114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3766 

AN ACT 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign development and economic assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

•HR 3766 EH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans3 parency and Accountability Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL5 OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO6 GRAMS. 

7 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

8 evaluate the performance of United States foreign develop9 ment and economic assistance and its contribution to the 

10 policies, strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities 

11 undertaken by the Federal Government, to foster and pro12 mote innovative programs to improve effectiveness, and to 

13 coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes of 

14 Federal departments and agencies that administer United 

15 States foreign development and economic assistance. 

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

17 than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act, the President shall set forth guidelines for the estab19 lishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and 

20 monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with 

21 reasonable consistency to United States foreign develop22 ment and economic assistance. Such guidelines shall be 

23 established according to best practices of monitoring and 

24 evaluation studies and analyses. 

25 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 
3 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

2 under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Fed3 eral departments and agencies that administer 

4 United States foreign development and economic as5 sistance on monitoring the use of resources, evalu6 ating the outcomes and impacts of United States 

7 foreign development and economic assistance 

8 projects and programs, and applying the findings 

9 and conclusions of such evaluations to proposed 

10 project and program design. 

11 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

12 established under subsection (b) shall require Fed13 eral departments and agencies that administer 

14 United States foreign development and economic as15 sistance to take the following actions: 

16 (A) Establish annual monitoring and eval17 uation agendas and objectives to plan and man18 age the process of monitoring, evaluating, ana19 lyzing progress, and applying learning toward 

20 achieving results. 

21 (B) Develop specific project monitoring 

22 and evaluation plans, to include measurable 

23 goals and performance metrics, and identify the 

24 resources necessary to conduct such evalua-
4 

•HR 3766 EH

1 tions, which should be covered by program 

2 costs, during project design. 

3 (C) Apply rigorous monitoring and evalua4 tion methodologies to such programs, including 

5 through the use of impact evaluations, ex-post 

6 evaluations, or other methods as appropriate, 

7 that clearly define program logic, inputs, out8 puts, intermediate outcomes, and end outcomes. 

9 (D) Disseminate guidelines for the develop10 ment and implementation of monitoring and 

11 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

12 in the field, who are responsible for the design, 

13 implementation, and management of United 

14 States foreign development and economic assist15 ance programs. 

16 (E) Establish methodologies for the collec17 tion of data, including baseline data to serve as 

18 a reference point against which progress can be 

19 measured. 

20 (F) Evaluate at least once in their lifetime 

21 all programs whose dollar value equals or ex22 ceeds the median program size for the relevant 

23 office or bureau or an equivalent calculation to 

24 ensure the majority of program resources are 

25 evaluated. 
5 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (G) Conduct impact evaluations on all pilot 

2 programs before replicating wherever possible, 

3 or provide a written justification for not con4 ducting an impact evaluation where such an 

5 evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impos6 sible. 

7 (H) Develop a clearinghouse capacity for 

8 the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

9 and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 

10 guide future programs for United States devel11 opment professionals, implementing partners, 

12 the donor community, and aid recipient govern13 ments, and as a repository of knowledge on les14 sons learned. 

15 (I) Distribute evaluation reports internally. 

16 (J) Publicly report each evaluation, includ17 ing an executive summary, a description of the 

18 evaluation methodology, key findings, appro19 priate context (including quantitative and quali20 tative data when available), and recommenda21 tions made in the evaluation within 90 days 

22 after the completion of the evaluation. 

23 (K) Undertake collaborative partnerships 

24 and coordinate efforts with the academic com25 munity, implementing partners, and national 
6 

•HR 3766 EH

1 and international institutions that have exper2 tise in program monitoring, evaluation, and 

3 analysis when such partnerships provide needed 

4 expertise or significantly improve the evaluation 

5 and analysis. 

6 (L) Ensure verifiable, valid, credible, pre7 cise, reliable, and timely data are available to 

8 monitoring and evaluation personnel to permit 

9 the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of 

10 United States foreign development and eco11 nomic assistance programs, including an assess12 ment of assumptions and limitations in such 

13 evaluations. 

14 (M) Ensure that standards of professional 

15 evaluation organizations for monitoring and 

16 evaluation efforts are employed, including en17 suring the integrity and independence of evalua18 tions, permitting and encouraging the exercise 

19 of professional judgment, and providing for 

20 quality control and assurance in the monitoring 

21 and evaluation process. 

22 (d) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

23 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

24 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

25 committees a report that contains a detailed description 
7 

•HR 3766 EH

1 of the guidelines established under subsection (b). The re2 port shall be submitted in unclassified form, but it may 

3 contain a classified annex. 

4 (e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—The Comp5 troller General of the United States shall, not later than 

6 1 year after the report required by subsection (d) is sub7 mitted to Congress, submit to the appropriate congres8 sional committees a report that analyzes— 

9 (1) the guidelines established pursuant to sub10 section (b); and 

11 (2) a side-by-side comparison of the President’s 

12 budget request for that fiscal year of every oper13 ational unit that carries out United States foreign 

14 development and economic assistance and the per15 formance of such units during the prior fiscal year. 

16 SEC. 3. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DE17 VELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 

18 PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

20 (1) UPDATE OF EXISTING WEB SITE.—Not 

21 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 

22 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall update the 

23 Department of State’s Internet Web site, 

24 ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to make publicly available 

25 comprehensive, timely, and comparable information 
8 

•HR 3766 EH

1 on United States foreign development and economic 

2 assistance programs, including all information re3 quired pursuant to subsection (b) of this section that 

4 is then available to the Secretary of State. 

