II 

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 and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

2 the Senate; 

3 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

4 the Senate; 

5 (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

6 the House of Representatives; and 

7 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

8 the House of Representatives. 

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

10 means, with respect to a United States foreign de11 velopment and economic assistance program, the 

12 systematic collection and analysis of information 

13 about the characteristics and outcomes of the pro14 gram, including projects conducted under such pro15 gram, as a basis for— 

16 (A) making judgments and evaluations re17 garding the program; 

18 (B) improving program effectiveness; and 

19 (C) informing decisions about current and 

20 future programming. 

21 (3) UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT

22 AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United 

23 States foreign development and economic assistance’’ 

24 means assistance provided primarily for the purposes 


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1 of foreign development and economic support, in2 cluding assistance authorized under— 

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

4 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), except for— 

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

6 (relating to the Overseas Private Invest7 ment Corporation); 

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

9 International Organizations and Pro10 grams); and 

11 (iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating 

12 to International Narcotics Control); 

13 (B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As14 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 

15 relating to Economic Support Fund); 

16 (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 

17 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); and 

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

19 1721 et seq.). 

20 SEC. 3. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL21 OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO22 GRAMS. 

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

24 (1) to evaluate the performance of United 

25 States foreign development and economic assistance 


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1 and its contribution to the policies, strategies, 

2 projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken 

3 by the Federal Government; 

4 (2) to foster and promote innovative programs 

5 to improve effectiveness; and 

6 (3) to coordinate the monitoring and evaluation 

7 processes of Federal departments and agencies that 

8 administer United States foreign development and 

9 economic assistance. 

10 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

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

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

13 best practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and 

14 analyses, for the establishment of measurable goals, per15 formance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans 

16 that can be applied with reasonable consistency to United 

17 States foreign development and economic assistance. 

18 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

20 pursuant to subsection (b) shall provide direction to 

21 Federal departments and agencies that administer 

22 United States foreign development and economic as23 sistance on— 

24 (A) monitoring the use of resources; 


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1 (B) evaluating the outcomes and impacts 

2 of United States foreign development and eco3 nomic assistance projects and programs; and 

4 (C) applying the findings and conclusions 

5 of such evaluations to proposed project and pro6 gram design. 

7 (2) OBJECTIVES.—The guidelines established 

8 pursuant to subsection (b) shall require Federal de9 partments and agencies that administer United 

10 States foreign development and economic assist11 ance— 

12 (A) to establish annual monitoring and 

13 evaluation agendas and objectives to plan and 

14 manage the process of monitoring, evaluating, 

15 analyzing progress, and applying learning to16 ward achieving results; 

17 (B) to develop specific project monitoring 

18 and evaluation plans, including measurable 

19 goals and performance metrics, and to identify 

20 the resources necessary to conduct such evalua21 tions, which should be covered by program 

22 costs, during project design; 

23 (C) to apply rigorous monitoring and eval24 uation methodologies to such programs, includ25 ing through the use of impact evaluations, exVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:01 Oct 20, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2184.IS S2184

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1 post evaluations, or other methods as appro2 priate, that clearly define program logic, inputs, 

3 outputs, intermediate outcomes, and end out4 comes; 

5 (D) to disseminate guidelines for the devel6 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

7 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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

9 implementation, and management of United 

10 States foreign development and economic assist11 ance programs; 

12 (E) to establish methodologies for the col13 lection of data, including baseline data to serve 

14 as a reference point against which progress can 

15 be measured; 

16 (F) to evaluate, at least once in their life17 time, all programs whose dollar value equals or 

18 exceeds the median program size for the rel19 evant office or bureau or an equivalent calcula20 tion to ensure the majority of program re21 sources are evaluated; 

22 (G) to conduct impact evaluations on all 

23 pilot programs before replicating wherever pos24 sible, or provide a written justification for not 

25 conducting an impact evaluation where such an 


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1 evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impos2 sible; 

3 (H) to develop a clearinghouse capacity for 

4 the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

5 and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 

6 guide future programs for United States devel7 opment professionals, implementing partners, 

8 the donor community, and aid recipient govern9 ments, and as a repository of knowledge on les10 sons learned; 

11 (I) to internally distribute evaluation re12 ports; 

13 (J) to develop a summary of each evalua14 tion, including a description of the evaluation 

15 methodology and key findings and recommenda16 tions made in the evaluation within 90 days 

17 after the completion of the evaluation; 

18 (K) to undertake collaborative partnerships 

19 and coordinate efforts with the academic com20 munity, implementing partners, and national 

21 and international institutions that have exper22 tise in program monitoring, evaluation, and 

23 analysis when such partnerships provide needed 

24 expertise or significantly improve the evaluation 

25 and analysis; 


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

2 precise, reliable, and timely data are available 

3 to monitoring and evaluation personnel to per4 mit the objective evaluation of the effectiveness 

5 of United States foreign development and eco6 nomic assistance programs, including an assess7 ment of assumptions and limitations in such 

8 evaluations; and 

9 (M) to ensure that standards of profes10 sional evaluation organizations for monitoring 

11 and evaluation efforts are employed, including 

12 ensuring the integrity and independence of eval13 uations, permitting and encouraging the exer14 cise of professional judgment, and providing for 

15 quality control and assurance in the monitoring 

16 and evaluation process. 

