I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2146 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require accountability and 

transparency in Federal spending, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 13, 2011 

Mr. ISSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 and Transparency Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘DATA Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 


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TITLE I—ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL 

SPENDING 

Sec. 101. General requirements for accountability and transparency in Federal 

spending. 

Sec. 102. Data standardizaton for accountability and transparency in Federal 

spending. 

Sec. 103. General provisions and deadlines for accountability and transparency 

in Federal spending. 

TITLE II—FEDERAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND SPENDING 

TRANSPARENCY BOARD 

Sec. 201. Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board. 

Sec. 202. Conforming amendment relating to compensation of Chairperson. 

Sec. 203. Amendments and repeal of Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. 

TITLE III—ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS 

Sec. 301. Classified information. 

Sec. 302. Paperwork Reduction Act exemption. 

Sec. 303. Matching program. 

Sec. 304. Transfer of Consolidated Federal Funds Report. 

Sec. 305. Repeal of Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 

2006. 

Sec. 306. Effective date. 

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘Board’’ means the Federal Ac4 countability and Spending Transparency Board es5 tablished under subchapter III of chapter 36 of title 

6 31, United States Code, as added by this Act. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘Executive agency’’ has the 

8 meaning provided by section 105 of title 5, United 

9 States Code, except the term does not include the 

10 Government Accountability Office. 


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1 TITLE I—ACCOUNTABILITY AND 

2 TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL 

3 SPENDING 

4 SEC. 101. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY 

5 AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL SPENDING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle III of title 31, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 35 the 

8 following new chapter: 

9 ‘‘CHAPTER 36—ACCOUNTABILITY AND 

10 TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL SPENDING 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘3601. Definitions. 

‘‘3602. Recipient reporting requirement. 

‘‘3603. Agency reporting requirement. 

‘‘3604. Exemptions from recipient reporting requirement. 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER II—DATA STANDARDIZATION

‘‘3611. Data standardization for reporting information. 

‘‘3612. Full disclosure of information. 

‘‘3613. Federal accountability portal. 

‘‘3614. Agency responsibilities. 

‘‘3615. Office of Management and Budget responsibilities. 

‘‘3616. Treasury responsibilities. 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—FEDERAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND SPENDING TRANSPARENCY

BOARD

‘‘3621. Establishment. 

‘‘3622. Composition of the board. 

‘‘3623. Functions. 

‘‘3624. Powers. 

‘‘3625. Employment, personnel, and related authorities. 

‘‘3626. Rulemaking authority. 

‘‘3627. Transfer of certain personnel. 

‘‘3628. Authorization and availability of appropriations. 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—GENERAL PROVISIONS

‘‘3641. Effective date. 

‘‘3642. Sunset. 


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1 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 

2 ‘‘§ 3601. Definitions 

3 ‘‘In this chapter: 

4 ‘‘(1) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘recipient’ 

5 means— 

6 ‘‘(A) any person that receives Federal 

7 funds pursuant to a Federal award, either di8 rectly or as a subcontractor or subgrantee; and 

9 ‘‘(B) any State, local, or tribal government 

10 that receives Federal funds pursuant to a Fed11 eral award, either directly or as a subcontractor 

12 or subgrantee. 

13 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AWARD.—The term ‘Federal 

14 award’ means Federal financial assistance and ex15 penditures that— 

16 ‘‘(A) include grants, subgrants, loans, 

17 awards, cooperative agreements, and other 

18 forms of financial assistance; and 

19 ‘‘(B) include contracts, subcontracts, pur20 chase orders, task orders, delivery orders, blan21 ket purchase agreements, schedule orders, and 

22 other transactions. 

23 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL FUNDS.—The term ‘Federal 

24 funds’ means any funds that are made available to 


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1 an Executive agency through Federal appropria2 tions. 

3 ‘‘(4) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the 

4 Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency 

5 Board established under subchapter III of this chap6 ter. 

7 ‘‘(5) CHAIRPERSON.—The term ‘Chairperson’ 

8 means the Chairperson of the Federal Accountability 

9 and Spending Transparency Board. 

10 ‘‘(6) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘Execu11 tive agency’ has the meaning provided by section 

12 105 of title 5, except the term does not include the 

13 Government Accountability Office. 

14 ‘‘§ 3602. Recipient reporting requirement 

15 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Each recipient shall report 

16 each receipt and use of Federal funds pursuant to a Fed17 eral award to the Board. 

18 ‘‘(b) CHARACTERISTICS OF REPORTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) FREQUENCY OF REPORTS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall des21 ignate the frequency of reports to be submitted 

22 by recipients under subsection (a), but the fre23 quency shall not be less than once each quarter. 

