II 

Calendar No. 295 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2184 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign 

development and economic assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 20, 2015 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ISAKSON, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

NOVEMBER 17, 2015 

Reported by Mr. CORKER, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign development and economic assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans5 parency and Accountability Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com5 mittees’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

7 the Senate; 

8 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

9 the Senate; 

10 (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

11 the House of Representatives; and 

12 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

13 the House of Representatives. 

14 (2) EVALUATION.—The term ‘‘evaluation’’ 

15 means, with respect to a United States foreign de16 velopment and economic assistance program, the 

17 systematic collection and analysis of information 

18 about the characteristics and outcomes of the pro19 gram, including projects conducted under such pro20 gram, as a basis for— 

21 (A) making judgments and evaluations re22 garding the program; 

23 (B) improving program effectiveness; and 

24 (C) informing decisions about current and 

25 future programming. 


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1 (3) UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT

2 AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United 

3 States foreign development and economic assistance’’ 

4 means assistance provided primarily for the purposes 

5 of foreign development and economic support, in6 cluding assistance authorized under— 

7 (A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

8 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), except for— 

9 (i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part 

10 (relating to the Overseas Private Invest11 ment Corporation); 

12 (ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to 

13 International Organizations and Pro14 grams); and 

15 (iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating 

16 to International Narcotics Control); 

17 (B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As18 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 

19 relating to Economic Support Fund); 

20 (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 

21 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); and 

22 (D) the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 

23 1721 et seq.). 


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1 SEC. 3. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL2 OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO3 GRAMS. 

4 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

5 (1) to evaluate the performance of United 

6 States foreign development and economic assistance 

7 and its contribution to the policies, strategies, 

8 projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken 

9 by the Federal Government; 

10 (2) to foster and promote innovative programs 

11 to improve effectiveness; and 

12 (3) to coordinate the monitoring and evaluation 

13 processes of Federal departments and agencies that 

14 administer United States foreign development and 

15 economic assistance. 

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

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

18 Act, the President shall set forth guidelines, according to 

19 best practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and 

20 analyses, for the establishment of measurable goals, per21 formance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans 

22 that can be applied with reasonable consistency to United 

23 States foreign development and economic assistance. 

24 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

26 pursuant to subsection (b) shall provide direction to 


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1 Federal departments and agencies that administer 

2 United States foreign development and economic as3 sistance on— 

4 (A) monitoring the use of resources; 

5 (B) evaluating the outcomes and impacts 

6 of United States foreign development and eco7 nomic assistance projects and programs; and 

8 (C) applying the findings and conclusions 

9 of such evaluations to proposed project and pro10 gram design. 

11 (2) OBJECTIVES.—The guidelines established 

12 pursuant to subsection (b) shall require Federal de13 partments and agencies that administer United 

14 States foreign development and economic assist15 ance— 

16 (A) to establish annual monitoring and 

17 evaluation agendas and objectives to plan and 

18 manage the process of monitoring, evaluating, 

19 analyzing progress, and applying learning to20 ward achieving results; 

21 (B) to develop specific project monitoring 

22 and evaluation plans, including measurable 

23 goals and performance metrics, and to identify 

24 the resources necessary to conduct such evaluaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 tions, which should be covered by program 

2 costs, during project design; 

3 (C) to apply rigorous monitoring and eval4 uation methodologies to such programs, includ5 ing through the use of impact evaluations, ex6 post evaluations, or other methods as appro7 priate, that clearly define program logic, inputs, 

8 outputs, intermediate outcomes, and end out9 comes; 

10 (D) to disseminate guidelines for the devel11 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

12 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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

14 implementation, and management of United 

15 States foreign development and economic assist16 ance programs; 

17 (E) to establish methodologies for the col18 lection of data, including baseline data to serve 

19 as a reference point against which progress can 

20 be measured; 

21 (F) to evaluate, at least once in their life22 time, all programs whose dollar value equals or 

23 exceeds the median program size for the rel24 evant office or bureau or an equivalent calculaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 tion to ensure the majority of program re2 sources are evaluated; 

3 (G) to conduct impact evaluations on all 

4 pilot programs before replicating wherever pos5 sible, or provide a written justification for not 

6 conducting an impact evaluation where such an 

7 evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impos8 sible; 

9 (H) to develop a clearinghouse capacity for 

10 the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

11 and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 

12 guide future programs for United States devel13 opment professionals, implementing partners, 

14 the donor community, and aid recipient govern15 ments, and as a repository of knowledge on les16 sons learned; 

17 (I) to internally distribute evaluation re18 ports; 

19 (J) to develop a summary of each evalua20 tion, including a description of the evaluation 

