II 

Calendar No. 538 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3310 

[Report No. 112–233] 

To direct the President, in consultation with the Department of State, United 

States Agency for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Department of Defense, to establish guidelines for 

United States foreign assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2012 

Mr. LUGAR (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

NOVEMBER 13, 2012 

Reported by Mr. KERRY, with an amendment and an amendment to the title 

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

A BILL 

To direct the President, in consultation with the Department 

of State, United States Agency for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Department of Defense, to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans3 parency and Accountability Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSIST5 ANCE PROGRAMS. 

6 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

7 evaluate the performance of United States foreign assist8 ance programs and their contribution to policy, strategies, 

9 projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken by the 

10 Federal Government, to foster and promote innovative 

11 programs to improve the effectiveness of such programs, 

12 and to coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes 

13 of Federal departments and agencies that administer such 

14 programs. 

15 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—The Presi16 dent, in consultation with the Department of State, 

17 United States Agency for International Development, Mil18 lennium Challenge Corporation, and the Department of 

19 Defense, shall establish guidelines regarding the establish20 ment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and moni21 toring and evaluation plans that can be applied on a uni22 form basis to United States foreign assistance programs, 

23 country assistance plans, and international and multilat24 eral assistance programs receiving financial assistance 

25 from the United States. Such guidelines shall be estabVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:48 Nov 13, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3310.RS S3310

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1 lished according to best practices of monitoring and eval2 uation studies and analyses. 

3 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such guidelines shall provide 

5 direction to Federal departments and agencies that 

6 administer United States foreign assistance pro7 grams on how to develop the complete range of ac8 tivities relating to the monitoring of resources, the 

9 evaluation of projects, the evaluation of program im10 pacts, and analysis that is necessary for the identi11 fication of findings, generalizations that can be de12 rived from those findings, and their applicability to 

13 proposed project and program design. 

14 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

15 shall provide direction on how to achieve the fol16 lowing objectives for monitoring and evaluation pro17 grams: 

18 (A) Building measurable goals, perform19 ance metrics and monitoring and evaluation 

20 into program design at the outset, including the 

21 provision of sufficient program resources to 

22 conduct monitoring and evaluation. 

23 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel24 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

25 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 


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

2 implementation and management of foreign as3 sistance programs. 

4 (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity 

5 for the dissemination of knowledge and lessons 

6 learned to United States development profes7 sionals, implementing partners, the inter8 national aid community, and aid recipient gov9 ernments, and as a repository of knowledge on 

10 lessons learned. 

11 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter12 nally and making this material available online 

13 to the public. Furthermore, providing a sum14 mary including a description of methods, key 

15 findings and recommendations to the public on16 line in a fully searchable form within 90 days 

17 after the completion of the evaluation. Prin18 cipled exceptions will be made in cases of classi19 fied or proprietary material. 

20 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

21 evaluation agendas and objectives that are re22 sponsive to policy and programmatic priorities. 

23 (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and eval24 uation methodologies, choosing from among a 

25 wide variety of qualitative and quantitative 


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1 methods common in the field of social scientific 

2 inquiry. 

3 (G) Partnering with the academic commu4 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

5 international institutions that have expertise in 

6 monitoring and evaluation and analysis when 

7 such partnerships will provide needed expertise 

8 or will significantly improve the evaluation and 

9 analysis. 

10 (H) Developing and implementing a train11 ing plan for aid personnel on the proper con12 duct of monitoring and evaluation programs. 

13 (d) ROLE OF OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND

14 AGENCIES.—The President shall carry out this section in 

15 conjunction with the heads of Federal departments and 

16 agencies that administer United States foreign assistance 

17 programs. 

18 (e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 

20 to Congress a report that contains a detailed description 

21 of the guidelines that have been developed on measurable 

22 goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evalua23 tion plans for United States foreign assistance programs 

24 established under this section. 


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1 (f) EVALUATION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

2 ‘‘evaluation’’ means, with respect to a United States for3 eign assistance program, the systematic collection and 

4 analysis of information about the characteristics and out5 comes of the program and projects under the program as 

6 a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to in7 form decisions about current and future programming. 