24 ‘‘(B) CONTINUOUS OR AUTOMATIC RE25 PORTING.—To the extent practicable, the Board 


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1 shall require continuous or automatic reporting 

2 for compliance with this section. 

3 ‘‘(2) CONTENT OF REPORTS.—Each report sub4 mitted by a recipient under subsection (a) shall con5 tain— 

6 ‘‘(A) an identification of the recipient, in7 cluding the recipient’s name and location, with 

8 location information provided in proper United 

9 States Postal Service standardized format, in10 cluding ZIP+4, or proper international postal 

11 service standardized format where applicable; 

12 ‘‘(B) an identification of the Executive 

13 agency; 

14 ‘‘(C) an identification of the Federal 

15 award; 

16 ‘‘(D) if applicable, an identification of the 

17 program pursuant to which the Federal award 

18 was awarded; 

19 ‘‘(E) the total amount of Federal funds re20 ceived from that Executive agency; 

21 ‘‘(F) the amount of Federal funds that 

22 were expended or obligated to projects or activi23 ties; 


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1 ‘‘(G) a detailed list of all projects or activi2 ties for which Federal funds were expended or 

3 obligated; and 

4 ‘‘(H) such additional information reason5 ably related to the receipt and use of Federal 

6 funds as the Board shall require. 

7 ‘‘(3) USE OF DATA STANDARDS.—The reports 

8 submitted under this section shall use the common 

9 data elements and data reporting standards des10 ignated by the Board under section 3611. 

11 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE BY BOARD.—The Board shall issue 

12 guidance to recipients on compliance with this section. 

13 ‘‘(d) REGISTRATION.—Recipients required to report 

14 information under subsection (a) shall register with the 

15 Central Contractor Registration database or complete 

16 such other registration requirements as the Board shall 

17 require. 

18 ‘‘§ 3603. Agency reporting requirement 

19 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Each Executive agency shall 

20 report all obligations and expenditures of Federal funds 

21 to the Board. 

22 ‘‘(b) CHARACTERISTICS OF REPORTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) FREQUENCY OF REPORTS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall des25 ignate the frequency of reports to be submitted 


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1 by agencies under subsection (a), but the fre2 quency shall not be less than once each quarter. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONTINUOUS OR AUTOMATIC RE4 PORTING.—To the extent practicable, the Board 

5 shall require continuous or automatic reporting 

6 for compliance with this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) CONTENT OF REPORT.— 

8 ‘‘(A) The Board shall designate the con9 tent of reports to be submitted by agencies 

10 under subsection (a). 

11 ‘‘(B) To the extent practicable, the Board 

12 shall permit agencies to comply with subsection 

13 (a) by submitting the same information that 

14 they submit or contribute for other government15 wide reporting requirements, including the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(i) For information about Federal 

18 awards— 

19 ‘‘(I) the Federal assistance 

20 awards data system established pursu21 ant to section 6102a of title 31, 

22 United States Code; 

23 ‘‘(II) the Federal procurement 

24 data system established pursuant to 


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1 section 1122(a)(4) of title 41, United 

2 States Code; 

3 ‘‘(III) the common application 

4 and reporting system established pur5 suant to section 6 of the Federal Fi6 nancial Assistance Management Im7 provement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 

8 6101 note); or 

9 ‘‘(IV) such systems as may be es10 tablished to replace or supplement the 

11 systems identified in this clause. 

12 ‘‘(ii) For information about internal 

13 expenditures and accounting, the Federal 

14 Agencies’ Centralized Trial-Balance Sys15 tems (FACTS I and FACTS II), the Gov16 ernmentwide Financial Report System 

17 (GFRS), the Intragovernmental Fiduciary 

18 Confirmation System (IFCS), or such sys19 tems as may be established to replace or 

20 supplement such systems. 

21 ‘‘(3) USE OF DATA STANDARDS.—The reports 

22 submitted under this section shall use the common 

23 data elements and data reporting standards des24 ignated by the Board under section 3611. 


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1 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION ALSO SUBJECT TO RECIPI2 ENT REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—In complying with 

3 this section, each Executive agency shall identify, to 

4 the extent practicable, Federal awards made by the 

5 agency that are subject to the recipient reporting re6 quirement of section 3602 so that information re7 ported by recipients and information reported by the 

8 agency can be directly compared. 

9 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE BY BOARD.—The Board shall issue 

10 guidance to agencies on compliance with this section. 

11 ‘‘(d) BOARD TO MONITOR COMPLIANCE.—The Board 

12 shall regularly report to Congress on each Executive agen13 cy’s compliance with this section, including the timeliness, 

14 completeness, accuracy, and interoperability of the data 

15 submitted by each Executive agency. The Board shall 

16 make these reports publicly available contemporaneously 

17 online. 

