EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS (SEPTEMBER
2014)
The requirement to comply with and inform all employees of the "Pilot Program for
Enhancement of Contractor Employee Whistleblower Protections" is retroactively
effective for all assistance awards and subawards (including subcontracts)
issued beginning July 1, 2013.
The Grantee must:
1. Inform its employees working under this award in the predominant native
language of the workforce that they are afforded the employee whistleblower
rights and protections provided under 41 U.S.C. § 4712; and
2. Include such requirement in any subaward or subcontract made under this
award.
41 U.S.C. § 4712 states that an employee of a Grantee may not be discharged,
demoted, or otherwise discriminated against as a reprisal for "whistleblowing." In
addition, whistleblower protections cannot be waived by any agreement, policy, form, or
condition of employment.
Whistleblowing is defined as making a disclosure "that the employee reasonably
believes" is evidence of any of the following:
Gross mismanagement of a Federal contract or grant;
A gross waste of Federal funds;
An abuse of authority relating to a Federal contract or grant;
A substantial and specific danger to public health or safety; or
A violation of law, rule, or regulation related to a Federal contract or grant
(including the competition for, or negotiation of, a contract or grant).
To qualify under the statute, the employee's disclosure must be made to:
A Member of the U.S. Congress, or a representative of a U.S. Congressional
Committee;
A cognizant U.S. Inspector General;
The U.S. Government Accountability Office;
A Federal employee responsible for contract or grant oversight or management
at the relevant agency;
A U.S. court or grand jury; or,
A management official or other employee of the Grantee who has the
responsibility to investigate, discover, or address misconduct.
[End of Provision]
20
Text highlighted in yellow indicates that the material is new or substantively revised.
M11. SUBMISSION OF DATASETS TO THE DEVELOPMENT DATA
LIBRARY (OCTOBER 2014)
a Definitions. For the purpose of submissions to the DDL:
(1) “Dataset” is an organized collection of structured data, including data
contained in spreadsheets, whether presented in tabular or non-tabular
form. For example, a Dataset may represent a single spreadsheet, an
extensible mark-up language (XML) file, a geospatial data file, or an
organized collection of these. This requirement does not apply to
aggregated performance reporting data that the recipient submits directly
to a USAID portfolio management system or to unstructured data, such as
email messages, PDF files, PowerPoint presentations, word processing
documents, photos and graphic images, audio files, collaboration
software, and instant messages. Neither does the requirement apply to
the recipient’s information that is incidental to award administration, such
as financial, administrative, cost or pricing, or management information.
Datasets submitted to the DDL will generally be those generated with
USAID resources and created in support of Intellectual Work that is
uploaded to the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) (See M1.
SUBMISSIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE
CLEARINGHOUSE AND DATA RIGHTS (JUNE 2012).
(2) “Intellectual Work” includes all works that document the implementation,
monitoring, evaluation, and results of international development
assistance activities developed or acquired under this award, which may
include program and communications materials, evaluations and
assessments, information products, research and technical reports,
progress and performance reports required under this award (excluding
administrative financial information), and other reports, articles and papers
prepared by the recipient under the award, whether published or not. The
term does not include the recipient’s information that is incidental to award
administration, such as financial, administrative, cost or pricing, or
management information.
b. Submissions to the Development Data Library (DDL)
(1) The recipient must submit to the Development Data Library (DDL) at
www.usaid.gov/data, in a machine-readable, non-proprietary format, a
copy of any Dataset created or obtained in performance of this award,
including Datasets produced by a subawardee or a contractor at any tier.
The submission must include supporting documentation describing the
21
Text highlighted in yellow indicates that the material is new or substantively revised.
Dataset, such as code books, data dictionaries, data gathering tools,
notes on data quality, and explanations of redactions.
(2) Unless otherwise directed by the Agreement Officer (AO) or the
Agreement Officer Representative (AOR), the recipient must submit the
Dataset and supporting documentation to the DDL within thirty (30)
calendar days after the Dataset is first used to produce an Intellectual
Work or is of sufficient quality to produce an Intellectual Work. Within thirty
(30) calendar days after award completion, the recipient must submit to
the DDL any Datasets and supporting documentation that have not
previously been submitted to the DDL, along with an index of all Datasets
and Intellectual Work created or obtained under the award. The recipient
must also provide to the AOR an itemized list of any and all DDL
submissions.
The recipient is not required to submit the data to the DDL, when, in
accordance with the terms and conditions of this award, Datasets
containing results of federally funded scientific research are submitted to a
publicly accessible research database. However, the recipient must
submit a notice to the DDL
by following the instructions at
www.usaid.gov/data, with a copy to the agreement officer representative,
providing details on where and how to access the data. The direct results
of federally funded scientific research must be reported no later than when
the data are ready to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for
publication, or no later than five calendar days prior to the conclusion of
the award, whichever occurs earlier.
(3) The recipient must submit the Datasets following the submission
instructions and acceptable formats found at www.usaid.gov/data.
(4) The recipient must ensure that any Dataset submitted to the DDL does not
contain any proprietary or personally identifiable information, such as
social security numbers, home addresses, and dates of birth. Such
information must be removed prior to submission.
(5) The recipient must not submit classified data to the DDL.
