II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1550 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish entities tasked with 

improving program and project management in certain Federal agencies, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Mrs. ERNST (for herself and Ms. HEITKAMP) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish entities 

tasked with improving program and project management 

in certain Federal agencies, 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 ‘‘Program Management 

5 Improvement Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR MANAGEMENT. 

7 (a) ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS.—Section 503 of title 

8 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Subject to the direction 

3 and approval of the Director, the Deputy Director 

4 for Management or designee shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) adopt governmentwide standards, 

6 policies, and guidelines for program and project 

7 management for executive agencies; 

8 ‘‘(B) oversee program and project manage9 ment for the standards, policies, and guidelines 

10 established under subparagraph (A); 

11 ‘‘(C) chair the Program Management Pol12 icy Council established under section 1126(b); 

13 ‘‘(D) issue regulations and establish stand14 ards and policies for executive agencies, in ac15 cordance with nationally accredited standards 

16 for program and project management planning 

17 and delivery issues; 

18 ‘‘(E) engage with the private sector; 

19 ‘‘(F) conduct portfolio reviews to address 

20 programs identified as high risk by the Govern21 ment Accountability Office; 

22 ‘‘(G) not less than annually, conduct port23 folio reviews of agency programs in coordination 

24 with Project Management Improvement Officers 

25 designated under section 1126(a)(1); and 


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1 ‘‘(H) establish a 5-year strategic plan for 

2 program and project management. 

3 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION TO DEPARTMENT OF DE4 FENSE.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the De5 partment of Defense to the extent that the provi6 sions of that paragraph are substantially similar to 

7 or duplicative of the provisions of section 810 of the 

8 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

9 2016.’’. 

10 (b) DEADLINE FOR STANDARDS, POLICIES, AND

11 GUIDELINES.—Not later than 120 days after the date of 

12 the enactment of this Act, the Deputy Director for Man13 agement of the Office of Management and Budget shall 

14 issue the standards, policies, and guidelines required 

15 under section 503(c) of title 31, United States Code, as 

16 added by subsection (a). 

17 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 150 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Deputy Director 

19 for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, 

20 in consultation with the Program Management Policy 

21 Council established under section 1126(b) of title 31, 

22 United States Code, as added by section 3(a), and the Di23 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, shall 

24 issue any regulations as are necessary to implement the 


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1 requirements of section 503(c) of title 31, United States 

2 Code, as added by subsection (a). 

3 SEC. 3. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT OFFICERS 

4 AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT POLICY COUN5 CIL. 

6 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 11 of title 31, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 1126. Program Management Improvement Officers 

10 and Program Management Policy Council 

11 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT OFFI12 CERS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION.—The head of each agency 

14 described in section 901(b) shall designate a senior 

15 executive of the agency as the Program Management 

16 Improvement Officer of the agency. The Program 

17 Management Improvement Officer shall report di18 rectly to the head of the agency. 

19 ‘‘(2) FUNCTIONS.—The Program Management 

20 Improvement Officer of an agency designated under 

21 paragraph (1) shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) implement program management poli23 cies established by the agency under section 

24 503(c); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) develop a written strategy for en2 hancing the role of program managers within 

3 the agency that includes the following: 

4 ‘‘(i) Enhanced training and edu5 cational opportunities for program man6 agers. 

7 ‘‘(ii) Mentoring of current and future 

8 program managers by experienced senior 

9 executives and program managers within 

10 the agency. 

11 ‘‘(iii) Improved career paths and ca12 reer opportunities for program managers. 

13 ‘‘(iv) Incentives for the recruitment 

14 and retention of highly qualified individ15 uals to serve as program managers. 

16 ‘‘(v) Improved resources and support, 

17 including relevant competencies encom18 passed with program and project manage19 ment within the private sector for program 

20 managers. 

21 ‘‘(vi) Improved means of collecting 

22 and disseminating best practices and les23 sons learned to enhance program manage24 ment across the agency. 


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1 ‘‘(vii) Common templates and tools to 

2 support improved data gathering and anal3 ysis for program management and over4 sight purposes. 