5 (2) INFORMATION SHARING.—The head of each 

6 Federal department or agency that administers 

7 United States foreign development and economic as8 sistance shall, not later than 2 years after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act, and on a quarterly 

10 basis thereafter, provide to the Secretary of State 

11 comprehensive information about the United States 

12 foreign development and economic assistance pro13 grams carried out by such department or agency. 

14 (3) UPDATES TO WEB SITE.—Not later than 2 

15 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

16 Secretary of State shall publish, through the 

17 ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ Web site or a successor on18 line publication, the information provided under sub19 section (b) of this section and shall update such in20 formation on a quarterly basis. 

21 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The information described in 

23 subsection (a) shall be published on a detailed 

24 award-by-award and country-by-country basis unless 

25 assistance is provided on a regional level, in which 
9 

•HR 3766 EH

1 case the information shall be published on an award2 by-award and region-by-region basis. 

3 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—To ensure trans5 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of 

6 United States foreign development and eco7 nomic assistance programs, the information de8 scribed in subsection (a) shall include— 

9 (i) links to all regional, country, and 

10 sector assistance strategies, annual budget 

11 documents, congressional budget justifica12 tions, evaluations and summaries of eval13 uations as required under section 

14 2(c)(2)(J); 

15 (ii) basic descriptive summaries for 

16 United States foreign development and 

17 economic assistance programs and awards 

18 under such programs; and 

19 (iii) obligations and expenditures 

20 under such programs. 

21 Each type of information described in this para22 graph shall be published or updated on the 

23 Internet Web site not later than 90 days after 

24 the date of issuance of the information. 
10 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

2 subparagraph (A) shall be construed to require 

3 a Federal department or agency that admin4 isters United States foreign development and 

5 economic assistance to provide any information 

6 that does not relate to or is not otherwise re7 quired by the United States foreign develop8 ment and economic assistance programs carried 

9 out by such department or agency. 

10 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

11 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE12 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

13 department or agency, in consultation with the 

14 Secretary of State, makes a determination that 

15 the inclusion of a required item of information 

16 online would jeopardize the health or security of 

17 an implementing partner or program bene18 ficiary or would require the release of propri19 etary information of an implementing partner 

20 or program beneficiary, the head of the Federal 

21 department or agency shall provide such deter22 mination in writing to the appropriate congres23 sional committees, including the basis for such 

24 determination and shall— 
11 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (i) provide a briefing to the appro2 priate congressional committees on such 

3 information; or 

4 (ii) submit to the appropriate congres5 sional committees such information in a 

6 written report. 

7 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

8 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de9 termination that the inclusion of a required 

10 item of information online would be detrimental 

11 to the national interests of the United States, 

12 the Secretary of State shall provide such deter13 mination in writing to the appropriate congres14 sional committees, including the basis for such 

15 determination and shall— 

16 (i) provide a briefing to the appro17 priate congressional committees on such 

18 information; or 

19 (ii) submit to the appropriate congres20 sional committees the item of information 

21 in a written report. 

22 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor23 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

24 provided in classified form, as appropriate. 
12 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If a Federal depart2 ment or agency fails to comply with the require3 ments of subsection (a), paragraph (1) or (2) of this 

4 subsection, or subsection (c) with respect to pro5 viding information described in subsection (a), and 

6 the information is not subject to a determination 

7 under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) of 

8 this subsection not to make the information pub9 lically available, the Director of the Office of Man10 agement and Budget, in consultation with the head 

11 of such department or agency, shall submit to the 

12 appropriate congressional committees not later than 

13 September 1, 2016, a consolidated report describing, 

14 with respect to each required item of information 

15 not made publicly available— 

16 (A) a detailed explanation of the reason for 

17 not making such information publicly available; 

18 and 

19 (B) the department’s or agency’s plan and 

20 timeline for immediately making such informa21 tion publicly available, and for ensuring that in22 formation is made publically available in fol23 lowing years. 
13 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.—The online publication 

2 required by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, provide 

3 the information required by subsection (b)— 

4 (1) in each fiscal year from 2016 through 2019, 

5 such information for fiscal years 2012 through the 

6 current fiscal year; and 

7 (2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year 

8 thereafter, such information for the immediately pre9 ceding 5 fiscal years in a fully searchable form. 

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com14 mittees’’ means— 

15 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

16 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

17 Senate; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

19 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

20 of Representatives. 

21 (2) EVALUATION.—The term ‘‘evaluation’’ 

22 means, with respect to a United States foreign de23 velopment and economic assistance program, the 

24 systematic collection and analysis of information 

25 about the characteristics and outcomes of the pro-
14 

•HR 3766 EH

1 gram, including projects conducted under such pro2 gram, as a basis for making judgments and evalua3 tions regarding the program, to improve program ef4 fectiveness, and to inform decisions about current 

5 and future programming. 

6 (3) UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT

7 AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United 

8 States foreign development and economic assistance’’ 

9 means assistance provided primarily for the purposes 

10 of foreign development and economic support, in11 cluding assistance authorized under— 

12 (A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

13 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), other than— 

14 (i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part 

15 (relating to the Overseas Private Invest16 ment Corporation); 

17 (ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to 

18 International Organizations and Pro19 grams); and 

20 (iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating 

21 to International Narcotics Control); 

22 (B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As23 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 

24 relating to Economic Support Fund); 
15 

•HR 3766 EH

1 (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 

2 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); and 

3 (D) the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 

4 1721 et seq.). 

Passed the House of Representatives December 8, 

2015. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3766 

AN ACT 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for 

assistance programs, and for other purposes. United States foreign development and economic