21 methodology and key findings and recommenda22 tions made in the evaluation within 90 days 

23 after the completion of the evaluation; 

24 (K) to undertake collaborative partnerships 

25 and coordinate efforts with the academic comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 munity, implementing partners, and national 

2 and international institutions that have exper3 tise in program monitoring, evaluation, and 

4 analysis when such partnerships provide needed 

5 expertise or significantly improve the evaluation 

6 and analysis; 

7 (L) to ensure verifiable, valid, credible, 

8 precise, reliable, and timely data are available 

9 to monitoring and evaluation personnel to per10 mit the objective evaluation of the effectiveness 

11 of United States foreign development and eco12 nomic assistance programs, including an assess13 ment of assumptions and limitations in such 

14 evaluations; and 

15 (M) to ensure that standards of profes16 sional evaluation organizations for monitoring 

17 and evaluation efforts are employed, including 

18 ensuring the integrity and independence of eval19 uations, permitting and encouraging the exer20 cise of professional judgment, and providing for 

21 quality control and assurance in the monitoring 

22 and evaluation process. 

23 (d) PRESIDENT’S REPORT.—Not later than 18 

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

25 President shall submit a report to the appropriate conVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 gressional committees that contains a detailed description 

2 of the guidelines established pursuant to subsection (b). 

3 The report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

4 it may contain a classified annex. 

5 (e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL’S REPORT.—Not later 

6 than 1 year after the date on which the report required 

7 under subsection (d) is submitted to Congress, the Comp8 troller General of the United States shall submit a report 

9 to the appropriate congressional committees that— 

10 (1) analyzes the guidelines established pursuant 

11 to subsection (b); and 

12 (2) provides a side-by-side comparison of— 

13 (A) the President’s budget request for that 

14 fiscal year of every operational unit that carries 

15 out United States foreign development and eco16 nomic assistance; and 

17 (B) the performance of such units during 

18 the most recently completed fiscal year. 

19 SEC. 4. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DE20 VELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 

21 PROGRAMS. 

22 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

23 (1) UPDATE OF EXISTING WEBSITE.—Not later 

24 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

25 Act, the Secretary of State shall update the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 ment of State’s website, ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to 

2 make publicly available comprehensive, timely, and 

3 comparable information on United States foreign de4 velopment and economic assistance programs, in5 cluding all information required under subsection (b) 

6 that is available to the Secretary of State. 

7 (2) INFORMATION SHARING.—Not later than 2 

8 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

9 and quarterly thereafter, the head of each Federal 

10 department or agency that administers United 

11 States foreign development and economic assistance 

12 shall provide the Secretary of State with comprehen13 sive information about the United States foreign de14 velopment and economic assistance programs carried 

15 out by such department or agency. 

16 (3) UPDATES TO WEBSITE.—Not later than 2 

17 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

18 and quarterly thereafter, the Secretary of State shall 

19 publish, on the ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ website or 

20 through a successor online publication, the informa21 tion provided under subsection (b). 

22 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

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

24 subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) shall be published on a detailed award2 by-award and country-by-country basis; or 

3 (B) if assistance is provided on a regional 

4 level, shall be published on an award-by-award 

5 and region-by-region basis. 

6 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—To ensure the trans8 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of 

9 United States foreign development and eco10 nomic assistance programs, the information de11 scribed in subsection (a) shall include— 

12 (i) all regional, country, and sector as13 sistance strategies, annual budget docu14 ments, congressional budget justifications, 

15 obligations, expenditures, evaluations and 

16 summaries of evaluations in accordance 

17 with section 3(c)(2)(J); and 

18 (ii) basic descriptive summaries for 

19 United States foreign development and 

20 economic assistance programs and awards 

21 under such programs. 

22 (B) PUBLICATION.—Each type of informa23 tion described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

24 published or updated on the appropriate website 


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1 not later than 90 days after the date on which 

2 the information is issued. 

3 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

4 this paragraph may be construed to require a 

5 Federal department or agency that administers 

6 United States foreign development and eco7 nomic assistance to provide any information 

8 that does not relate to, or is not otherwise re9 quired by, the United States foreign develop10 ment and economic assistance programs carried 

11 out by such department or agency. 

12 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

13 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE14 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

15 department or agency makes a determination 

16 that the inclusion of a required item of informa17 tion online would jeopardize the health or secu18 rity of an implementing partner or program 

19 beneficiary or would require the release of pro20 prietary information of an implementing part21 ner or program beneficiary, the head of the 

22 Federal department or agency shall provide 

23 such determination in writing to the appro24 priate congressional committees, including the 

25 basis for such determination and shall— 


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1 (i) provide a briefing to the appro2 priate congressional committees on such 

3 information; or 

4 (ii) submit such information to the 

5 appropriate congressional committees in a 

6 written report. 

