S. 994 

One Hundred Thirteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and fourteen 

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. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘DATA Act’’. 

SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

The purposes of this Act are to— 

(1) expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) by disclosing direct 

Federal agency expenditures and linking Federal contract, loan, 

and grant spending information to programs of Federal agencies 

to enable taxpayers and policy makers to track Federal 

spending more effectively; 

(2) establish Government-wide data standards for financial 

data and provide consistent, reliable, and searchable Government-wide spending data that is displayed accurately for taxpayers and policy makers on USASpending.gov (or a successor 

system that displays the data); 

(3) simplify reporting for entities receiving Federal funds 

by streamlining reporting requirements and reducing compliance costs while improving transparency; 

(4) improve the quality of data submitted to 

USASpending.gov by holding Federal agencies accountable for 

the completeness and accuracy of the data submitted; and 

(5) apply approaches developed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to spending across the Federal 

Government. 

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY 

AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2006. 

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 

2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended— 

(1) in section 2— 

(A) in subsection (a)— 

(i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

striking ‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act’’; 

(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 

as paragraphs (2), (4), and (7), respectively; 
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(iii) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so 

redesignated, the following: 

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

of the Office of Management and Budget.’’; 

(iv) by inserting after paragraph (2), as so redesignated, the following: 

‘‘(3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal agency’ has the 

meaning given the term ‘Executive agency’ under section 105 

of title 5, United States Code.’’; 

(v) by inserting after paragraph (4), as so redesignated, the following: 

‘‘(5) OBJECT CLASS.—The term ‘object class’ means the category assigned for purposes of the annual budget of the President submitted under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States 

Code, to the type of property or services purchased by the 

Federal Government. 

‘‘(6) PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The term ‘program activity’ has 

the meaning given that term under section 1115(h) of title 

31, United States Code.’’; and 

(vi) by adding at the end the following: 

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

of the Treasury.’’; 

(B) in subsection (b)— 

(i) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘of the Office of 

Management and Budget’’; and 

(ii) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘of the Office 

of Management and Budget’’; 

(C) in subsection (c)— 

(i) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(ii) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

(iii) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(6) shall have the ability to aggregate data for the categories described in paragraphs (1) through (5) without doublecounting data; and 

‘‘(7) shall ensure that all information published under this 

section is available— 

‘‘(A) in machine-readable and open formats; 

‘‘(B) to be downloaded in bulk; and 

‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, for automated processing.’’; 

(D) in subsection (d)— 

(i) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘of the Office 

of Management and Budget’’; 

(ii) in paragraph (2)— 

(I) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘of the 

Office of Management and Budget’’; and 

(II) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘of the 

Office of Management and Budget’’; 

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

Management and Budget’’; and 

(F) in subsection (g)— 

(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of the Office of 

Management and Budget’’; and 

(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘of the Office 

of Management and Budget’’; and 

(2) by striking sections 3 and 4 and inserting the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

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

enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 

2014, and monthly when practicable but not less than quarterly 

thereafter, the Secretary, in consultation with the Director, shall 

ensure that the information in subsection (b) is posted on the 

website established under section 2. 

‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED.—For any funds made available to or expended by a Federal agency or component of a Federal 

agency, the information to be posted shall include— 

‘‘(1) for each appropriations account, including an expired 

or unexpired appropriations account, the amount— 

‘‘(A) of budget authority appropriated; 

‘‘(B) that is obligated; 

‘‘(C) of unobligated balances; and 

‘‘(D) of any other budgetary resources; 

‘‘(2) from which accounts and in what amount— 

‘‘(A) appropriations are obligated for each program 

activity; and 

‘‘(B) outlays are made for each program activity; 

‘‘(3) from which accounts and in what amount— 

‘‘(A) appropriations are obligated for each object class; 

and 

‘‘(B) outlays are made for each object class; and 

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

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

‘‘(B) of outlays made for each object class. 

‘‘SEC. 4. DATA STANDARDS. 

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.—The Secretary and 

the Director, in consultation with the heads of Federal agencies, 

shall establish Government-wide financial data standards for 

any Federal funds made available to or expended by Federal 

agencies and entities receiving Federal funds. 

‘‘(2) DATA ELEMENTS.—The financial data standards established under paragraph (1) shall include common data elements 

for financial and payment information required to be reported 

by Federal agencies and entities receiving Federal funds. 

‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards established under 

subsection (a) shall, to the extent reasonable and practicable— 

‘‘(1) incorporate widely accepted common data elements, 

such as those developed and maintained by— 

‘‘(A) an international voluntary consensus standards 

body; 

‘‘(B) Federal agencies with authority over contracting 

and financial assistance; and 

‘‘(C) accounting standards organizations; 

‘‘(2) incorporate a widely accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent computer-readable format; 

‘‘(3) include unique identifiers for Federal awards and entities receiving Federal awards that can be consistently applied 

Government-wide; 

‘‘(4) be consistent with and implement applicable 

accounting principles; 

‘‘(5) be capable of being continually upgraded as necessary; 
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‘‘(6) produce consistent and comparable data, including 

across program activities; and 

‘‘(7) establish a standard method of conveying the reporting 

period, reporting entity, unit of measure, and other associated 

attributes. 

‘‘(c) DEADLINES.— ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act 

of 2014, the Director and the Secretary shall issue guidance 

to Federal agencies on the data standards established under 

subsection (a). 

‘‘(2) AGENCIES.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subparagraph 

(B), not later than 2 years after the date on which the 

guidance under paragraph (1) is issued, each Federal 

agency shall report financial and payment information data 

in accordance with the data standards established under 

subsection (a). 

‘‘(B) NONINTERFERENCE WITH AUDITABILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.— 

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Upon request by the Secretary 

of Defense, the Director may grant an extension of 

the deadline under subparagraph (A) to the Department of Defense for a period of not more than 6 months 

to report financial and payment information data in 

accordance with the data standards established under 

subsection (a). 

‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The Director may not grant 

more than 3 extensions to the Secretary of Defense 

under clause (i). 

‘‘(iii) NOTIFICATION.—The Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget shall notify the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 

the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and 

the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

and the Committee on Armed Services of the House 

of Representatives of— 

‘‘(I) each grant of an extension under clause 

(i); and 

‘‘(II) the reasons for granting such an extension. 

‘‘(3) WEBSITE.—Not later than 3 years after the date on 

which the guidance under paragraph (1) is issued, the Director 

and the Secretary shall ensure that the data standards established under subsection (a) are applied to the data made available on the website established under section 2. 

‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—The Director and the Secretary shall consult with public and private stakeholders in establishing data standards under this section. 

‘‘SEC. 5. SIMPLIFYING FEDERAL AWARD REPORTING. 

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

Federal agencies, recipients of Federal awards, including State and 

local governments, and institutions of higher education (as defined 

in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

1002)), shall review the information required to be reported by 

recipients of Federal awards to identify— 
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‘‘(1) common reporting elements across the Federal Government; 

‘‘(2) unnecessary duplication in financial reporting; and 

‘‘(3) unnecessarily burdensome reporting requirements for 

recipients of Federal awards. 

‘‘(b) PILOT PROGRAM.— ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency 

Act of 2014, the Director, or a Federal agency designated by 

the Director, shall establish a pilot program (in this section 

referred to as the ‘pilot program’) with the participation of 

appropriate Federal agencies to facilitate the development of 

recommendations for— 

‘‘(A) standardized reporting elements across the Federal Government; 

‘‘(B) the elimination of unnecessary duplication in 

financial reporting; and 

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

of Federal awards. 

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

‘‘(A) include a combination of Federal contracts, grants, 

and subawards, the aggregate value of which is not less 

than $1,000,000,000 and not more than $2,000,000,000; 

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

awards; and 

‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, include recipients who 

receive Federal awards from multiple programs across multiple agencies. 

‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION.—The pilot program shall include 

data collected during a 12-month reporting cycle. 

‘‘(4) REPORTING AND EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS.—Each 

recipient of a Federal award participating in the pilot program 

shall submit to the Office of Management and Budget or the 

Federal agency designated under paragraph (1), as appropriate, 

any requested reports of the selected Federal awards. 

‘‘(5) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall terminate on 

the date that is 2 years after the date on which the pilot 

program is established. 

‘‘(6) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 days after 

the date on which the pilot program terminates under paragraph (5), the Director shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

on the Budget of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 

and Government Reform and the Committee on the Budget 

of the House of Representatives a report on the pilot program, 

which shall include— 

‘‘(A) a description of the data collected under the pilot 

program, the usefulness of the data provided, and the 

cost to collect the data from recipients; and 

‘‘(B) a discussion of any legislative action required and 

recommendations for— 

‘‘(i) consolidating aspects of Federal financial 

reporting to reduce the costs to recipients of Federal 

awards; 

‘‘(ii) automating aspects of Federal financial 

reporting to increase efficiency and reduce the costs 

to recipients of Federal awards; 
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‘‘(iii) simplifying the reporting requirements for 

recipients of Federal awards; and 

‘‘(iv) improving financial transparency. 