18 ‘‘§ 3604. Exemptions from recipient reporting require19 ment 

20 ‘‘(a) EXEMPTION.—A recipient is exempt from the 

21 reporting requirement of section 3602 with respect to 

22 funds received pursuant to a Federal award if— 

23 ‘‘(1) the recipient is an individual; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the total amount of Federal funds received 

2 by the recipient does not exceed $100,000 in the 

3 current calendar year or fiscal year; and 

4 ‘‘(3) no transaction in which the recipient has 

5 received Federal funds during the current calendar 

6 year or fiscal year has exceeded $24,999. 

7 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO GRANT ADDITIONAL EXEMP8 TIONS.—The Board may grant additional exemptions 

9 under this section for classes or categories of recipients.’’. 

10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

11 at the beginning of subtitle III of title 31, United States 

12 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

13 chapter 35 the following new item: 

‘‘36. Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending ................... 3601.’’. 

14 SEC. 102. DATA STANDARDIZATON FOR ACCOUNTABILITY 

15 AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL SPENDING. 

16 Chapter 36 of title 31, United States Code, as added 

17 by section 101, is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing new subchapter: 

19 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER II—DATA STANDARDIZATION 

20 ‘‘§ 3611. Data standardization for reporting informa21 tion 

22 ‘‘(a) COMMON DATA ELEMENTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Board shall, by rule, 

24 designate common data elements, such as codes, 

25 identifiers, and fields, for information required to be 


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1 reported by recipients or agencies under this chap2 ter. 

3 ‘‘(2) CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMON DATA ELE4 MENTS.—The common data elements designated 

5 under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent practicable, 

6 be nonproprietary. 

7 ‘‘(3) EXISTING COMMON DATA ELEMENTS.—In 

8 designating common data elements under this sub9 section, the Board shall, to the extent practicable, 

10 incorporate the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) Common data elements developed and 

12 maintained by an international voluntary con13 sensus standards body, as defined by the Office 

14 of Management and Budget, such as the Inter15 national Organization for Standardization. 

16 ‘‘(B) Common data elements developed and 

17 maintained by intergovernmental partnerships, 

18 such as the National Information Exchange 

19 Model. 

20 ‘‘(C) Common data elements developed and 

21 maintained by Federal entities with authority 

22 over contracting and financial assistance, such 

23 as the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council. 


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1 ‘‘(D) Common data elements developed 

2 and maintained by accounting standards orga3 nizations. 

4 ‘‘(b) DATA REPORTING STANDARDS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Board shall, by rule, 

6 designate data reporting standards to govern the re7 porting required to be performed by recipients and 

8 agencies under this title. 

9 ‘‘(2) CHARACTERISTICS OF DATA REPORTING

10 STANDARDS.—The data reporting standards re11 quired by paragraph (1) shall, to the extent prac12 ticable— 

13 ‘‘(A) incorporate a widely accepted, non14 proprietary, searchable, platform-independent 

15 computer-readable format; 

16 ‘‘(B) be consistent with and implement ap17 plicable accounting principles; and 

18 ‘‘(C) be capable of being continually up19 graded as necessary. 

20 ‘‘(3) EXISTING DATA REPORTING STAND21 ARDS.—In designating reporting standards under 

22 this subsection, the Board shall, to the extent prac23 ticable, incorporate existing nonproprietary stand24 ards, such as the eXtensible Business Reporting 

25 Language (XBRL). 


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1 ‘‘§ 3612. Full disclosure of information 

2 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Board shall publish online 

3 all information submitted by recipients and agencies pur4 suant to sections 3602 and 3603. 

5 ‘‘(b) AGGREGATION OF INFORMATION THAT IS EX6 EMPT FROM RECIPIENT REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

7 The Board shall publish, online and in the aggregate, in8 formation that is exempt from recipient reporting under 

9 section 3604 but that is reported by an Executive agency 

10 under section 3606 in the aggregate. 

11 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE WITH OPEN DATA PRINCIPLES

12 AND BEST PRACTICES.—To the extent practicable, the 

13 Board shall publish data under this section in a manner 

14 that complies with applicable principles and best practices 

15 in the private sector for the publication of open govern16 ment data. 

17 ‘‘(d) ONLINE PUBLICATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall, in accord19 ance with this section and section 204 of the E–Gov20 ernment Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note), estab21 lish and maintain one or more Web sites for the 

22 publication of data required to be published online 

23 under this section. 

24 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE OF WEB SITE OR WEB SITES.— 

25 The Web site or Web sites established and main26 tained under this subsection shall serve as a public 


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1 portal for Federal financial information, including 

2 information concerning all Federal awards and infor3 mation concerning the expenditure of all Federal 

4 funds. 

