113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 994 

AN ACT 

To expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to increase accountability and transparency in Federal spending, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Accountability 

3 and Transparency Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘DATA Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

5 The purposes of this Act are to— 

6 (1) expand the Federal Funding Accountability 

7 and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 

8 note) by disclosing direct Federal agency expendi9 tures and linking Federal contract, loan, and grant 

10 spending information to programs of Federal agen11 cies to enable taxpayers and policy makers to track 

12 Federal spending more effectively; 

13 (2) establish Government-wide data standards 

14 for financial data and provide consistent, reliable, 

15 and searchable Government-wide spending data that 

16 is displayed accurately for taxpayers and policy mak17 ers on USASpending.gov (or a successor system that 

18 displays the data); 

19 (3) simplify reporting for entities receiving Fed20 eral funds by streamlining reporting requirements 

21 and reducing compliance costs while improving 

22 transparency; 

23 (4) improve the quality of data submitted to 

24 USASpending.gov by holding Federal agencies ac25 countable for the completeness and accuracy of the 

26 data submitted; and 
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1 (5) apply approaches developed by the Recovery 

2 Accountability and Transparency Board to spending 

3 across the Federal Government. 

4 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL FUNDING AC5 COUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 

6 2006. 

7 The Federal Funding Accountability and Trans8 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended— 

9 (1) in section 2— 

10 (A) in subsection (a)— 

11 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 

12 (1), by striking ‘‘this section’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘this Act’’; 

14 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (1), 

15 (2), and (3) as paragraphs (2), (4), and 

16 (7), respectively; 

17 (iii) by inserting before paragraph (2), 

18 as so redesignated, the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 

20 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg21 et.’’; 

22 (iv) by inserting after paragraph (2), 

23 as so redesignated, the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal 

25 agency’ has the meaning given the term ‘Executive 
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1 agency’ under section 105 of title 5, United States 

2 Code.’’; 

3 (v) by inserting after paragraph (4), 

4 as so redesignated, the following: 

5 ‘‘(5) OBJECT CLASS.—The term ‘object class’ 

6 means the category assigned for purposes of the an7 nual budget of the President submitted under sec8 tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, to the 

9 type of property or services purchased by the Fed10 eral Government. 

11 ‘‘(6) PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program 

12 activity’ has the meaning given that term under sec13 tion 1115(h) of title 31, United States Code.’’; and 

14 (vi) by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Treasury.’’; 

18 (B) in subsection (b)— 

19 (i) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘of 

20 the Office of Management and Budget’’; 

21 and 

22 (ii) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘of 

23 the Office of Management and Budget’’; 

24 (C) in subsection (c)— 
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1 (i) in paragraph (4), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

3 (ii) in paragraph (5), by striking the 

4 period at the end and inserting a semi5 colon; and 

6 (iii) by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(6) shall have the ability to aggregate data for 

9 the categories described in paragraphs (1) through 

10 (5) without double-counting data; and 

11 ‘‘(7) shall ensure that all information published 

12 under this section is available— 

13 ‘‘(A) in machine-readable and open for14 mats; 

15 ‘‘(B) to be downloaded in bulk; and 

16 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, for auto17 mated processing.’’; 

18 (D) in subsection (d)— 

19 (i) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 

20 ‘‘of the Office of Management and Budg21 et’’; 

22 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (I) in subparagraph (A), by strik24 ing ‘‘of the Office of Management and 

25 Budget’’; and 
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1 (II) in subparagraph (B), by 

2 striking ‘‘of the Office of Management 

3 and Budget’’; 

4 (E) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘of the 

5 Office of Management and Budget’’; and 

6 (F) in subsection (g)— 

7 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of 

8 the Office of Management and Budget’’; 

9 and 

10 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘of 

11 the Office of Management and Budget’’; 

12 and 

13 (2) by striking sections 3 and 4 and inserting 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

17 date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and 

18 Transparency Act of 2014, and monthly when practicable 

19 but not less than quarterly thereafter, the Secretary, in 

20 consultation with the Director, shall ensure that the infor21 mation in subsection (b) is posted on the website estab22 lished under section 2. 