7 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

8 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de9 termination that the inclusion of a required 

10 item of information online would be detrimental 

11 to the national interests of the United States, 

12 the Secretary of State shall— 

13 (i) provide such determination, includ14 ing the basis for such determination, in 

15 writing to the appropriate congressional 

16 committees; and 

17 (ii)(I) provide a briefing on such in18 formation to the appropriate congressional 

19 committees; or 

20 (II) submit the item of information in 

21 a written report to the appropriate con22 gressional committees. 

23 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor24 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

25 provided in classified form, as appropriate. 


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1 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If a Federal depart2 ment or agency fails to comply with the require3 ments under paragraph (1) or (2), subsection (a), or 

4 subsection (c), with respect to providing information 

5 described in subsection (a), and the information is 

6 not subject to a determination under subparagraph 

7 (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) not to make the infor8 mation publicly available, the Director of the Office 

9 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

10 head of such department or agency, not later than 

11 September 1, 2016, shall submit a consolidated re12 port to the appropriate congressional committees 

13 that includes, with respect to each required item of 

14 information not made publicly available— 

15 (A) a detailed explanation of the failure of 

16 not making such information publicly available; 

17 and 

18 (B) a description of the department’s or 

19 agency’s plan and timeline for— 

20 (i) immediately making such informa21 tion publicly available; and 

22 (ii) ensuring that such failures do not 

23 take place in subsequent years. 

24 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.—The online publication 

25 required under subsection (a) shall, at a minimum— 


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1 (1) in each of the fiscal years 2016 through 

2 2019, provide the information required under sub3 section (b) for fiscal years 2012 through the current 

4 fiscal year; and 

5 (2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year 

6 thereafter, provide the information required under 

7 subsection (b) for the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

8 years in a fully searchable form. 

9 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

10 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans11 parency and Accountability Act of 2015’’. 

12 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT15 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit16 tees’’ means— 

17 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

18 the Senate; 

19 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

20 Senate; 

21 (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

22 House of Representatives; and 

23 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

24 House of Representatives. 


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1 (2) EVALUATION.—The term ‘‘evaluation’’ 

2 means, with respect to a United States foreign devel3 opment and economic assistance program, the system4 atic collection and analysis of information about the 

5 characteristics and outcomes of the program, includ6 ing projects conducted under such program, as a basis 

7 for— 

8 (A) making judgments and evaluations re9 garding the program; 

10 (B) improving program effectiveness; and 

11 (C) informing decisions about current and 

12 future programming. 

13 (3) UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT AND

14 ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United States 

15 foreign development and economic assistance’’ means 

16 assistance provided primarily for the purposes of for17 eign development and economic support, including as18 sistance authorized under— 

19 (A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

20 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), except for— 

21 (i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part 

22 (relating to the Overseas Private Investment 

23 Corporation); 


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1 (ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to 

2 International Organizations and Pro3 grams); and 

4 (iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating to 

5 International Narcotics Control); 

6 (B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As7 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; re8 lating to Economic Support Fund); 

9 (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 

10 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); and 

11 (D) the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1721 

12 et seq.). 

13 SEC. 3. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL14 OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO15 GRAMS. 

16 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

17 (1) to evaluate the performance of United States 

18 foreign development and economic assistance and its 

19 contribution to the policies, strategies, projects, pro20 gram goals, and priorities undertaken by the Federal 

21 Government; 

22 (2) to foster and promote innovative programs to 

23 improve effectiveness; and 

24 (3) to coordinate the monitoring and evaluation 

25 processes of Federal departments and agencies that 


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1 administer United States foreign development and 

2 economic assistance. 

3 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later than 

4 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 President shall set forth guidelines, according to best prac6 tices of monitoring and evaluation studies and analyses, for 

7 the establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, 

8 and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied 

9 with reasonable consistency to United States foreign devel10 opment and economic assistance. 

11 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

13 pursuant to subsection (b) shall provide direction to 

14 Federal departments and agencies that administer 

15 United States foreign development and economic as16 sistance on— 

17 (A) monitoring the use of resources; 

18 (B) evaluating the outcomes and impacts of 

19 United States foreign development and economic 

20 assistance projects and programs; and 

21 (C) applying the findings and conclusions 

22 of such evaluations to proposed project and pro23 gram design. 