5 ‘‘(3) CONTENT AND FUNCTION OF WEB SITE OR

6 WEB SITES.—The Board shall ensure that the Web 

7 site or Web sites established and maintained under 

8 this subsection: 

9 ‘‘(A) Makes available all information pub10 lished under subsection (a) in a reasonably 

11 timely manner. 

12 ‘‘(B) Makes available all information pub13 lished under subsection (a) in its original for14 mat. 

15 ‘‘(C) Makes available all information pub16 lished under subsection (a) without charge, li17 cense, or registration requirement. 

18 ‘‘(D) Permits all information published 

19 under subsection (a) to be searched and aggre20 gated. 

21 ‘‘(E) Permits all information published 

22 under subsection (a) to be downloaded in bulk. 

23 ‘‘(F) To the extent practicable, dissemi24 nates information published under subsection 

25 (a) via automatic electronic means. 


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1 ‘‘(G) To the extent practicable, permits in2 formation published under subsection (a) to be 

3 freely shared by the public, such as by social 

4 media. 

5 ‘‘(H) To the extent practicable, uses per6 manent uniform resource locators for informa7 tion published under subsection (a). 

8 ‘‘(I) Provide an opportunity for the public 

9 to provide input about the usefulness of the site 

10 and recommendations for improvements. 

11 ‘‘(e) NEW TECHNOLOGIES.—Notwithstanding any 

12 other provision in this section, the Board may comply with 

13 the requirements of this section using such new tech14 nologies as may replace Web sites for data publication and 

15 dissemination. 

16 ‘‘(f) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS OF

17 USASPENDING.GOV.—The Board and the Office of Man18 agement and Budget shall transfer the functions of 

19 USASpending.gov to the Web site or Web sites established 

20 under this section. 

21 ‘‘§ 3613. Federal accountability portal 

22 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Board shall establish and 

23 maintain an integrated Internet-based system, consisting 

24 of one or more Web sites and to be known as a ‘Federal 


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1 accountability portal’, to carry out the functions described 

2 in subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The Federal accountability portal 

4 shall be designed and operated to carry out the following 

5 functions: 

6 ‘‘(1) Combine information submitted by recipi7 ents and agencies under sections 3602 and 3603 

8 with other compilations of information, such as Gov9 ernment databases and other proprietary and non10 proprietary databases. 

11 ‘‘(2) Permit Executive agencies to verify the eli12 gibility of recipients to receive Federal funds. 

13 ‘‘(3) Permit Executive agencies, Inspectors 

14 General, and law enforcement agencies to track Fed15 eral awards to find waste, fraud, and abuse. 

16 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE BY BOARD.—The Board shall issue 

17 guidance on the use of and access to the Federal account18 ability portal. 

19 ‘‘§ 3614. Agency responsibilities 

20 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of receipt of 

21 Federal funds of an Executive agency pursuant to any 

22 Federal award, the Executive agency shall require any re23 cipient of such funds to provide the information required 

24 under section 3602. 


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1 ‘‘(b) PENALTIES FOR RECIPIENTS’ NONCOMPLI2 ANCE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an Executive 

4 agency may impose a civil penalty in an amount not 

5 more than $250,000 on a recipient of Federal funds 

6 from that Executive agency that does not provide 

7 the information required under section 3602 or pro8 vides information that contains a material omission 

9 or misstatement. 

10 ‘‘(2) NONPRECLUSION.—The imposition of a 

11 civil penalty under this subsection does not preclude 

12 any other criminal or civil statutory, common law, or 

13 administrative remedy that is available by law to the 

14 United States or any other person. Any amounts re15 ceived from a civil penalty under this subsection 

16 shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United 

17 States to the credit of the appropriation or appro18 priations from which the award is made. 

19 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION.—The head of an Executive 

20 agency shall provide a written notification to a re21 cipient that fails to provide the information required 

22 under section 3602 or provides information that con23 tains a material omission or misstatement. Such no24 tification shall provide the recipient with information 

25 on how to comply with the requirements of section 


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1 3602 and notice of the penalties for failing to do so. 

2 The head of the Executive agency may not impose 

3 a civil penalty under paragraph (1) until 30 days 

4 after the date of the notification. 

5 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE WITH BOARD GUIDANCE.—Execu6 tive agencies shall comply with the instructions and guid7 ance issued by the Board under this Act. 

8 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon request of the Board 

10 for information or assistance from any Executive 

11 agency or other entity of the Federal Government, 

12 the head of such entity shall, insofar as is prac13 ticable and not in contravention of any existing law, 

14 furnish such information or assistance to the Board, 

15 or an authorized designee. 

