Word: langs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Lang began the crusade against A-21 back in 1966, when the new regulation required researchers to document carefully how they spend grant money. Many professors find these requirements irrational, particulary "effort reporting," where a professor must determine what percentage of his time he spends on certain tasks. In some fields where teaching, research and writing mesh inseparably, answering an effort report becomes a ludicrous job, says Math Department Chairman David Mumford...
While the effort reporting and other A-21 requirements seem preposterous to Lang, he objects to them chiefly because they occupy so much time and subject researchers to unreliable audits in the future. Repeated studies of research show that only a miniscule portion of federal grants are improperly spent, Lang says, estimating that the monitoring process consumes nearly half of these funds. "Out of each research dollar, 50 percent goes to guarantee that .025 percent is not imporperly used," Lang says...
...Lang's growing A-21 file contains varied examples of superfluous effort reporting and attacks on the auditing process used to verify these reports. The OMB is the ultimate target of this campaign--in spite of numerous endorsements and task force reports supporting Lang's position, the executive branch agency has remained wedded to A-21's accountability process for almost 20 years...
...Lang agrees that researchers should be accountable for their grants but objects strongly to the format in A-21. At Yale he spearheaded a drive to create a new solution to the problem, now in a two-year experimental stage. Yale negotiates a fixed rate for indirect cost reimbursement (the purpose of effort reporting) and requires professors to sign forms saying they have spent their research grants honestly...
...Lang remains doubtful about chances for long-term acceptance for the "Yale solution" because, he says, the government can recover more money from the universities through the effort reporting and auditing process. Although he has never met a government auditor face to face, Lang remains unimpressed by the written answers to his mailings to HHS. "When they respond, they respond either by false statements or by fudging," he says. "The HHS auditors constitute a threat to science, to the independence of universities...