To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign development assistance, and for other purposes.

Summary: Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2012 - Directs the President to establish guidelines regarding the establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans for U.S. foreign assistance.

Requires such guidelines to provide direction to federal departments and agencies that administer U.S. foreign assistance relating to: (1) resource monitoring, (2) project and program evaluation, and (3) analysis of findings and generalizations and their applicability to proposed project and program design. Requires: (1) each appropriate federal department or agency to begin using such guidelines within one year after their establishment, and (2) the President to submit a related report to Congress within 18 months.

Directs the President to require the Secretary of State to establish and maintain an Internet website to make publicly available comprehensive and accessible information on U.S. foreign assistance programs on a country-by-country and program-by program basis.

Authorizes a department or agency to use up to 5% of its foreign development assistance funds for activities under this Act.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Aid Transparency and 
Accountability Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to evaluate the 
performance of United States foreign development assistance and its 
contribution to policy, strategies, projects, program goals, and 
priorities undertaken by the United States, to foster and promote 
innovative programs to improve the effectiveness of United States 
foreign development assistance, and to coordinate the monitoring and 
evaluation processes of Federal departments and agencies that 
administer United States foreign development assistance.
    (b) Establishment of Guidelines.--Not later than 18 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall establish 
guidelines regarding the establishment of measurable goals, performance 
metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with 
reasonable consistency to United States foreign development assistance. 
Such guidelines should be established according to best practices of 
monitoring and evaluation studies and analyses.
    (c) Objectives of Guidelines.--
            (1) In general.--The guidelines established under this 
        section shall provide direction to Federal departments and 
        agencies that administer United States foreign development 
        assistance on how to develop the complete range of activities 
        relating to the monitoring of resources, the evaluation of 
        projects, the evaluation of program impacts, and analysis that 
        is necessary for the identification of findings, 
        generalizations that can be derived from those findings, and 
        their applicability to proposed project and program design.
            (2) Objectives.--Specifically, the guidelines shall provide 
        direction on how to achieve the following objectives for 
        monitoring and evaluation of programs:
                    (A) Building measurable goals, performance metrics 
                and monitoring and evaluation into program design at 
                the outset, including the provision of sufficient 
                program resources to conduct monitoring and evaluation.
                    (B) Disseminating guidelines for the development 
                and implementation of monitoring and evaluation 
                programs to all personnel, especially in the field, who 
                are responsible for the design, implementation, and 
                management of United States foreign development 
                assistance programs.
                    (C) Contributing to the collection and 
                dissemination of knowledge and lessons learned to 
                United States development professionals, implementing 
                partners, the international aid community, and aid 
                recipient governments, and as a repository of knowledge 
                on lessons learned.
                    (D) Distributing evaluation reports internally.
                    (E) Establishing annual monitoring and evaluation 
                agendas and objectives.
                    (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
                methodologies, including choosing from among a wide 
                variety of qualitative and quantitative methods common 
                in the field of social scientific inquiry.
                    (G) Partnering with the academic community, 
                implementing partners, and national and international 
                institutions that have expertise in monitoring and 
                evaluation and analysis when such partnerships will 
                provide needed expertise or will significantly improve 
                the evaluation and analysis.
                    (H) Developing and implementing a training plan for 
                appropriate aid personnel on the proper conduct of 
                monitoring and evaluation programs.
    (d) Implementation of Guidelines.--Beginning not later than one 
year after the date on which the President establishes the guidelines 
under this section, the head of each Federal department or agency that 
administers United States foreign development assistance shall 
administer the United States foreign development assistance in 
accordance with the guidelines.
    (e) Presidential Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to Congress a 
report that contains a detailed description of the guidelines that have 
been developed on measurable goals, performance metrics, and monitoring 
and evaluation plans for United States foreign development assistance 
established under this section. The report shall be submitted in 
unclassified form to the maximum extent possible, but may include a 
classified annex.
    (f) Comptroller General Reports.--The Comptroller General of the 
United States shall--
            (1) not later than one year after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
        a report that contains an analysis of the actions that the 
        major Federal departments and agencies that administer United 
        States foreign development assistance have taken to ensure that 
        United States foreign development assistance program evaluation 
        is planned, conducted, and utilized effectively; and
            (2) not later than two years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate congressional 
        committees a report that contains an analysis of--
                    (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 
                subsection (b); and
                    (B) the implementation of the guidelines by the 
                major Federal departments and agencies that administer 
                United States foreign development assistance.
    (g) Evaluation Defined.--In this section, the term ``evaluation'' 
means, with respect to a United States foreign development assistance 
program, the systematic collection and analysis of information about 
the characteristics and outcomes of the program and projects under the 
program as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to 
inform decisions about current and future programming.

