Transparency in Foreign Investment Act (TFIA)

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Approved by: President's Cabinet

Original Date Effective: 2023-08-07

Last Modified: 2023-08-07

In order to provide taxpayers greater transparency in foreign influences and preserve the integrity of Tennessee’s higher education institutions, this legislation:  https://www.tn.gov  search governor/news/2021.

            Prohibits Tennessee public colleges and universities from holding Confucius institutes, which have concerning ties to communist regimes.

            Requires public institutions to disclose gifts and contracts from foreign sources and refuse any gift or contract that poses a credible national security threat.

            Establishes a disclosure report that public institutions must submit to the Comptroller of the Treasury for public review.

Jackson State Community College (JSCC) as a public institution of higher education is required by the Transparency in Foreign Investment Act (TFIA) to submit an annual report of a list of contracts entered into with foreign sources during the previous fiscal year, if valued singly or in aggregate, at more than $10,000 in order to comply with Public Chapter 344. Pc0344.pdf (tnsosfiles.com). The following outlines the policy that JSCC will follow to meet this requirement.

Working Definitions

A “contract” means an agreement for acquisition by purchase, lease, or barter of property or services.

A “foreign source” is defined broadly to include the following:  a foreign government; an agency of a foreign government; a legal entity, governmental or otherwise, created solely under the laws of a foreign state (e.g., a foreign company or a subsidiary of a foreign company); an individual who is not a U.S. citizen or U.S. national; and an agent of any of the foregoing.

Aggregation process:  If an institution enters into multiple contracts with foreign sources affiliated with the same foreign government, and each of the contracts is valued at $10,000 or less, but the aggregated value is over $10,000, then all of the gifts must be disclosed.  In other words, if TCAT-Murfreesboro were to enter into a contract with Nissan’s U.S. subsidiary valued at $7500 and contracts with other sources affiliated with Japan totaling more than $2500, then all contracts affiliated with Japan must be disclosed.

 Report Contents

Tennessee Board of Regents otherwise known as “The System Office” will submit a consolidated report on behalf of the Colleges.  Reports are submitted to TBR Contracts & Reporting, contracts.reporting@tbr.edu, each year by the due date provided by TBR.  (If an institution has no such contracts, that fact needs to be reported). 

A spreadsheet is provided each year and will require the following information to be completed.

  1. The name of the foreign source (vendor);
  2. National affiliation (country);
  3. The total dollar value of the contract (including renewals);
  4. The department, school, or other business unit of the institution that benefits from the contract;
  5. The effective date of the contract (using a MM/DD/YYYY format);
  6. The expiration date of the contract (using a MM/DD/YYYY format) including renewals; and
  7. A brief description (2-3 sentences maximum in most cases) of the terms of the contract. We interpret this to mean a brief description of the contract, or purpose of the contract.

If there are gray areas, please use your judgement, but err on the side of over-inclusion, including when:

  1. Deciding whether an entity is a foreign source;
  2. Deciding whether an agreement meets the definition of a contract, as not only procurement contracts meet the definition of contract;
  3. Aggregating value—if the total value of institutional contacts in FY ’21 affiliated with any one country was greater than $10,000, all FY ’21 contracts affiliated with that country should be listed;
  4. If multiple units’ benefit, choose the primary beneficiary or beneficiaries.  List the college as whole if no primary beneficiary can be identified, but please do not routinely list the college as a whole, as the TFIA requires specificity; and
  5. Estimating dollar value that is hard to ascertain, such as placements with a company for training of students.

The TFIA also provides that an institution shall not enter into a contract with a foreign source if the institution believes that doing so would threaten (1) the integrity of the institution’s research, instruction, or operations; (2) the institution’s intellectual property rights; (3) the protection of confidential information; or (4) the safety and security of the institution, the institution’s personnel and students, Tennessee, or the United States.