‘‘(7) GOVERNMENT-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 

1 year after the date on which the Director submits the report 

under paragraph (6), the Director shall issue guidance to the 

heads of Federal agencies as to how the Government-wide 

financial data standards established under section 4(a) shall 

be applied to the information required to be reported by entities 

receiving Federal awards to— 

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

requirements; and 

‘‘(B) simplify the reporting process, including by 

reducing duplicative reports. 

‘‘SEC. 6. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FEDERAL FUNDING. 

‘‘(a) INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORTS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with paragraph (2), the 

Inspector General of each Federal agency, in consultation with 

the Comptroller General of the United States, shall— 

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

spending data submitted under this Act by the Federal 

agency; and 

‘‘(B) submit to Congress and make publically available 

a report assessing the completeness, timeliness, quality, 

and accuracy of the data sampled and the implementation 

and use of data standards by the Federal agency. 

‘‘(2) DEADLINES.— ‘‘(A) FIRST REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

the date on which the Director and the Secretary issue 

guidance to Federal agencies under section 4(c)(1), the 

Inspector General of each Federal agency shall submit 

and make publically available a report as described in 

paragraph (1). 

‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—On the same date as the 

Inspector General of each Federal agency submits the 

second and fourth reports under sections 3521(f) and 

9105(a)(3) of title 31, United States Code, that are submitted after the report under subparagraph (A), the 

Inspector General shall submit and make publically available a report as described in paragraph (1). The report 

submitted under this subparagraph may be submitted as 

a part of the report submitted under section 3521(f) or 

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

‘‘(b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with paragraph (2) and 

after a review of the reports submitted under subsection (a), 

the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 

to Congress and make publically available a report assessing 

and comparing the data completeness, timeliness, quality, and 

accuracy of the data submitted under this Act by Federal agencies and the implementation and use of data standards by 

Federal agencies. 

‘‘(2) DEADLINES.—Not later than 30 months after the date 

on which the Director and the Secretary issue guidance to 

Federal agencies under section 4(c)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that is 4 years after the date on which 
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the first report is submitted under this subsection, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit and make 

publically available a report as described in paragraph (1). 

‘‘(c) RECOVERY ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY BOARD

DATA ANALYSIS CENTER.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may establish a data analysis center or expand an existing service to provide data, analytic tools, and data management techniques to support— 

‘‘(A) the prevention and reduction of improper payments by Federal agencies; and 

‘‘(B) improving efficiency and transparency in Federal 

spending. 

‘‘(2) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall enter into 

memoranda of understanding with Federal agencies, including 

Inspectors General and Federal law enforcement agencies— 

‘‘(A) under which the Secretary may provide data from 

the data analysis center for— 

‘‘(i) the purposes set forth under paragraph (1); 

‘‘(ii) the identification, prevention, and reduction 

of waste, fraud, and abuse relating to Federal spending; 

and 

‘‘(iii) use in the conduct of criminal and other investigations; and 

‘‘(B) which may require the Federal agency, Inspector 

General, or Federal law enforcement agency to provide 

reimbursement to the Secretary for the reasonable cost 

of carrying out the agreement. 

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

center or the expansion of a service under paragraph (1), and 

on or before the date on which the Recovery Accountability 

and Transparency Board terminates, and in addition to any 

other transfer that the Director determines is necessary under 

section 1531 of title 31, United States Code, there are transferred to the Department of the Treasury all assets identified 

by the Secretary that support the operations and activities 

of the Recovery Operations Center of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board relating to the detection of 

waste, fraud, and abuse in the use of Federal funds that are 

in existence on the day before the transfer. 

‘‘SEC. 7. CLASSIFIED AND PROTECTED INFORMATION. 

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

of— 

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

under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 

known as the ‘Freedom of Information Act’); or 

‘‘(2) information protected under section 552a of title 5, 

United States Code (commonly known as the ‘Privacy Act of 

1974’), or section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

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

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

right of action for enforcement of any provision of this Act.’’. 
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SEC. 4. EXECUTIVE AGENCY ACCOUNTING AND OTHER FINANCIAL 

MANAGEMENT REPORTS AND PLANS. 

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

by inserting ‘‘and make available on the website described under 

section 1122’’ after ‘‘appropriate committees of Congress’’. 

SEC. 5. DEBT COLLECTION IMPROVEMENT. 

Section 3716(c)(6) of title 31, United States Code, is amended— 

(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Any Federal agency’’; 

(2) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, by striking ‘‘180 

days’’ and inserting ‘‘120 days’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(B) The Secretary of the Treasury shall notify Congress of 

any instance in which an agency fails to notify the Secretary as 

required under subparagraph (A).’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.