24 (2) OBJECTIVES.—The guidelines established 

25 pursuant to subsection (b) shall provide direction to 


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1 Federal departments and agencies that administer 

2 United States foreign development and economic as3 sistance on how— 

4 (A) to establish annual monitoring and 

5 evaluation agendas and objectives to plan and 

6 manage the process of monitoring, evaluating, 

7 analyzing progress, and applying learning to8 ward achieving results; 

9 (B) to develop specific project monitoring 

10 and evaluation plans, including measurable 

11 goals and performance metrics, and to identify 

12 the resources necessary to conduct such evalua13 tions, which should be covered by program costs, 

14 during project design; 

15 (C) to apply rigorous monitoring and eval16 uation methodologies to such programs, includ17 ing through the use of impact evaluations, ex18 post evaluations, or other methods as appro19 priate, that clearly define program logic, inputs, 

20 outputs, intermediate outcomes, and end out21 comes; 

22 (D) to disseminate guidelines for the devel23 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

24 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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


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1 implementation, and management of United 

2 States foreign development and economic assist3 ance programs; 

4 (E) to establish methodologies for the collec5 tion of data, including baseline data to serve as 

6 a reference point against which progress can be 

7 measured; 

8 (F) to evaluate, at least once in their life9 time, all programs whose dollar value equals or 

10 exceeds the median program size for the relevant 

11 office or bureau or an equivalent calculation to 

12 ensure the majority of program resources are 

13 evaluated; 

14 (G) to conduct impact evaluations on all 

15 pilot programs before replicating wherever pos16 sible, or provide a written justification for not 

17 conducting an impact evaluation where such an 

18 evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impos19 sible; 

20 (H) to develop a clearinghouse capacity for 

21 the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

22 and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 

23 guide future programs for United States develop24 ment professionals, implementing partners, the 

25 donor community, and aid recipient governVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 ments, and as a repository of knowledge on les2 sons learned; 

3 (I) to internally distribute evaluation re4 ports; 

5 (J) to publicly report each evaluation, in6 cluding an executive summary, a description of 

7 the evaluation methodology, key findings, appro8 priate context, including quantitative and quali9 tative data when available, and recommenda10 tions made in the evaluation within 90 days 

11 after the completion of the evaluation; 

12 (K) to undertake collaborative partnerships 

13 and coordinate efforts with the academic commu14 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

15 international institutions that have expertise in 

16 program monitoring, evaluation, and analysis 

17 when such partnerships provide needed expertise 

18 or significantly improve the evaluation and 

19 analysis; 

20 (L) to ensure verifiable, valid, credible, pre21 cise, reliable, and timely data are available to 

22 monitoring and evaluation personnel to permit 

23 the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of 

24 United States foreign development and economic 

25 assistance programs, including an assessment of 


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1 assumptions and limitations in such evaluations; 

2 and 

3 (M) to ensure that standards of professional 

4 evaluation organizations for monitoring and 

5 evaluation efforts are employed, including ensur6 ing the integrity and independence of evalua7 tions, permitting and encouraging the exercise of 

8 professional judgment, and providing for quality 

9 control and assurance in the monitoring and 

10 evaluation process. 

11 (d) PRESIDENT’S REPORT.—Not later than 18 months 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 

13 shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional com14 mittees that contains a detailed description of the guidelines 

15 established pursuant to subsection (b). The report shall be 

16 submitted in unclassified form, but it may contain a classi17 fied annex. 

18 (e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL’S REPORT.—Not later 

19 than 1 year after the date on which the report required 

20 under subsection (d) is submitted to Congress, the Comp21 troller General of the United States shall submit a report 

22 to the appropriate congressional committees that— 

23 (1) analyzes the guidelines established pursuant 

24 to subsection (b); and 

25 (2) provides a side-by-side comparison of— 


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1 (A) the President’s budget request for that 

2 fiscal year of every operational unit that carries 

3 out United States foreign development and eco4 nomic assistance; and 

5 (B) the performance of such units during 

6 the most recently completed fiscal year. 

7 SEC. 4. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL8 OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO9 GRAMS. 

10 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

11 (1) UPDATE OF EXISTING WEBSITE.—Not later 

12 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the Secretary of State shall update the Depart14 ment of State’s website, ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to 

15 make publicly available comprehensive, timely, and 

16 comparable information on United States foreign de17 velopment and economic assistance programs, includ18 ing all information required under subsection (b) that 

19 is available to the Secretary of State. 

20 (2) INFORMATION SHARING.—Not later than 2 

21 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

22 quarterly thereafter, the head of each Federal depart23 ment or agency that administers United States for24 eign development and economic assistance shall pro25 vide the Secretary of State with comprehensive inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Nov 17, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2184.RS S2184

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1 mation about the United States foreign development 

2 and economic assistance programs carried out by 

3 such department or agency. 

