The federal government awards billions of dollars each year in sponsored research funding to institutions of higher education, academic research institutions, non-profit organizations, and companies—making federal grants an...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 9 (September, 2021) - A former Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researcher who was the principal investigator on a 2014 NIH award of $939,495.27 and...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 6 (June 2021) - Clemson University is pushing back against recommendations by auditors for the National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General (OIG) that it repay $276,440,...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 10 (September 24, 2020) What the federal government—and a whistleblower—allege were False Claims Act (FCA) violations actually resulted from an “accounting discrepancy,” according to the...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 9 (August 20, 2020) - The Office of Management and Budget has published guidance for agencies and recipients of federal awards and contracts, finalizing a document issued in February...more
Federal authorities have recently described the threat of economic espionage from foreign entities as one of the greatest threats to the economic vitality of the United States, and this has led to an increase in...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 6 (June 2020) - A former assistant veterinary medicine professor at the University of Maryland will retract or correct seven papers published from 2013 to 2016 that contained reused or...more
Recognizing the impact that COVID-19 can have on research and the NIH grant application process, the NIH has issued 5 pieces of guidance between March 9 and 16, 2020 addressing various impacts of COVID-19 on NIH research...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 4 (April 2020) The Food and Drug Administration has accused a University of Michigan physician and professor of conducting research for more than three years after his approval from the...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 4 (April 2020) - “In an effort to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19 in human participant research interactions and to preserve personal protective equipment for...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it reached a $5,500,000 settlement with a biomedical research institute that received NIH grant funding–the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI)–to resolve allegations...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 3 (February 20, 2020) - Despite its earlier agreement to repay just $5,442 in costs questioned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Inspector General, the University of...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 2 (January 23, 2020) - Acting with “deliberate ignorance” and “reckless disregard” are not words that any institution wants to hear associated with its name. But these are at the heart...more
Report on Research Compliance 16, no. 12 (December 2019) - An independent federal office should be established to address “substantiated claims of sexual misconduct,” investigators should disclose related findings against...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 28, no. 36 (Oct. 14, 2019). - NIH should “update its guidance on vetting peer reviewer nominees to identify potential foreign threats to research integrity” and “develop a risk-based approach...more
Colleges and universities receive billions of dollars in federal funds, whether through research grants or student financial aid, or even by billing Medicare or Medicaid for services rendered at academic medical centers. As a...more
Research universities have increasingly become targets for False Claims Act actions, both by private plaintiffs and by the government. Because the FCA began as a statute focused on government procurement and has only more...more
The FCA began as a response to procurement fraud by military contractors during the Civil War. In the intervening years, its reach has extended and increasingly the government is using the FCA as a tool in the context of...more