The October 2012 COGR Meeting Report provides a detailed overview of the key discussions, updates, and policy issues addressed during the Council on Governmental Relations’ meeting in Washington, D.C. Major topics include federal costing policies, research administration and compliance, contracts and intellectual property, and current audit practices affecting research universities. Key updates under costing policies cover ongoing reforms to OMB Circular A-21, feedback processes with the NIH on core facility costing, early-stage developments in the Grant Reporting Information Project (GRIP), and implications of the National Research Council report on research universities, with special focus on partnerships with business, regulatory burdens, and research productivity. The report thoroughly details the workplans and recent audit trends of Offices of Inspector General at HHS and NSF, highlighting concerns over audit methodologies, procedural transparency, and regionally concentrated audit activities.
In the area of contracts and intellectual property, the report summarizes university engagement with legislative changes such as the shift to a “First Inventor to File” patent system, issues surrounding non-practicing patent entities, and advocacy efforts related to biosimilar drug patent certifications and NIH march-in rights petitions. The persistence of problematic contract clauses, especially from the Department of Defense, and university support for legislative reforms in satellite export controls are also addressed. Additionally, research compliance concerns focus on institutional responses to evolving NSF and NIH policies, including the management of conflicts of interest and implementation of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). The report concludes with an update on efforts to reduce regulatory burden, the status of federal data reporting initiatives, and the ongoing development of university economic impact metrics, underscoring the need for clear communication with agencies and proactive institutional engagement in shaping federal research policy.