23 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED.—For any funds 

24 made available to or expended by a Federal agency or 
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1 component of a Federal agency, the information to be 

2 posted shall include— 

3 ‘‘(1) for each appropriations account, including 

4 an expired or unexpired appropriations account, the 

5 amount— 

6 ‘‘(A) of budget authority appropriated; 

7 ‘‘(B) that is obligated; 

8 ‘‘(C) of unobligated balances; and 

9 ‘‘(D) of any other budgetary resources; 

10 ‘‘(2) from which accounts and in what 

11 amount— 

12 ‘‘(A) appropriations are obligated for each 

13 program activity; and 

14 ‘‘(B) outlays are made for each program 

15 activity; 

16 ‘‘(3) from which accounts and in what 

17 amount— 

18 ‘‘(A) appropriations are obligated for each 

19 object class; and 

20 ‘‘(B) outlays are made for each object 

21 class; and 

22 ‘‘(4) for each program activity, the amount— 

23 ‘‘(A) obligated for each object class; and 

24 ‘‘(B) of outlays made for each object class. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 4. DATA STANDARDS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.—The 

4 Secretary and the Director, in consultation with the 

5 heads of Federal agencies, shall establish Govern6 ment-wide financial data standards for any Federal 

7 funds made available to or expended by Federal 

8 agencies and entities receiving Federal funds. 

9 ‘‘(2) DATA ELEMENTS.—The financial data 

10 standards established under paragraph (1) shall in11 clude common data elements for financial and pay12 ment information required to be reported by Federal 

13 agencies and entities receiving Federal funds. 

14 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards estab15 lished under subsection (a) shall, to the extent reasonable 

16 and practicable— 

17 ‘‘(1) incorporate widely accepted common data 

18 elements, such as those developed and maintained 

19 by— 

20 ‘‘(A) an international voluntary consensus 

21 standards body; 

22 ‘‘(B) Federal agencies with authority over 

23 contracting and financial assistance; and 

24 ‘‘(C) accounting standards organizations; 
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1 ‘‘(2) incorporate a widely accepted, nonpropri2 etary, searchable, platform-independent computer3 readable format; 

4 ‘‘(3) include unique identifiers for Federal 

5 awards and entities receiving Federal awards that 

6 can be consistently applied Government-wide; 

7 ‘‘(4) be consistent with and implement applica8 ble accounting principles; 

9 ‘‘(5) be capable of being continually upgraded 

10 as necessary; 

11 ‘‘(6) produce consistent and comparable data, 

12 including across program activities; and 

13 ‘‘(7) establish a standard method of conveying 

14 the reporting period, reporting entity, unit of meas15 ure, and other associated attributes. 

16 ‘‘(c) DEADLINES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability 

19 and Transparency Act of 2014, the Director and the 

20 Secretary shall issue guidance to Federal agencies 

21 on the data standards established under subsection 

22 (a). 

23 ‘‘(2) AGENCIES.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

25 subparagraph (B), not later than 2 years after 
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1 the date on which the guidance under para2 graph (1) is issued, each Federal agency shall 

3 report financial and payment information data 

4 in accordance with the data standards estab5 lished under subsection (a). 

6 ‘‘(B) NONINTERFERENCE WITH

7 AUDITABILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

8 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Upon request by 

10 the Secretary of Defense, the Director may 

11 grant an extension of the deadline under 

12 subparagraph (A) to the Department of 

13 Defense for a period of not more than 6 

14 months to report financial and payment in15 formation data in accordance with the data 

16 standards established under subsection (a). 

17 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The Director may 

18 not grant more than 3 extensions to the 

19 Secretary of Defense under clause (i). 

20 ‘‘(iii) NOTIFICATION.—The Director 

21 of the Office of Management and Budget 

22 shall notify the Committee on Homeland 

23 Security and Governmental Affairs and the 

24 Committee on Armed Services of the Sen25 ate and the Committee on Oversight and 
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1 Government Reform and the Committee on 

2 Armed Services of the House of Represent3 atives of— 

4 ‘‘(I) each grant of an extension 

5 under clause (i); and 

6 ‘‘(II) the reasons for granting 

7 such an extension. 

8 ‘‘(3) WEBSITE.—Not later than 3 years after 

9 the date on which the guidance under paragraph (1) 

10 is issued, the Director and the Secretary shall en11 sure that the data standards established under sub12 section (a) are applied to the data made available on 

13 the website established under section 2. 

14 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—The Director and the Sec15 retary shall consult with public and private stakeholders 

16 in establishing data standards under this section. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 5. SIMPLIFYING FEDERAL AWARD REPORTING. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consultation 

19 with relevant Federal agencies, recipients of Federal 

20 awards, including State and local governments, and insti21 tutions of higher education (as defined in section 102 of 

22 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)), 

23 shall review the information required to be reported by re24 cipients of Federal awards to identify— 
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1 ‘‘(1) common reporting elements across the 

2 Federal Government; 

3 ‘‘(2) unnecessary duplication in financial re4 porting; and 

5 ‘‘(3) unnecessarily burdensome reporting re6 quirements for recipients of Federal awards. 

