OMB COMPILING NATION-WIDE BLACKLIST OF GRANT VIOLATORS

	       The Office of Management	and Budget is compiling	a master
     computer list of those debarred or	suspended from participating in
     government	agency grant programs. Gary Bass, executive director of	OMB
     Watch, a public interest group that monitors the budget office, said
     the goal of reducing waste, fraud and abuse is laudable but warned
     that the program "can become a hit	list for individuals and
     organizations that	the administration does	not agree with."
	  The controversial program will cover a wide range of
     transactions, including grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships,
     fellowships, loans	and subsidies.	It would apply to both recipients
     of	federal	funds and those	"doing business" with them. The	system is
     expected to be fully operational by May, 1988.
	  Under	the new	law (Reagan's Executive Order 12549), 20 agencies
     which disburse $100 billion in grants will	forward	their debarred
     lists to the OMB.	The master list	will be	computerized and placed	on
     a nation-wide automated telephone system. Regulations published in	the
     Federal Register (5/29/87)	say that the master list will contain names
     and "other	information" about currently debarred or suspended grant
     recipients, as well as about those	whose debarment	is pending.
	  Under	the directive, federal,	state and local	agencies, private
     organizations and individuals handling federal funds must check the
     list before providing anyone a federally-aided service, grant, loan or
     other assistance such as day care.	 Any person or organization that
     fails to check the	list may also be placed	on it.	In addition,
     employees of federally-funded agencies and	organizations, as well as
     anyone "doing business" with them or wishing to do	business with them
     must submit annual	certifications that neither they nor anyone
     "associated with" them are	on the list, or	being considered for it.
	  Grounds for placement	on the list include 1) violating any term
     of	a "public agreement," regardless of whether federal funds were
     involved; 2) failure to repay a government-backed or assisted loan,
     such as a home mortgage, student or crop loan; 3) "failure to perform"
     or	poor performance on a grant or other "public agreement;" 4) lack of
     "business integrity or honesty" or	conviction of "business" crimes; 5)
     debarment or suspension by	a public agency	at any level of	government,
     federal, state, or	local.
	  One can also make the	blacklist if one: is a public school
     teacher and goes on strike	despite	a no-strike clause in one's
     contract; performs poorly on any grant from a public agency,
     regardless	of whether federal funds were involved; does business with
     anyone known to be	on OMB's new list.
	  Various agencies already keep	records	of those who violate rules
     of	grants,	using the lists	to prevent such	recipients from	getting
     additional	grants from the	agency involved. But, under current law
     those same	recipients may obtain grants from other	federal	agencies.
	  Rep. Jack Brooks (D-TX), chair of the	House Government Operations
     Committee warned that the OMB's implementing guidelines "endorse guilt
     by	association, reverse the presumption that a person is innocent
     until proven guilty, and define the operative offenses so vaguely as
     to	potentially encompass many entirely legitimate activities."

	  SOURCES: THE NEW YORK	TIMES, 12/23/87, "U.S. Plans to	Make Master
     List ...",	by Martin Tolchin; OMB WATCH 1987 ANNUAL REPORT; FOUNDATION
     NEWS, July/August 1987, page 8.