II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4735 

To address recommendations made to Congress by the Government Accountability Office as detailed in its annual report on duplication, fragmentation, and overlap, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. PAUL) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To address recommendations made to Congress by the Government Accountability Office as detailed in its annual 

report on duplication, fragmentation, and overlap, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Acting on the Annual 

5 Duplication Report Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) The annual reports prepared by the Comp2 troller General of the United States under section 21 

3 of the Joint Resolution entitled ‘‘Joint Resolution 

4 increasing the statutory limit on the public debt’’, 

5 approved February 12, 2010 (13 U.S.C. 712 note), 

6 have produced approximately $429,000,000,000 in 

7 financial benefits for the Federal Government. 

8 (2) 2020 marks the tenth year that the Comp9 troller General has prepared this valuable report, 

10 and during that time, agencies have made significant 

11 progress fully or partially addressing the over 900 

12 actions identified by the Comptroller General in the 

13 past decade. 

14 (3) The 2020 report entitled ‘‘Additional Op15 portunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and 

16 Duplication and Achieve Billions in Financial Bene17 fits’’ (GAO–20–2440SP) identified 168 new actions 

18 that Congress or the executive branch can take to 

19 improve efficiency and effectiveness across the Fed20 eral Government, and potentially to save tens of bil21 lions of dollars. 

22 (4) Those financial benefits cannot be realized 

23 without full implementation of the actions and rec24 ommendations set forth by the Comptroller General. 


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1 (5) Of the 168 new actions, several require leg2 islation to be fully implemented, including— 

3 (A) requiring the Secretary of the Treas4 ury to set cybersecurity standards for third5 party tax preparation companies to better pro6 tect taxpayer information, as well as requiring 

7 the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Serv8 ice to organize and coordinate all aspects of the 

9 Service’s efforts to protect taxpayer information 

10 received from third-party preparers; 

11 (B) requiring the Secretary of the Depart12 ment of Housing and Urban Development to 

13 evaluate and report to Congress on the ade14 quacy of the Government National Mortgage 

15 Association’s guaranty fee for single-family 

16 mortgage-backed securities to provide capital 

17 reserves to endure losses, as well as the Govern18 ment National Mortgage Association’s reliance 

19 on contractors and their associated costs; and 

20 (C) requiring the Secretary of the Navy to 

21 submit reports to Congress if a critical cost es22 timate breach occurs within the major defense 

23 ship acquisition program. 

24 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con25 gress that— 


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1 (1) it is the responsibility of Congress and the 

2 executive branch to take action to implement rec3 ommendations made in the annual reports of the 

4 Government Accountability Office on reducing dupli5 cation, fragmentation, and overlap in Federal pro6 grams to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars by 

7 achieving significant savings and avoiding wasteful 

8 spending; and 

9 (2) legislation and adequate resources are need10 ed to ensure that all potential financial benefits are 

11 realized from the implementation of those rec12 ommendations. 

13 SEC. 3. PROTECTING THE SECURITY OF TAXPAYER INFOR14 MATION HELD BY THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS 

15 BY IMPROVING COORDINATION AND ESTAB16 LISHING MINIMUM SECURITY REQUIRE17 MENTS TO REDUCE FRAGMENTATION. 

18 (a) REGULATION OF SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR

19 TAX RETURN PREPARERS AND AUTHORIZED E-FILE

20 PROVIDERS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec23 retary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) 

24 shall prescribe standards for the security of return 

25 information and information technology systems that 


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1 are consistent with security standards issued by the 

2 National Institute for Standards and Technology. 

3 (2) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO SECURE INFOR4 MATION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 6695 of the In6 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by re7 designating subsection (h) as subsection (i) and 

8 by inserting after subsection (g) the following 

9 new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(h) FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH ELECTRONIC RE11 TURN SECURITY STANDARDS.—Any person who is author12 ized by the Secretary to provide electronic filing services 

13 and who fails to secure return information and informa14 tion technology standards in such manner as prescribed 

15 by the Secretary shall pay a penalty of $500 for each such 

16 failure. The maximum penalty imposed under this sub17 section on any person with respect to any calendar year 

18 shall not exceed $25,000.’’. 

19 (B) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 

20 6695(i) of such Code, as redesignated by sub21 paragraph (A), is amended— 

22 (i) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

23 paragraph (3); 

24 (ii) by inserting after paragraph (1) 

25 the following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH SECURITY

2 STANDARDS.—In the case of any failure described in 

3 subsection (h) in a calendar year beginning after 

4 2021, each of the dollar amounts under subsection 

5 (h) shall be increased by an amount equal to such 

6 dollar amount multiplied by the cost-of-living adjust7 ment determined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal8 endar year determined by substituting ‘calendar year 

9 2020’ for ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph 

10 (A)(ii) thereof.’’; and 

11 (iii) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated 

12 by clause (i)), by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1) or (2)’’. 