5 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION TO DEPARTMENT OF DE6 FENSE.—This subsection shall not apply to the De7 partment of Defense to the extent that the provi8 sions of this subsection are substantially similar to 

9 or duplicative of the provisions of section 810 of the 

10 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

11 2016. 

12 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT POLICY COUNCIL.— 

13 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

14 the Office of Management and Budget a council to 

15 be known as the ‘Program Management Policy 

16 Council’ (in this subsection referred to as the ‘Coun17 cil’). 

18 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONS.—The Council 

19 shall act as the principal interagency forum for im20 proving agency practices related to program and 

21 project management. The Council shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) advise and assist the Deputy Director 

23 for Management of the Office of Management 

24 and Budget; 


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1 ‘‘(B) review programs identified as high 

2 risk by the General Accountability Office and 

3 make recommendations for actions to be taken 

4 by the Deputy Director for Management of the 

5 Office of Management and Budget or designee; 

6 ‘‘(C) discuss topics of importance to the 

7 workforce, including— 

8 ‘‘(i) career development and workforce 

9 development needs; 

10 ‘‘(ii) policy to support continuous im11 provement in program and project manage12 ment; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) major challenges across agencies 

14 in managing programs; 

15 ‘‘(D) advise on the development and appli16 cability of standards governmentwide for pro17 gram management transparency; and 

18 ‘‘(E) review the information published on 

19 the website of the Office of Management and 

20 Budget pursuant to section 1122. 

21 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 

22 ‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The Council shall be 

23 composed of the following members: 

24 ‘‘(i) Five members from the Office of 

25 Management and Budget as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(I) The Deputy Director for 

2 Management. 

3 ‘‘(II) The Administrator of the 

4 Office of Electronic Government. 

5 ‘‘(III) The Administrator of the 

6 Office of Federal Procurement Policy. 

7 ‘‘(IV) The Controller of the Of8 fice of Federal Financial Manage9 ment. 

10 ‘‘(V) The Director of the Office 

11 of Performance and Personnel Man12 agement. 

13 ‘‘(ii) The Program Management Im14 provement Officer from each agency de15 scribed in section 901(b). 

16 ‘‘(iii) Other individuals as determined 

17 appropriate by the Chairperson. 

18 ‘‘(B) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIR19 PERSON.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Di21 rector for Management of the Office of 

22 Management and Budget shall be the 

23 Chairperson of the Council. A Vice Chair24 person shall be elected by the members and 

25 shall serve a term of not more than 1 year. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) DUTIES.—The Chairperson shall 

2 preside at the meetings of the Council, de3 termine the agenda of the Council, direct 

4 the work of the Council, and establish and 

5 direct subgroups of the Council as appro6 priate. 

7 ‘‘(4) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet not 

8 less than twice per fiscal year and may meet at the 

9 call of the Chairperson or a majority of the members 

10 of the Council. 

11 ‘‘(5) SUPPORT.—The head of each agency with 

12 a Project Management Improvement Officer serving 

13 on the Council shall provide administrative support 

14 to the Council, as appropriate, at the request of the 

15 Chairperson. 

16 ‘‘(6) COMMITTEE DURATION.—Section 14(a)(2) 

17 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

18 App.) shall not apply to the Council.’’. 

19 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head of 

21 each agency described in section 901(b) of title 31, United 

22 States Code, shall submit to Congress and the Office of 

23 Management and Budget a report containing the strategy 

24 developed under section 1126(a)(2)(B) of such title, as 

25 added by subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 4. PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT PER2 SONNEL STANDARDS. 

3 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘agency’’ 

4 means each agency described in section 901(b) of title 31, 

5 United States Code. 

6 (b) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 270 

7 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

8 of the Office of Personnel Management, in consultation 

9 with the Director of the Office of Management and Budg10 et, shall issue regulations that— 

11 (1) identify key skills and competencies needed 

12 for a program and project manager in an agency; 

13 (2) establish a new job series for program and 

14 project management within an agency; and 

15 (3) establish a new career path for program 

16 and project managers within an agency. 

Æ 


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