16 ‘‘(2) REPORT OF REFUSALS.—Whenever infor17 mation or assistance requested by the Board is, in 

18 the judgment of the Board, unreasonably refused or 

19 not provided, the Board shall report the cir20 cumstances to Congress. 

21 ‘‘(e) USE OF DATA STANDARDS.—After the Board 

22 designates any common data element or data reporting 

23 standard under section 3611, each Executive agency shall 

24 issue guidance that requires every recipient of Federal 

25 funds under any of its Federal awards to use that common 


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1 data element or data reporting standard for any informa2 tion reported to that Executive agency to which the com3 mon data element or data reporting standard is applicable. 

4 ‘‘§ 3615. Office of Management and Budget respon5 sibilities 

6 ‘‘After the Board designates any common data ele7 ment or data reporting standard under section 3611, the 

8 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 

9 issue guidance that requires Executive agencies to use that 

10 common data element or data reporting standard for any 

11 information reported by Executive agencies to the Office 

12 of Management and Budget to which the common data 

13 element or data reporting standard is applicable. 

14 ‘‘§ 3616. Treasury responsibilities 

15 ‘‘After the Board designates any common data ele16 ment or data reporting standard under section 3611, the 

17 Secretary of the Treasury shall issue guidance that re18 quires Executive agencies to use that common data ele19 ment or data reporting standard for any information re20 ported by Executive agencies to the Department of the 

21 Treasury to which the common data element or data re22 porting standard is applicable.’’. 


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1 SEC. 103. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEADLINES FOR AC2 COUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN FED3 ERAL SPENDING. 

4 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE AND SUNSET.—Chapter 36 of 

5 title 31, United States Code, as added by section 101, is 

6 further amended by adding at the end the following new 

7 subchapter: 

8 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

9 ‘‘§ 3641. Effective date 

10 ‘‘This chapter takes effect on October 1, 2011. 

11 ‘‘§ 3642. Sunset 

12 ‘‘This chapter shall cease to be in effect after Sep13 tember 30, 2018.’’. 

14 (b) DEADLINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION.— 

15 (1) BOARD DEADLINES.—Within 180 days after 

16 the effective date of this Act, the Board shall— 

17 (A) issue guidance under sections 3602(c) 

18 and 3603(c) of title 31, United States Code, as 

19 added by this Act; 

20 (B) designate common data elements 

21 under section 3611(a) of such title and data re22 porting standards under section 3611(b) of 

23 such title, as so added; and 

24 (C) establish one or more Web sites under 

25 section 3612(d) of such title, as so added. 

26 (2) AGENCY AND DEPARTMENT DEADLINES.— 


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1 (A) Within one year after the effective date 

2 of this Act, each Executive agency shall imple3 ment section 3614(a) of title 31, United States 

4 Code, as added by this Act. 

5 (B) Within two years after the Board des6 ignates any common data element or data re7 porting standard under section 3611(a) of such 

8 title, as so added— 

9 (i) each Executive agency shall issue 

10 guidance under section 3614(e) of such 

11 title, as so added; 

12 (ii) the Director of the Office of Man13 agement and Budget shall issue guidance 

14 under section 3615 of such title, as so 

15 added; and 

16 (iii) the Secretary of the Treasury 

17 shall issue guidance under section 3616 of 

18 such title, as so added. 


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1 TITLE II—FEDERAL ACCOUNT2 ABILITY AND SPENDING 

3 TRANSPARENCY BOARD 

4 SEC. 201. FEDERAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND SPENDING 

5 TRANSPARENCY BOARD. 

6 Chapter 36 of title 31, United States Code, as added 

7 by section 101, is further amended by inserting after sub8 chapter II the following new subchapter: 

9 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—FEDERAL ACCOUNTABILITY 

10 AND SPENDING TRANSPARENCY BOARD 

11 ‘‘§ 3621. Establishment 

12 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

13 Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board 

14 as an independent agency in the Executive Branch. 

15 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS AND POWERS TRANSFERRED.— 

16 ‘‘(1) FUNCTIONS TRANSFERRED.—Except as 

17 provided in this section, there are transferred to the 

18 Board all functions of the Recovery Accountability 

19 and Transparency Board. 

20 ‘‘(2) POWERS, AUTHORITIES, RIGHTS, AND DU21 TIES.—The Federal Accountability and Spending 

22 Transparency Board shall succeed to all powers, au23 thorities, rights, and duties that were vested in the 

24 Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board on 

25 the day before the effective date of this Act. 


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1 ‘‘§ 3622. Composition of the board 

2 ‘‘(a) CHAIRPERSON.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is a Chairperson of 

4 the Board, who shall be appointed by the President, 

5 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

6 ‘‘(2) HEAD OF BOARD.—The Chairperson is the 

7 head of the Board and shall have direction, author8 ity, and control over it. 

