debar

On Monday, the administration took the first step toward debarring Harvard from receiving federal funds through a process that could declare it ineligible to do business with the government.

It is relatively rare for HHS to debar an NIH grantee.

In a report issued hours before the hearing, the Republican majority also called for Daszak to be criminally prosecuted and for EcoHealth to be banned, or debarred, from receiving NIH funding.

Horowitz criticized the government’s failure early on to use the “Do Not Pay” Treasury Department database, designed to keep government money from going to debarred contractors, fugitives, felons or people convicted of tax fraud.

The OIG recommends that WIV—but not EcoHealth—be debarred from receiving NIH funding in the future, a step NIH supports but noted must be made by an HHS debarment official.