SEC. 3. INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE COMPREHENSIVE, 
              TIMELY, COMPARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION ON UNITED 
              STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    (a) Establishment; Publication and Updates.--Not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall direct 
the Secretary of State to establish and maintain an Internet website to 
make publicly available in unclassified form comprehensive, timely, 
comparable, and accessible information on United States foreign 
development assistance. The head of each Federal department or agency 
that administers United States foreign development assistance shall, 
not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
publish and on a quarterly basis update on the Internet website such 
information with respect to the United States foreign development 
assistance programs of such Federal department or agency.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--
            (1) In general.--Such information shall be published on a 
        detailed program-by-program basis and country-by-country basis.
            (2) Types of information.--To ensure transparency, 
        accountability, and effectiveness of United States foreign 
        development assistance, such information should include country 
        assistance strategies, annual budget documents, congressional 
        budget justifications, obligations, expenditures, and reports 
        and evaluations, including those developed pursuant to the 
        guidelines established by section 2, for United States foreign 
        development assistance programs and projects under such 
        programs. Each type of information described in this paragraph 
        shall be published or updated on the Internet website not later 
        than 90 days after the date of issuance of the information.
            (3) Report in lieu of inclusion.--If--
                    (A) the head of a Federal department or agency 
                makes a determination that the inclusion of a required 
                item of information on the Internet website would 
                jeopardize the health or security of an implementing 
                partner or program beneficiary; or
                    (B) the Secretary of State makes a determination 
                that the inclusion of a required item of information on 
                the Internet website would be detrimental to the 
                national interests of the United States,
        then the head of such Federal department or agency or the 
        Secretary of State, as the case may be, shall provide briefings 
        to Congress on the item of information or submit to Congress 
        the item of information in a written report in lieu of it being 
        included on the Internet website, along with the reasons for it 
        not being included on the Internet website. Any such item of 
        information may be submitted to Congress in classified form.
    (c) Scope of Information.--
            (1) In general.--The Internet website shall contain the 
        information described in subsection (b) as follows:
                    (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 2 fiscal years.
                    (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 3 fiscal years.
                    (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 4 fiscal years.
                    (D) For fiscal year 2016 and each fiscal year 
                thereafter, the information relating to such fiscal 
                year and each of the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 
                years.
            (2) Older information.--For fiscal year 2017 and each 
        fiscal year thereafter, the Internet website shall also contain 
        a link to a searchable database available to the public 
        containing information described in subsection (b) relating to 
        fiscal years prior to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years 
        but subsequent to fiscal year 2010.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS IF REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 3 ARE NOT 
              MET.

    If the information described in section 3(b) with respect to a 
United States foreign development assistance program is not provided as 
required under section 3, then the head of the relevant Federal 
department or agency shall provide briefings to the appropriate 
congressional committees, along with a detailed explanation of why the 
requirements for publication on the Internet have not been met and when 
they will be met, with respect to each month for which such information 
is not published on the Internet.

SEC. 5. OFFSET.

    Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for United States 
foreign development assistance programs of a Federal department or 
agency that administers such programs for a fiscal year, up to 5 
percent of such amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act with respect to such programs for such fiscal year.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
            (2) United states foreign development assistance.--The term 
        ``United States foreign development assistance'' means 
        assistance primarily for purposes of foreign development and 
        economic support, including but not limited to assistance 
        authorized under--
                    (A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
                (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), other than--
                            (i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part 
                        (relating to the Overseas Private Investment 
                        Corporation);
                            (ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to 
                        International Organizations and Programs); and
                            (iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating to 
                        International Narcotics Control);
                    (B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance 
                Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relating to 
                Economic Support Fund) for long-term development; and
                    (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 
                7701 et seq.).

            Passed the House of Representatives December 30, 2012.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.