| Office of Sponsored Programs |
On September 14th, 2007, the, “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007,” became Pubic Law 110-81. This law amended parts of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and requires MIT to follow new rules regarding ethics legislation and places restrictions on federal lawmakers and staff and outside entities, including MIT. This law also includes a requirement to file quarterly reports (instead of semi-annual) within 20 days after the end of a reporting period. The changes from the new law effect reporting periods beginning January 1, 2008
Examples of lobbying activities
Lobbying activities include oral, written or electronic communications to a government official regarding:
Note that when accounting for your lobbying activities, you should also include time (specify in hours or days) and out-of-pocket expenses spent preparing and planning such activities. Individuals who have helped in your preparations should also complete a report. Students are excluded from filing a report as they are not agents (employed) by MIT. In addition, activities related to an employee's personal, professional, or civic interests, as long as they are not on behalf of MIT, are not reportable and should not be included in this Report of Lobbying Activity.
Lobbying activities do not include:
The quarterly Lobbying Reports that the Office of Sponsored Programs submits, certify that we have not lobbied at the time of proposal submission or prior to receipt of the award. If you or your staff are aware of any facts that make this certification inaccurate, please let us know immediately. No one may, while paid with federal funds or using grant funds for travel expenses, urge an agency to support a specific proposal. It is acceptable to ask "when will a decision be made on my proposal?" It is not acceptable to describe why your proposal should be funded rather than some other one.
If the government asks you to provide technical or professional services, that is not lobbying. You might want to protect yourself by asking "this would not be considered lobbying, would it?"
A university administrator may describe general outstanding research characteristics of the institution, or even describe the wonderful work going on in a Department or School, but may not say (unless asked to report that activity to the government) "I'd like to describe the activities of Professor Y and encourage you to consider making an award for this research,” if Professor Y has a proposal pending to the agency to which the administrator is talking.
The regulation identifies certain persons as "regular employees" of an institution and allows them more freedom to discuss research activities with agencies than it allows to non-employee "lobbyists". A regular employee is an individual who has been employed 130 days by the institution during the previous 12 months. Faculty and others new to the Institute should keep in mind this "130 day rule" and be careful about talking to agencies about specific research projects until they have been at MIT for 130 days.
It is not the intent of the regulation to prohibit the normal interchange between a faculty member and a program officer at an agency. However, there is no clear line marking where optimistic discussion of research progress ends and discussion of a new or renewal award begins. Federal program officer have received training on this matter and should know when to cut off discussion, but the responsibility is a joint one. If you are unsure, ask.
What does this mean, practically?
Questions can be directed to the Office of Sponsored Programs (617-258-7208).
PC Version for Word 6.0
PDF version (should work on all platforms)