9 ‘‘(3) COMMISSION ESTABLISHED.—When a va10 cancy occurs in the office of Chairperson of the 

11 Board, a commission is established to recommend 

12 individuals to the President for appointment to the 

13 vacant office. The commission shall be composed 

14 of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Speaker of the House of Rep16 resentatives; 

17 ‘‘(B) the President pro tempore of the 

18 Senate; 

19 ‘‘(C) the majority and minority leaders of 

20 the House of Representatives and the Senate; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(D) the chairmen and ranking minority 

23 members of the Committee on Homeland Secu24 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 

25 and the Committee on Oversight and Govern26 ment Reform of the House of Representatives. 


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1 ‘‘(4) RECOMMENDATIONS.—A commission es2 tablished because of a vacancy in the office of the 

3 Comptroller General shall recommend at least three 

4 individuals. The President may ask the commission 

5 to recommend additional individuals. 

6 ‘‘(5) TERM.—The term of service of the Chair7 person of the Board shall be 5 years, but the Chair8 person may serve after the expiration of the Chair9 person’s term until a successor has taken office. 

10 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION ON TERMS.—No person may 

11 serve as the Chairperson of the Board for more than 

12 2 terms, whether or not such terms of service are 

13 consecutive. 

14 ‘‘(7) COMPENSATION.—An individual appointed 

15 as Chairperson under paragraph (1) shall be com16 pensated at the rate of basic pay prescribed for level 

17 III of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of 

18 title 5, United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(b) MEMBERS.—The members of the Board shall in20 clude— 

21 ‘‘(1) the Inspectors General of the Department 

22 of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the De23 partment of Education, the Department of Energy, 

24 the Department of Health and Human Services, the 


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1 Department of Homeland Security, and the Depart2 ment of Transportation; 

3 ‘‘(2) the Deputy Secretaries of the Department 

4 of Agriculture, the Department of Education, the 

5 Department of Energy, the Department of Health 

6 and Human Services, and the Department of Trans7 portation; the Chief Management Officer of the De8 partment of Defense, and the Undersecretary for 

9 Management of the Department of Homeland Secu10 rity; and 

11 ‘‘(3) the Controller of the Office of Manage12 ment and Budget and the Deputy Director for Man13 agement of the Office of Management and Budget. 

14 ‘‘§ 3623. Functions 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) be responsible for the collection, storage, 

17 and public disclosure of information about Federal 

18 spending; 

19 ‘‘(2) serve as the authoritative government 

20 source for the information about Federal spending 

21 that it collects; and 

22 ‘‘(3) coordinate and conduct oversight of Fed23 eral funds in order to prevent fraud, waste, and 

24 abuse. 


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1 ‘‘(b) SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the 

2 Board shall include each of the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Receiving, storing, and publicly dissemi4 nating all of the information that is reported to it 

5 under this Act. 

6 ‘‘(2) Reviewing whether reporting under section 

7 3602 meets applicable standards and specifies the 

8 purpose of the Federal award and measures of per9 formance. 

10 ‘‘(3) Auditing, investigating, or reviewing Fed11 eral funds to determine whether fraud, wasteful 

12 spending, poor contract or grant management, or 

13 other abuses are occurring and referring matters it 

14 considers appropriate for further investigation to the 

15 inspector general for the Executive agency that dis16 bursed the Federal funds. 

17 ‘‘(4) Regularly auditing the quality of the data 

18 submitted to it under sections 3602 and 3603. 

19 ‘‘(5) Standardizing common data elements and 

20 data reporting standards to foster transparency and 

21 accountability for Federal spending, as required by 

22 section 3611. 

23 ‘‘(6) Reviewing whether there are appropriate 

24 mechanisms for interagency collaboration relating to 

25 Federal funds, including coordinating and collaboVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:38 Jun 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2146.IH H2146

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1 rating to the extent practicable with the Inspectors 

2 General Council on Integrity and Efficiency estab3 lished by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 

4 (Public Law 110–409). 

5 ‘‘(c) REPORT REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REPORTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) REGULAR REPORTS ON DATA QUAL8 ITY AUDITS.—The Board shall regularly submit 

9 to the President and Congress reports on its 

10 audits of the quality of the data submitted to 

11 it under sections 3602 and 3603. 

12 ‘‘(B) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORTS ON ACTIVI13 TIES.—The Board shall submit semi-annual re14 ports to the President and Congress, summa15 rizing the activities and findings of the Board 

16 and the findings of inspectors general of Execu17 tive agencies. 

