II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1271 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign 

assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2013 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans5 parency and Accountability Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSIST7 ANCE PROGRAMS. 

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

9 evaluate the performance of United States foreign assist10 ance and its contribution to policy, strategies, projects, 


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1 program goals, and priorities undertaken by the Federal 

2 Government, to foster and promote innovative programs 

3 to improve effectiveness, and to coordinate the monitoring 

4 and evaluation processes of Federal departments and 

5 agencies that administer foreign assistance. 

6 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

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

8 Act, the President shall establish guidelines regarding the 

9 establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, 

10 and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied 

11 with reasonable consistency to United States foreign as12 sistance. Such guidelines shall be established according to 

13 best practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and 

14 analyses. 

15 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

17 under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Fed18 eral departments and agencies that administer 

19 United States foreign assistance on how to develop 

20 the complete range of activities relating to the moni21 toring of resources, the evaluation of projects, the 

22 evaluation of program impacts, and analysis that is 

23 necessary for the identification of findings, gen24 eralizations that can be derived from those findings, 


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1 and their applicability to proposed project and pro2 gram design. 

3 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

4 shall provide direction on how to achieve the fol5 lowing objectives for monitoring and evaluation pro6 grams: 

7 (A) Building measurable goals, perform8 ance metrics and monitoring and evaluation 

9 into program design, to be tracked against an 

10 established baseline at the outset, including the 

11 provision of sufficient program resources to 

12 conduct monitoring and evaluation. 

13 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel14 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

15 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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

17 implementation, and management of foreign as18 sistance programs. 

19 (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity 

20 for the collection and dissemination of knowl21 edge and lessons learned that serve as bench22 marks to guide future programs for United 

23 States development professionals, implementing 

24 partners, the international aid community, and 


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1 aid recipient governments, and as a repository 

2 of knowledge on lessons learned. 

3 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter4 nally and making this material available online 

5 to the public. Furthermore, providing a sum6 mary of each evaluation, including a description 

7 of the evaluation methodology, and key findings 

8 and recommendations made in the evaluation, 

9 to the public online in a fully searchable form 

10 within 90 days after the completion of the eval11 uation. Any material made available online pur12 suant to this subparagraph may not include any 

13 classified or proprietary information of non14 governmental organizations, contractors, or pri15 vate sector clients. 

16 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

17 evaluation agendas and objectives. 

18 (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and eval19 uation methodologies to focus on learning, ac20 countability, and policymaking, choosing from 

21 among a wide variety of qualitative, quan22 titative, summative, and formative methods 

23 common in the field of social scientific inquiry, 

24 including impact evaluations, a simple grading 

25 system providing a clear evaluation of outVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:53 Jul 10, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271

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1 comes, and analysis of project logic that in2 cludes inputs, activities, outputs, intermediate 

3 outcomes, and end outcomes. 

4 (G) Partnering with the academic commu5 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

6 international institutions that have expertise in 

7 monitoring and evaluation and analysis when 

8 such partnerships will provide needed expertise 

9 or will significantly improve the evaluation and 

10 analysis. 

11 (H) Developing and implementing a train12 ing plan for aid personnel on the proper con13 duct of monitoring and evaluation programs. 

14 (I) Providing relevant and useful evalua15 tion questions that meet the needs of decision16 makers, an appropriate and feasible design for 

17 the evaluation questions, and criteria that per18 mit objective assessment and valid conclusions 

19 on the evaluation questions. 

20 (J) Ensuring sufficient, credible, and reli21 able measures and data in the evaluation of the 

22 effectiveness of foreign assistance programs, in23 cluding an assessment of assumptions and limi24 tations in such evaluations. 


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1 (K) Ensuring that generally accepted 

2 standards such as independence, professional 

3 judgment, competence, and quality control and 

4 assurance are followed in the monitoring and 

5 evaluation of programs. 

6 (d) IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES.—Beginning 

7 not later than one year after the date on which the Presi8 dent establishes the guidelines under subsection (b), the 

9 head of each Federal department or agency that admin10 isters United States foreign assistance shall administer 

11 the foreign assistance in accordance with the guidelines. 

12 (e) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

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

14 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

15 committees a report that contains a detailed description 

16 of the guidelines that have been developed on measurable 

17 goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evalua18 tion plans for United States foreign assistance programs 

19 established under this section. The report shall be sub20 mitted in unclassified form to the maximum extent pos21 sible, but may contain a classified annex. 

22 (f) IMPLEMENTATION NOT REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN

23 SECURITY SECTOR ASSISTANCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

25 not be required to administer any United States forVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:53 Jul 10, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271

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1 eign assistance program relating to United States 

2 security sector assistance in accordance with the 

3 guidelines established under this section if the Sec4 retary of State makes a determination that the ad5 ministration of such program in accordance with the 

6 guidelines would be detrimental to the national in7 terests of the United States. 

8 (2) BRIEFINGS OR REPORT.—The Secretary of 

9 State shall provide briefings or submit a written re10 port to the appropriate congressional committees ex11 plaining any determination made under paragraph 

12 (1). Any such report may be submitted to the appro13 priate congressional committees in classified form. 