7 ‘‘(b) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

8 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 

9 after the date of enactment of the Digital Account10 ability and Transparency Act of 2014, the Director, 

11 or a Federal agency designated by the Director, 

12 shall establish a pilot program (in this section re13 ferred to as the ‘pilot program’) with the participa14 tion of appropriate Federal agencies to facilitate the 

15 development of recommendations for— 

16 ‘‘(A) standardized reporting elements 

17 across the Federal Government; 

18 ‘‘(B) the elimination of unnecessary dupli19 cation in financial reporting; and 

20 ‘‘(C) the reduction of compliance costs for 

21 recipients of Federal awards. 

22 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The pilot program 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) include a combination of Federal con25 tracts, grants, and subawards, the aggregate 
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1 value of which is not less than $1,000,000,000 

2 and not more than $2,000,000,000; 

3 ‘‘(B) include a diverse group of recipients 

4 of Federal awards; and 

5 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, include re6 cipients who receive Federal awards from mul7 tiple programs across multiple agencies. 

8 ‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION.—The pilot program 

9 shall include data collected during a 12-month re10 porting cycle. 

11 ‘‘(4) REPORTING AND EVALUATION REQUIRE12 MENTS.—Each recipient of a Federal award partici13 pating in the pilot program shall submit to the Of14 fice of Management and Budget or the Federal 

15 agency designated under paragraph (1), as appro16 priate, any requested reports of the selected Federal 

17 awards. 

18 ‘‘(5) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall 

19 terminate on the date that is 2 years after the date 

20 on which the pilot program is established. 

21 ‘‘(6) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

22 90 days after the date on which the pilot program 

23 terminates under paragraph (5), the Director shall 

24 submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

25 Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the 
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1 Budget of the Senate and the Committee on Over2 sight and Government Reform and the Committee 

3 on the Budget of the House of Representatives a re4 port on the pilot program, which shall include— 

5 ‘‘(A) a description of the data collected 

6 under the pilot program, the usefulness of the 

7 data provided, and the cost to collect the data 

8 from recipients; and 

9 ‘‘(B) a discussion of any legislative action 

10 required and recommendations for— 

11 ‘‘(i) consolidating aspects of Federal 

12 financial reporting to reduce the costs to 

13 recipients of Federal awards; 

14 ‘‘(ii) automating aspects of Federal fi15 nancial reporting to increase efficiency and 

16 reduce the costs to recipients of Federal 

17 awards; 

18 ‘‘(iii) simplifying the reporting re19 quirements for recipients of Federal 

20 awards; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) improving financial trans22 parency. 

23 ‘‘(7) GOVERNMENT-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION.— 

24 Not later than 1 year after the date on which the 

25 Director submits the report under paragraph (6), 
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1 the Director shall issue guidance to the heads of 

2 Federal agencies as to how the Government-wide fi3 nancial data standards established under section 

4 4(a) shall be applied to the information required to 

5 be reported by entities receiving Federal awards 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(A) reduce the burden of complying with 

8 reporting requirements; and 

9 ‘‘(B) simplify the reporting process, includ10 ing by reducing duplicative reports. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 6. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FEDERAL FUNDING. 

12 ‘‘(a) INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with para14 graph (2), the Inspector General of each Federal 

15 agency, in consultation with the Comptroller General 

16 of the United States, shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) review a statistically valid sampling of 

18 the spending data submitted under this Act by 

19 the Federal agency; and 

20 ‘‘(B) submit to Congress and make pub21 lically available a report assessing the complete22 ness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the 

23 data sampled and the implementation and use 

24 of data standards by the Federal agency. 

25 ‘‘(2) DEADLINES.— 
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1 ‘‘(A) FIRST REPORT.—Not later than 18 

2 months after the date on which the Director 

3 and the Secretary issue guidance to Federal 

4 agencies under section 4(c)(1), the Inspector 

5 General of each Federal agency shall submit 

6 and make publically available a report as de7 scribed in paragraph (1). 