14 (C) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 

15 made by this paragraph shall apply to failures 

16 described in section 6695(h) of the Internal 

17 Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by subpara18 graph (A)) after the date that is 60 days after 

19 the date the Secretary prescribes the standards 

20 required under paragraph (1). 

21 (b) COORDINATION OF TAXPAYER INFORMATION SE22 CURITY.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact23 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 

24 shall develop an organizational plan to create a centralized 

25 body or other governance structure to coordinate all asVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Oct 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4735.IS S4735

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1 pects of the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to protect 

2 return information while being held or transmitted by 

3 those authorized by the Internal Revenue Service to pro4 vide electronic filing services. The Commissioner shall 

5 transmit the organizational plan to the Committee on Fi6 nance of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security 

7 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 

8 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and 

9 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 

10 Representatives. 

11 SEC. 4. OPTIMIZING REVENUE INTAKE AND SAVING TAX12 PAYER DOLLARS AT GINNIE MAE BY ASSESS13 ING CURRENT PRACTICES AND EXPLORING 

14 ALTERNATIVE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES 

15 TO PROVIDE BETTER OVERSIGHT. 

16 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

17 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com18 mittees’’ means— 

19 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

20 and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

21 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

22 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

23 (C) the Committee on Financial Services of 

24 the House of Representatives; and 


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1 (D) the Committee on Oversight and Re2 form of the House of Representatives; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘Association’’ means the Govern4 ment National Mortgage Association; and 

5 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

6 of Housing and Urban Development. 

7 (b) GUARANTY FEE STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later 

8 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

9 Secretary shall conduct a study and submit to the appro10 priate congressional committees and the Comptroller Gen11 eral of the United States a report on the adequacy of the 

12 guaranty fee of the Association for single-family mort13 gage-backed securities, which shall— 

14 (1) evaluate the extent to which the level of the 

15 guaranty fee for single-family mortgage-backed secu16 rities provides the Association with sufficient re17 serves to cover potential losses under different eco18 nomic scenarios, including adverse scenarios, based 

19 on an actuarial or similar analysis; 

20 (2) identify the types of standards that the As21 sociation could use to set the guaranty fee for single22 family mortgage-backed securities and evaluate 

23 which standard or standards would enable the Asso24 ciation to set the guaranty fee at an appropriate 

25 level in line with the mission of the Association; 


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1 (3) assess the benefits and costs of adopting a 

2 risk-based guaranty fee for single-family mortgage3 backed securities that imposes a higher fee on higher 

4 risk issuers; 

5 (4) analyze how and to what extent an increase 

6 in the guaranty fee (for all issuers and a subset of 

7 riskier issuers) would affect borrowers’ financing, 

8 closing, and other related costs for federally insured 

9 mortgage loans; and 

10 (5) if warranted, include recommendations for 

11 any necessary amendments to the National Housing 

12 Act (12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to change the guaranty 

13 fee for single-family mortgage-backed securities, in14 cluding for establishing a standard under which the 

15 Association can determine the level of the guaranty 

16 fee for single-family mortgage-backed securities. 

17 (c) RELIANCE ON CONTRACTORS STUDY AND RE18 PORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, the Secretary shall conduct a study and submit 

20 to the appropriate congressional committees and the 

21 Comptroller General of the United States a report evalu22 ating the workforce composition of the Association in con23 sideration of the critical functions of the Association, 

24 which shall— 

25 (1) analyze— 


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1 (A) the number of Federal employees and 

2 contractors by type of role or position that the 

3 Association uses to perform compliance, risk 

4 management, and other critical functions, and 

5 the cost of a full-time equivalent Federal em6 ployee versus a contractor for comparable roles 

7 or positions; 

8 (B) the extent to which the Association 

9 could use Federal employees instead of contrac10 tors by role or position to perform critical func11 tions; 

12 (C) the types and amounts of costs that 

13 the Association could save by using Federal em14 ployees instead of contractors, where possible, 

15 to perform critical functions, such as savings 

16 from differences in pay and not having to over17 see contractors; 

18 (D) whether the Association would face 

19 any legal or other obstacles in using Federal 

20 employees instead of contractors to perform 

21 critical functions; and 

22 (E) the potential negative and positive ef23 fects of using Federal employees instead of con24 tractors on the ability of the Association to 

25 achieve the mission of the Association; and 


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1 (2) if warranted, include recommendations for 

2 any necessary amendments to the National Housing 

3 Act (12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to change the funding 

4 structure of the Association. 