18 ‘‘(C) REPORT ON SAVINGS.—Not later 

19 than five years after the effective date of this 

20 Act, the Board shall submit to the President, 

21 Congress, and the Comptroller General of the 

22 United States a report containing estimates of 

23 the direct and indirect cost savings to the 

24 Treasury achieved as a result of the Board’s ac25 tivities. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Board shall 

2 make all reports submitted under paragraph (1) 

3 publicly available contemporaneously online. 

4 ‘‘(3) GAO EVALUATION.—Upon receipt of the 

5 report submitted by the Board under paragraph 

6 (1)(C), the Comptroller General shall conduct an 

7 evaluation of the report and submit the evaluation to 

8 Congress within six months after receipt of the re9 port, with such findings and recommendations as the 

10 Comptroller General considers appropriate. 

11 ‘‘(d) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall make rec13 ommendations to Executive agencies on measures to 

14 prevent fraud, waste, and abuse relating to Federal 

15 funds. 

16 ‘‘(2) RESPONSIVE REPORTS.—Not later than 30 

17 days after receipt of a recommendation under para18 graph (1), an Executive agency shall submit a report 

19 to the President, the congressional committees of ju20 risdiction, and the Board on whether the Executive 

21 agency agrees or disagrees with the recommenda22 tions and any actions the Executive agency will take 

23 to implement the recommendations. The Board shall 

24 make all reports submitted to it under this para25 graph publicly available contemporaneously online. 


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1 ‘‘§ 3624. Powers 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall conduct audits, 

3 investigations, and reviews of spending of Federal funds 

4 and coordinate on such activities with the inspectors gen5 eral of the relevant Executive agency to avoid duplication 

6 and overlap of work. 

7 ‘‘(b) AUDITS AND REVIEWS.—The Board may— 

8 ‘‘(1) conduct its own independent audits, inves9 tigations, and reviews relating to Federal funds; and 

10 ‘‘(2) collaborate on audits, investigations, and 

11 reviews relating to Federal funds with any inspector 

12 general of an Executive agency. 

13 ‘‘(c) AUTHORITIES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) AUDITS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND RE15 VIEWS.—In conducting audits, investigations, and 

16 reviews, the Board shall have the authorities pro17 vided under section 6 of the Inspector General Act 

18 of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). Additionally, the Board 

19 may issue subpoenas to compel the testimony of per20 sons who are not Federal officers or employees and 

21 may enforce such subpoenas in the same manner as 

22 provided for inspector general subpoenas under sec23 tion 6 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 

24 U.S.C. App.). 

25 ‘‘(2) STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES.—The 

26 Board shall carry out the powers under paragraphs 


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1 (1) and (2) in accordance with section 4(b)(1) of the 

2 Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 

3 ‘‘(d) CONTRACTS.—The Board may enter into con4 tracts to enable the Board to discharge its duties under 

5 this subtitle, including contracts and other arrangements 

6 for audits, studies, analyses, and other services with public 

7 agencies and with private persons, and make such pay8 ments as may be necessary to carry out the duties of the 

9 Board. 

10 ‘‘(e) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Board may trans11 fer funds appropriated to the Board for expenses to sup12 port administrative support services and audits, reviews, 

13 or other activities related to oversight by the Board of cov14 ered funds to any office of inspector general, the Office 

15 of Management and Budget, and the General Services Ad16 ministration. 

17 ‘‘§ 3625. Employment, personnel, and related authori18 ties 

19 ‘‘(a) SELECTION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—On be20 half of the Board, the Chairperson shall appoint an Execu21 tive Director who shall be the chief executive officer of 

22 the Board and who shall carry out the functions of the 

23 Board subject to the supervision and direction of the 

24 Board. The position of Executive Director shall be a ca25 reer reserved position in the Senior Executive Service, as 


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1 that position is defined under section 3132 of title 5, 

2 United States Code. 

3 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The General Serv4 ices Administration shall provide the Board with adminis5 trative support services, including the provision of office 

6 space and facilities. 

7 ‘‘§ 3626. Rulemaking authority 

8 ‘‘The Board shall promulgate regulations to carry out 

9 this chapter. 

10 ‘‘§ 3627. Transfer of certain personnel 

11 ‘‘(a) RECOVERY ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANS12 PARENCY BOARD EMPLOYEES.—The Chairperson or Ex13 ecutive Director, or both, shall identify employees of the 

14 Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board for 

15 transfer to the Board, and such identified employees shall 

16 be transferred to the Board for employment. 

17 ‘‘(b) PAY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), each 

19 transferred employee shall, during the 2-year period 

20 beginning on the effective date of this Act, receive 

21 pay at a rate equal to not less than the basic rate 

22 of pay (including any geographic differential) that 

23 the employee received during the pay period imme24 diately preceding the date of transfer. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) does not limit the right of 

2 the Board to reduce the rate of basic pay of a trans3 ferred employee for cause, for unacceptable perform4 ance, or with the consent of the employee. 