8 ‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—On the 

9 same date as the Inspector General of each 

10 Federal agency submits the second and fourth 

11 reports under sections 3521(f) and 9105(a)(3) 

12 of title 31, United States Code, that are sub13 mitted after the report under subparagraph 

14 (A), the Inspector General shall submit and 

15 make publically available a report as described 

16 in paragraph (1). The report submitted under 

17 this subparagraph may be submitted as a part 

18 of the report submitted under section 3521(f) 

19 or 9105(a)(3) of title 31, United States Code. 

20 ‘‘(b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with para22 graph (2) and after a review of the reports sub23 mitted under subsection (a), the Comptroller Gen24 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress 

25 and make publically available a report assessing and 
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1 comparing the data completeness, timeliness, quality, 

2 and accuracy of the data submitted under this Act 

3 by Federal agencies and the implementation and use 

4 of data standards by Federal agencies. 

5 ‘‘(2) DEADLINES.—Not later than 30 months 

6 after the date on which the Director and the Sec7 retary issue guidance to Federal agencies under sec8 tion 4(c)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the 

9 date that is 4 years after the date on which the first 

10 report is submitted under this subsection, the Comp11 troller General of the United States shall submit and 

12 make publically available a report as described in 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(c) RECOVERY ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANS15 PARENCY BOARD DATA ANALYSIS CENTER.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may estab17 lish a data analysis center or expand an existing 

18 service to provide data, analytic tools, and data man19 agement techniques to support— 

20 ‘‘(A) the prevention and reduction of im21 proper payments by Federal agencies; and 

22 ‘‘(B) improving efficiency and trans23 parency in Federal spending. 

24 ‘‘(2) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 

25 enter into memoranda of understanding with Fed-
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1 eral agencies, including Inspectors General and Fed2 eral law enforcement agencies— 

3 ‘‘(A) under which the Secretary may pro4 vide data from the data analysis center for— 

5 ‘‘(i) the purposes set forth under 

6 paragraph (1); 

7 ‘‘(ii) the identification, prevention, 

8 and reduction of waste, fraud, and abuse 

9 relating to Federal spending; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) use in the conduct of criminal 

11 and other investigations; and 

12 ‘‘(B) which may require the Federal agen13 cy, Inspector General, or Federal law enforce14 ment agency to provide reimbursement to the 

15 Secretary for the reasonable cost of carrying 

16 out the agreement. 

17 ‘‘(3) TRANSFER.—Upon the establishment of a 

18 data analysis center or the expansion of a service 

19 under paragraph (1), and on or before the date on 

20 which the Recovery Accountability and Transparency 

21 Board terminates, and in addition to any other 

22 transfer that the Director determines is necessary 

23 under section 1531 of title 31, United States Code, 

24 there are transferred to the Department of the 

25 Treasury all assets identified by the Secretary that 
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1 support the operations and activities of the Recovery 

2 Operations Center of the Recovery Accountability 

3 and Transparency Board relating to the detection of 

4 waste, fraud, and abuse in the use of Federal funds 

5 that are in existence on the day before the transfer. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 7. CLASSIFIED AND PROTECTED INFORMATION. 

7 ‘‘Nothing in this Act shall require the disclosure to 

8 the public of— 

9 ‘‘(1) information that would be exempt from 

10 disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

11 Code (commonly known as the ‘Freedom of Informa12 tion Act’); or 

13 ‘‘(2) information protected under section 552a 

14 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 

15 the ‘Privacy Act of 1974’), or section 6103 of the 

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 8. NO PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

18 ‘‘Nothing in this Act shall be construed to create a 

19 private right of action for enforcement of any provision 

20 of this Act.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. EXECUTIVE AGENCY ACCOUNTING AND OTHER FI22 NANCIAL MANAGEMENT REPORTS AND 

23 PLANS. 

24 Section 3512(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, 

25 is amended by inserting ‘‘and make available on the 
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1 website described under section 1122’’ after ‘‘appropriate 

2 committees of Congress’’. 

3 SEC. 5. DEBT COLLECTION IMPROVEMENT. 

4 Section 3716(c)(6) of title 31, United States Code, 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Any Federal 

7 agency’’; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, by 

9 striking ‘‘180 days’’ and inserting ‘‘120 days’’; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(B) The Secretary of the Treasury shall notify Con12 gress of any instance in which an agency fails to notify 

13 the Secretary as required under subparagraph (A).’’. 

Passed the Senate April 10, 2014. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 994 

AN ACT 

To expand the Federal Funding Accountability and 

and for other purposes. ability and transparency in Federal spending, Transparency Act of 2006 to increase account-