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

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

19 President shall submit a report to the appropriate con20 gressional committees that contains a detailed description 

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

22 The report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

23 it may contain a classified annex. 

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

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


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1 under subsection (d) is submitted to Congress, the Comp2 troller General of the United States shall submit a report 

3 to the appropriate congressional committees that— 

4 (1) analyzes the guidelines established pursuant 

5 to subsection (b); and 

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

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

8 fiscal year of every operational unit that carries 

9 out United States foreign development and eco10 nomic assistance; and 

11 (B) the performance of such units during 

12 the most recently completed fiscal year. 

13 SEC. 4. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DE14 VELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 

15 PROGRAMS. 

16 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

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

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

19 Act, the Secretary of State shall update the Depart20 ment of State’s website, ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to 

21 make publicly available comprehensive, timely, and 

22 comparable information on United States foreign de23 velopment and economic assistance programs, in24 cluding all information required under subsection (b) 

25 that is available to the Secretary of State. 


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

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

3 and quarterly thereafter, the head of each Federal 

4 department or agency that administers United 

5 States foreign development and economic assistance 

6 shall provide the Secretary of State with comprehen7 sive information about the United States foreign de8 velopment and economic assistance programs carried 

9 out by such department or agency. 

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

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

12 and quarterly thereafter, the Secretary of State shall 

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

14 through a successor online publication, the informa15 tion provided under subsection (b). 

16 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

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

18 subsection (a)— 

19 (A) shall be published on a detailed award20 by-award and country-by-country basis; or 

21 (B) if assistance is provided on a regional 

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

23 and region-by-region basis. 

24 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—To ensure the trans2 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of 

3 United States foreign development and eco4 nomic assistance programs, the information de5 scribed in subsection (a) shall include— 

6 (i) all regional, country, and sector as7 sistance strategies, annual budget docu8 ments, congressional budget justifications, 

9 obligations, expenditures, evaluations and 

10 summaries of evaluations in accordance 

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

12 (ii) basic descriptive summaries for 

13 United States foreign development and 

14 economic assistance programs and awards 

15 under such programs. 

16 (B) PUBLICATION.—Each type of informa17 tion described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

18 published or updated on the appropriate website 

19 not later than 90 days after the date on which 

20 the information is issued. 

21 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

22 this paragraph may be construed to require a 

23 Federal department or agency that administers 

24 United States foreign development and eco25 nomic assistance to provide any information 


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1 that does not relate to, or is not otherwise re2 quired by, the United States foreign develop3 ment and economic assistance programs carried 

4 out by such department or agency. 

5 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

6 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE7 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

8 department or agency makes a determination 

9 that the inclusion of a required item of informa10 tion online would jeopardize the health or secu11 rity of an implementing partner or program 

12 beneficiary or would require the release of pro13 prietary information of an implementing part14 ner or program beneficiary, the head of the 

15 Federal department or agency shall provide 

16 such determination in writing to the appro17 priate congressional committees, including the 

18 basis for such determination and shall— 

19 (i) provide a briefing to the appro20 priate congressional committees on such 

21 information; or 

22 (ii) submit such information to the 

23 appropriate congressional committees in a 

24 written report. 


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1 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

2 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de3 termination that the inclusion of a required 

4 item of information online would be detrimental 

5 to the national interests of the United States, 

6 the Secretary of State shall— 

7 (i) provide such determination, includ8 ing the basis for such determination, in 

9 writing to the appropriate congressional 

10 committees; and 

11 (ii)(I) provide a briefing on such in12 formation to the appropriate congressional 

13 committees; or 

14 (II) submit the item of information in 

15 a written report to the appropriate con16 gressional committees. 

17 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor18 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

19 provided in classified form, as appropriate. 

20 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If a Federal depart21 ment or agency fails to comply with the require22 ments under paragraph (1) or (2), subsection (a), or 

23 subsection (c), with respect to providing information 

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

25 not subject to a determination under subparagraph 


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1 (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) not to make the infor2 mation publicly available, the Director of the Office 

3 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

4 head of such department or agency, not later than 

5 September 1, 2016, shall submit a consolidated re6 port to the appropriate congressional committees 

7 that includes, with respect to each required item of 

8 information not made publicly available— 

9 (A) a detailed explanation of the failure of 

10 not making such information publicly available; 

11 and 

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

13 agency’s plan and timeline for— 

14 (i) immediately making such informa15 tion publicly available; and 

16 (ii) ensuring that such failures do not 

17 take place in subsequent years. 

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

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

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

21 2019, provide the information required under sub22 section (b) for fiscal years 2012 through the current 

23 fiscal year; and 

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

25 thereafter, provide the information required under 


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1 subsection (b) for the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

2 years in a fully searchable form. 

Æ 


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