14 (g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.—The Comp15 troller General of the United States shall— 

16 (1) not later than one year after the date of the 

17 enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 

18 congressional committees a report that contains an 

19 analysis of the actions that the major Federal de20 partments and agencies that administer United 

21 States foreign assistance have taken to ensure that 

22 United States foreign assistance program evaluation 

23 is planned, conducted, and utilized effectively; 

24 (2) not later than three years after the date of 

25 the enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 


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1 congressional committees a report that contains an 

2 analysis of— 

3 (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 

4 subsection (b); and 

5 (B) the implementation of the guidelines 

6 by the major Federal departments and agencies 

7 that administer United States foreign assist8 ance; and 

9 (3) not later than 5 years after the date of the 

10 enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter for 

11 8 years, submit to the appropriate congressional 

12 committees a report that contains an analysis of the 

13 implementation of the guidelines by the major Fed14 eral departments and agencies that administer 

15 United States foreign assistance. 

16 (h) EVALUATION DEFINED.—In this section, the 

17 term ‘‘evaluation’’ means, with respect to a United States 

18 foreign assistance program, the systematic collection and 

19 analysis of information about the characteristics and out20 comes of the program and projects under the program as 

21 a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to in22 form decisions about current and future programming. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAIL2 ABLE COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COM3 PARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION 

4 ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE 

5 PROGRAMS. 

6 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE.—Not later 

8 than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act, the President shall direct the Secretary of State 

10 to revise the Department of State’s Internet website, 

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

12 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible 

13 information on United States foreign assistance pro14 grams. 

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

16 Federal department or agency that administers 

17 United States foreign assistance shall, not later than 

18 two years after the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act, and every 90 days thereafter, provide to the 

20 Secretary of State information about the foreign as21 sistance programs carried out by such department or 

22 agency. 

23 (3) UPDATES TO WEBSITE.—The Secretary of 

24 State shall publish not later than 2 years after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act and update on a 

26 quarterly basis on the ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ 


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1 website the information provided under paragraph 

2 (2). 

3 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

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

5 subsection (a) shall be published on a detailed pro6 gram-by-program basis and country-by-country 

7 basis. 

8 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans9 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

10 States foreign assistance programs, the information 

11 described in subsection (a) shall include country as12 sistance strategies, annual budget documents, con13 gressional budget justifications, obligations, expendi14 tures, and reports and evaluations for United States 

15 foreign assistance programs and projects under such 

16 programs. Each type of information described in this 

17 paragraph shall be published or updated on the 

18 Internet website not later than 90 days after the 

19 date of issuance of the information. 

20 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

21 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE22 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

23 department or agency makes a determination 

24 that the inclusion of a required item of informa25 tion on the Internet website would jeopardize 


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1 the health or security of an implementing part2 ner or program beneficiary, the head of the 

3 Federal department or agency may provide 

4 briefings to the appropriate congressional com5 mittees on the item of information or submit to 

6 the appropriate congressional committees the 

7 item of information in a written report in lieu 

8 of including it on the Internet website, along 

9 with the reasons for not including it in the 

10 database required under this section. 

11 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

12 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de13 termination that the inclusion of a required 

14 item of information on the Internet website 

15 would be detrimental to the national interests 

16 of the United States, the Secretary of State 

17 shall provide briefings to the appropriate con18 gressional committees on the item of informa19 tion or submit to the appropriate congressional 

20 committees the item of information in a written 

21 report in lieu of including it on the Internet 

22 website, along with the reasons for not includ23 ing it in the database required under this sec24 tion. 


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1 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor2 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

3 provided in classified form. 

4 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If the head of the 

5 department or agency fails to comply with the re6 quirements under paragraph (2), the head shall indi7 cate for each required item— 

8 (A) identification of the reason for not in9 cluding the information during that quarter; 

10 (B) a detailed explanation of the reason; 

11 and 

12 (C) the department’s or agency’s plan and 

13 timeline for including the omitted information 

14 for the current fiscal year and the following two 

15 fiscal years, including milestones, deadlines, 

16 prerequisites, and other explanatory informa17 tion. 

18 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Internet website shall 

20 contain the information described in subsection (b) 

21 as follows: 

22 (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information 

23 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im24 mediately preceding 2 fiscal years. 


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1 (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information 

2 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im3 mediately preceding 3 fiscal years. 

4 (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information 

5 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im6 mediately preceding 4 fiscal years. 

7 (D) For fiscal year 2016, the information 

8 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im9 mediately preceding 5 fiscal years. 

10 (2) OLDER INFORMATION.—For fiscal year 

11 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Internet 

12 website shall also contain a link to a searchable 

13 database available to the public containing informa14 tion described in subsection (b) relating to fiscal 

15 years prior to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

16 years but subsequent to fiscal year 2010. 

17 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that Congress shall take 

19 into account the Comptroller General’s reports under sec20 tion 2(f)(2) when making decisions regarding the appro21 priation of funds for each department or agency that ad22 ministers United States foreign assistance. 

23 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 

24 Up to 5 percent of the amounts authorized to be ap25 propriated for a fiscal year for each Federal department 


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1 or agency for United States foreign assistance programs 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act with 

3 respect to such programs for such fiscal year. 

4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

10 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

11 Senate; and 

12 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

13 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (2) UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.— 

16 The term ‘‘United States foreign assistance’’ means 

17 any tangible or intangible item provided by any 

18 agency of the United States Government to a foreign 

19 country, including any training, service, or technical 

20 advice, any item of real, personal, or mixed property, 

21 any agricultural commodity, United States dollars, 

22 and any currencies of any foreign country which are 

23 owned by the United States Government, and in24 cludes foreign assistance provided by means of gift, 

25 loan, sale, credit, or guaranty. 


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1 (3) UNITED STATES SECURITY SECTOR ASSIST2 ANCE.—The term ‘‘United States security sector as3 sistance’’ means the policies, programs, and activi4 ties the United States Government employs to en5 gage with foreign partners in the use of force to pro6 tect both the foreign state and its citizens at home 

7 or abroad, to maintain international peace and secu8 rity, to contribute to efforts that address common 

9 security challenges, and to enforce the law and pro10 vide oversight of security institutions and forces, in11 cluding through helping foreign partners build and 

12 sustain the capacity and effectiveness of institutions 

13 to provide security, safety, and justice for their peo14 ple. 

Æ 


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