(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 implemented by 32 CFR part 216, apply to cooperative agreements, as well as grants.
(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):
“As a condition for receipt of funds available to the Department of Defense (DoD) under this award, the recipient agrees that it is not an institution of higher education (as defined in 32 CFR part 216) that has a policy or practice that either prohibits, or in effect prevents:
(A) The Secretary of a Military Department from maintaining, establishing, or operating a unit of the Senior Reserve Officers Training Corps (in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 654 and other applicable Federal laws) at that institution (or any subelement of that institution);
(B) Any 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;
(C) 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
(D) Access by military recruiters for purposes of military recruiting to the names of students (who are 17 years of age or older and enrolled at that institution or any subelement of that institution); their addresses, telephone listings, dates and places of birth, levels of education, academic majors, and degrees received; and the most recent educational institutions in which they were enrolled.
If the recipient is determined, using the procedures in 32 CFR part 216, to be such an institution of higher education during the period of performance of this agreement, the Government will cease all payments of DoD funds under this agreement and all other DoD grants and cooperative agreements to the recipient, and it may suspend or terminate such grants and agreements unilaterally for material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of award.”
(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.
[70 FR 49465, Aug. 23, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 34988, June 26, 2007; 85 FR 51243, Aug. 19, 2020]