4 (3) UPDATES TO WEBSITE.—Not later than 2 

5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

6 quarterly thereafter, the Secretary of State shall pub7 lish, on the ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ website or 

8 through a successor online publication, the informa9 tion provided under subsection (b). 

10 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

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

12 subsection (a)— 

13 (A) shall be published on a detailed award14 by-award and country-by-country basis; or 

15 (B) if assistance is provided on a regional 

16 level, shall be published on an award-by-award 

17 and region-by-region basis. 

18 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—To ensure the trans20 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of 

21 United States foreign development and economic 

22 assistance programs, the information described 

23 in subsection (a) shall include— 

24 (i) links to all regional, country, and 

25 sector assistance strategies, annual budget 


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1 documents, congressional budget justifica2 tions, and evaluations in accordance with 

3 section 3(c)(2)(J); 

4 (ii) basic descriptive summaries for 

5 United States foreign development and eco6 nomic assistance programs and awards 

7 under such programs; and 

8 (iii) obligations and expenditures. 

9 (B) PUBLICATION.—Each type of informa10 tion described in subparagraph (A) shall be pub11 lished or updated on the appropriate website not 

12 later than 90 days after the date on which the 

13 information is issued. 

14 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

15 this paragraph may be construed to require a 

16 Federal department or agency that administers 

17 United States foreign development and economic 

18 assistance to provide any information that does 

19 not relate to, or is not otherwise required by, the 

20 United States foreign development and economic 

21 assistance programs carried out by such depart22 ment or agency. 

23 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

24 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE25 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 


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1 department or agency, in consultation with the 

2 Secretary of State, makes a determination that 

3 the inclusion of a required item of information 

4 online would jeopardize the health or security of 

5 an implementing partner or program beneficiary 

6 or would require the release of proprietary infor7 mation of an implementing partner or program 

8 beneficiary, the head of the Federal department 

9 or agency shall provide such determination in 

10 writing to the appropriate congressional commit11 tees, including the basis for such determination 

12 and shall— 

13 (i) provide a briefing to the appro14 priate congressional committees on such in15 formation; or 

16 (ii) submit such information to the ap17 propriate congressional committees in a 

18 written report. 

19 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

20 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de21 termination that the inclusion of a required item 

22 of information online would be detrimental to 

23 the national interests of the United States, the 

24 Secretary of State shall— 


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1 (i) provide such determination, includ2 ing the basis for such determination, in 

3 writing to the appropriate congressional 

4 committees; and 

5 (ii)(I) provide a briefing on such infor6 mation to the appropriate congressional 

7 committees; or 

8 (II) submit the item of information in 

9 a written report to the appropriate congres10 sional committees. 

11 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor12 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

13 provided in classified form, as appropriate. 

14 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If a Federal depart15 ment or agency fails to comply with the requirements 

16 under paragraph (1) or (2), subsection (a), or sub17 section (c), with respect to providing information de18 scribed in subsection (a), and the information is not 

19 subject to a determination under subparagraph (A) or 

20 (B) of paragraph (3) not to make the information 

21 publicly available, the Director of the Office of Man22 agement and Budget, in consultation with the head of 

23 such department or agency, not later than September 

24 1, 2016, shall submit a consolidated report to the ap25 propriate congressional committees that includes, 


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28 

•S 2184 RS

1 with respect to each required item of information not 

2 made publicly available— 

3 (A) a detailed explanation of the reason for 

4 not making such information publicly available; 

5 and 

6 (B) a description of the department’s or 

7 agency’s plan and timeline for— 

8 (i) immediately making such informa9 tion publicly available; and 

10 (ii) ensuring that such information is 

11 made publicly available in subsequent 

12 years. 

13 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.—The online publication 

14 required under subsection (a) shall, at a minimum— 

15 (1) in each of the fiscal years 2016 through 2019, 

16 provide the information required under subsection (b) 

17 for fiscal years 2012 through the current fiscal year; 

18 and 

19 (2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year 

20 thereafter, provide the information required under 

21 subsection (b) for the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

22 years in a fully searchable form. 

23 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

24 that the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 

25 United States Agency for International Development should 


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29 

•S 2184 RS

1 coordinate the consolidation of processes and data collection 

2 and presentation for the Department of State’s website, 

3 ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, and the United States Agency for 

4 International Development’s website, ‘‘Ex5 plorer.USAID.gov’’, to the extent that is possible to maxi6 mize efficiencies, no later than the end of fiscal year 2018. 


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Calendar No. 295 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2184 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for 

assistance programs, and for other purposes. United States foreign development and economic 

NOVEMBER 17, 2015 

Reported with an amendment 


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