5 (d) COMPENSATION STRUCTURE STUDY AND RE6 PORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

7 of this Act, the Secretary shall conduct a study and submit 

8 to the appropriate congressional committees and the 

9 Comptroller General of the United States a report evalu10 ating the workforce challenges of the Association, which 

11 shall— 

12 (1) analyze, quantitatively to the extent pos13 sible, the challenges of the Association in hiring and 

14 retaining staff, including compensation, during the 

15 3-year period preceding the report; 

16 (2) identify and summarize the options that the 

17 Association has pursued within existing authorities 

18 to address the staffing challenges of the Association, 

19 including which agencies or offices were involved, 

20 and the key decisions and outcomes of those efforts; 

21 (3) identify options that the Association did not 

22 pursue within existing authorities to address the 

23 staffing challenges of the Association and the rea24 sons for not pursuing those options; 


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1 (4) identify and evaluate options outside of ex2 isting authorities that the Association could use to 

3 address the staffing challenges of the Association 

4 and the potential benefits and costs of those options; 

5 and 

6 (5) if warranted, include recommendations for 

7 any necessary amendments to the National Housing 

8 Act (12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to change how the 

9 Government National Mortgage Association sets 

10 compensation. 

11 (e) REVIEW OF REFORMS TO GINNIE MAE’S ORGANI12 ZATIONAL AND OVERSIGHT STRUCTURE.—The Comp13 troller General of the United States shall conduct a study 

14 and submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

15 a report on alternate ways of overseeing the Association 

16 to address increasing risks, which shall— 

17 (1) review the reports submitted by the Sec18 retary under subsections (b), (c), and (d) to deter19 mine if the reports addressed the required provisions 

20 and assess any recommendations made in those re21 ports; 

22 (2) identify key challenges or constraints that 

23 the Association has faced under the governance and 

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1 ment corporation within the Department of Housing 

2 and Urban Development; 

3 (3) identify alternative models under which the 

4 governance and funding structure of the Association 

5 could be reorganized to better support housing policy 

6 priorities in the United States and to ensure that 

7 the Association fulfilling the role of increasing li8 quidity in the housing finance market while also 

9 minimizing risk to the taxpayer; 

10 (4) evaluate the potential positive and negative 

11 impacts of the models described in paragraph (3) on 

12 the Association, the Department of Housing and 

13 Urban Development, and other stakeholders; 

14 (5) obtain input from relevant stakeholders, 

15 such as Federal entities, lenders, issuers, investors, 

16 affordable housing advocates, and researchers, on re17 forms to the organizational and oversight structure 

18 of the Association; 

19 (6) consider the housing finance system and 

20 ways in which alternative oversight structures of the 

21 Association could impact the system; and 

22 (7) review such other information as the Comp23 troller General determines relevant. 


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1 SEC. 5. CONTROLLING UNANTICIPATED SUSTAINMENT 

2 COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH NAVY MAJOR DE3 FENSE SHIP ACQUISITION PROGRAMS 

4 THROUGH ROBUST OVERSIGHT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 144 of title 10, United 

6 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2433a 

7 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 2433b. Critical operating and support cost estimate 

9 growth in Navy shipbuilding programs 

10 ‘‘(a) REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days after 

11 identifying a critical operating and support cost estimate 

12 breach in a Department of the Navy major defense ship 

13 acquisition program, the Secretary of the Navy shall sub14 mit to the Committee on Armed Services and Committee 

15 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

16 Senate and the Committee on Armed Services and Com17 mittee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Rep18 resentatives a report that includes the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) A determination and documentation of the 

20 root cause or causes of the critical operating and 

21 support cost estimate growth. 

22 ‘‘(2) A reassessment of the program’s operating 

23 and support cost estimate that includes a new man24 power analysis, incorporates available actual cost 

25 data, and includes a sensitivity analysis of key as26 sumptions. 


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1 ‘‘(3) A plan to reduce the estimated operating 

2 and support costs, including the amount that could 

3 be reduced and the trade-offs or challenges in mak4 ing these reductions. 

5 ‘‘(4) A reassessment of the program’s ability to 

6 meet any changes to the program’s sustainment key 

7 performance parameter related to operational avail8 ability and materiel availability. 

9 ‘‘(5) A determination to terminate or modify 

10 the program or a certification that the program con11 tinues to be essential to national security and that 

12 the program will meet its planned requirements. 

13 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) the term ‘average annual operating and 

15 support costs per ship’ means the total operating 

16 support costs associated with a program, divided by 

17 the number of hulls, multiplied by the years of serv18 ice life described in the original Baseline Estimate; 

19 ‘‘(2) the term ‘critical operating and support 

20 cost estimate growth’ means growth that exceeds the 

21 operating and support cost estimate thresholds by at 

22 least 30 percent, as stated in terms of constant base 

23 years dollars, over the average annual operating and 

24 support costs per ship as derived from the original 

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1 riod the Navy submits Selected Acquisition Reports 

2 or alternatives to the Selected Acquisition Reports in 

3 accordance with section 2432 of this title; and 

4 ‘‘(3) the term ‘major defense ship acquisition 

5 program’ means any Department of the Navy ship6 building program with estimated costs equivalent to 

7 the dollar thresholds for a major defense acquisition 

8 program under section 2430 of this title.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

10 at the beginning of chapter 144 of such title is amended 

11 by inserting after the item relating to section 2433a the 

12 following new item: 

‘‘2433b. Critical operating and support cost estimate growth in Navy shipbuilding programs.’’. 

Æ 


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