5 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) applies to a transferred em6 ployee only while that employee remains employed by 

7 the Board. 

8 ‘‘§ 3628. Authorization and availability of appropria9 tions 

10 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 is authorized to be appropriated $51,000,000 for each of 

12 fiscal years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 

13 2018 to carry out the functions of the Board. 

14 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—If the Re15 covery Accountability and Transparency Board has unobli16 gated appropriations as of the effective date of this chap17 ter, such appropriations shall remain available to the 

18 Board until September 30, 2015.’’. 

19 SEC. 202. CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO COM20 PENSATION OF CHAIRPERSON. 

21 Section 5314 of title 5, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

23 ‘‘Chairperson of the Federal Accountability and 

24 Spending Transparency Board.’’. 


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1 SEC. 203. AMENDMENTS AND REPEAL OF RECOVERY AC2 COUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY BOARD. 

3 (a) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO NAME OF

4 BOARD.—Section 1501(a)(2) of the American Recovery 

5 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 

6 Stat. 287) is amended by striking ‘‘Recovery Account7 ability and Transparency Board’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal 

8 Accountability and Spending Transparency Board’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO SUBTITLE B OF

10 PUBLIC LAW 111–5.—Subtitle B of such Act is amended 

11 by striking sections 1521, 1522, 1525(a), and 1529. 

12 (c) REPEAL OF SUBTITLE B OF PUBLIC LAW 111– 

13 5.—Effective on October 1, 2013, subtitle B of such Act 

14 is repealed. 

15 (d) REFERENCES IN FEDERAL LAW TO BOARD.—On 

16 and after the effective date of this Act, any reference in 

17 Federal law to the Recovery Accountability and Trans18 parency Board is deemed to be a reference to the Federal 

19 Accountability and Spending Transparency Board. 

20 TITLE III—ADDITIONAL 

21 PROVISIONS 

22 SEC. 301. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. 

23 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

24 Act shall be construed to require the disclosure of classi25 fied information. 


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1 SEC. 302. PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT EXEMPTION. 

2 Section 3518(c) of title 44, United States Code, is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘paragraph 

5 (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (3)’’; 

6 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para7 graph (3); and 

8 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol9 lowing new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (3), this sub11 chapter shall not apply to the collection of informa12 tion during the conduct of any audit, investigation, 

13 inspection, evaluation, or other review conducted by 

14 the Federal Accountability and Spending Trans15 parency Board, the Council of Inspectors General on 

16 Integrity and Efficiency, or any Federal office of In17 spector General, including any office of Special In18 spector General.’’. 

19 SEC. 303. MATCHING PROGRAM. 

20 Section 6(a) of the Inspector General Act of 1978 

21 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

23 (2) by redesignating paragraph (9) as para24 graph (10); and 

25 (3) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol26 lowing new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(9) notwithstanding subsections (o), (p), (q), 

2 (r), and (u) of section 552a of title 5, United States 

3 Code, to compare, through a matching program (as 

4 defined in such section), any Federal records with 

5 other Federal or non-Federal records, while con6 ducting an audit, investigation, inspection, evalua7 tion, or other review authorized under this Act to 

8 identify weaknesses that may lead to to fraud, 

9 waste, or abuse and to detect improper payments 

10 and fraud; and’’. 

11 SEC. 304. TRANSFER OF CONSOLIDATED FEDERAL FUNDS 

12 REPORT. 

13 (a) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—The Federal Ac14 countability and Transparency Board and the Secretary 

15 of Commerce shall transfer the functions of the Consoli16 dated Federal Funds Report to the Web site or Web sites 

17 established under section 3612 of title 31, United States 

18 Code, as added by this Act. 

19 (b) INFORMATION.—The Board shall ensure that the 

20 Web site or Web sites established under such section 3612 

21 permits users to determine the following information: 

22 (1) For each fiscal year, the total amount of 

23 Federal funds that were obligated in each State, 

24 county or parish, congressional district, and munici25 pality of the United States. 


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1 (2) For each fiscal year, the total amount of 

2 Federal funds that were actually expended in each 

3 State, county or parish, congressional district, and 

4 municipality of the United States. 

5 (c) CONFORMING REPEALS OF SUPERSEDED PROVI6 SIONS.—Chapter 62 of subtitle V of title 31, United States 

7 Code, is repealed. The item relating to that chapter in the 

8 table of chapters at the beginning of subtitle V of such 

9 title is repealed. 

10 SEC. 305. REPEAL OF FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY 

11 AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2006. 

12 The Federal Funding Accountability and Trans13 parency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 

14 6101 note) is repealed. 

15 SEC. 306. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

16 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

17 take effect on October 1, 2011. 

Æ 


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