Opinion: Blowing the Whistle on Research Grant Fraud

Reporting cases of misconduct in the context of federal science funding can be a daunting task. But mechanisms to support whistleblowers do exist.

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In the midst of a global pandemic and unprecedented attacks on science itself, protecting research and scientists is more important than ever. The law’s most powerful tool in aid of this protection is the False Claims Act (FCA). Whistleblowers, insiders who see misconduct and report it to the government, are critical to making this law work as intended.

The US invests heavily in a wide range of research and development projects. The federal government alone pours more than $100 billion into research grants each year. This is in addition to billions of dollars in tax credits to encourage private research efforts in the corporate sector.

These tax dollars flow through a number of different groups and agencies—the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Science Foundation, etc.—and they fund many different types of research programs, from basic and applied ...

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