8 SEC. 3. INTERNET WEB SITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAIL9 ABLE COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COM10 PARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION 

11 ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE 

12 PROGRAMS. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT; PUBLICATION AND UP14 DATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date of the en15 actment of this Act, the President shall establish and 

16 maintain an Internet Web site to make publicly available 

17 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible infor18 mation on United States foreign assistance programs. The 

19 head of each Federal department or agency that admin20 isters such programs shall on a regular basis publish and 

21 update on the Web site such information with respect to 

22 the programs of the department or agency. 

23 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such information shall be 

2 published on a detailed program-by-program basis 

3 and country-by-country basis. 

4 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans5 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

6 States foreign assistance programs, the information 

7 shall include country assistance strategies, annual 

8 budget documents, congressional budget justifica9 tions, actual expenditures, and reports and evalua10 tions for such programs and projects under such 

11 programs. Each type of information described in this 

12 paragraph shall be published on the Web site not 

13 later than 30 days after the date of issuance of the 

14 information and shall be continuously updated. 

15 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.—If the 

16 head of a Federal department or agency makes a de17 termination that the inclusion of a required item of 

18 information on the Web site would jeopardize the 

19 health or security of an implementing partner or 

20 program beneficiary or would be detrimental to the 

21 national interests of the United States, such item of 

22 information may be submitted to Congress in a writ23 ten report in lieu of including it on the Web site, 

24 along with the reasons for not including it in the 

25 database required under subsection (c)(2). 


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1 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Web site shall contain 

3 such information relating to the current fiscal year 

4 and the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years. 

5 (2) DATABASE.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara7 graph (B), the Web site shall also contain a 

8 link to a searchable database available to the 

9 public containing such information relating to 

10 fiscal years prior to the current fiscal year and 

11 the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years. 

12 (B) LIMITATION.—The database shall not 

13 contain such information relating to fiscal years 

14 prior to fiscal year 2006. 

15 (d) FORM.—Such information shall be published on 

16 the Web site in unclassified form. Any information deter17 mined to be classified information may be submitted to 

18 Congress in classified form and an unclassified summary 

19 of such information shall be published on the Web site. 

20 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

21 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans22 parency and Accountability Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSIST2 ANCE PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to evalu4 ate the performance of United States foreign assistance and 

5 its contribution to policy, strategies, projects, program 

6 goals, and priorities undertaken by the Federal Govern7 ment, to foster and promote innovative programs to im8 prove effectiveness, and to coordinate the monitoring and 

9 evaluation processes of Federal departments and agencies 

10 that administer foreign assistance. 

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

12 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 President shall establish guidelines regarding the establish14 ment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and moni15 toring and evaluation plans that can be applied on a uni16 form basis to United States foreign assistance. Such guide17 lines shall be established according to best practices of moni18 toring and evaluation studies and analyses. 

19 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

21 under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Federal 

22 departments and agencies that administer United 

23 States foreign assistance on how to develop the com24 plete range of activities relating to the monitoring of 

25 resources, the evaluation of projects, the evaluation of 

26 program impacts, and analysis that is necessary for 


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1 the identification of findings, generalizations that can 

2 be derived from those findings, and their applicability 

3 to proposed project and program design. 

4 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

5 shall provide direction on how to achieve the following 

6 objectives for monitoring and evaluation programs: 

7 (A) Building measurable goals, performance 

8 metrics and monitoring and evaluation into pro9 gram design at the outset, including the provi10 sion of sufficient program resources to conduct 

11 monitoring and evaluation. 

12 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel13 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

14 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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

16 implementation and management of foreign as17 sistance programs. 

18 (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity for 

19 the dissemination of knowledge and lessons 

20 learned to United States development profes21 sionals, implementing partners, the inter22 national aid community, and aid recipient gov23 ernments, and as a repository of knowledge on 

24 lessons learned. 


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1 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter2 nally and making this material available online 

3 to the public. Furthermore, providing a sum4 mary including a description of methods, key 

5 findings and recommendations to the public on6 line in a fully searchable form within 90 days 

7 after the completion of the evaluation. Principled 

8 exceptions will be made in cases of classified or 

9 proprietary material. 

10 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

11 evaluation agendas and objectives that are re12 sponsive to policy and programmatic priorities. 

13 (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and eval14 uation methodologies, choosing from among a 

15 wide variety of qualitative and quantitative 

16 methods common in the field of social scientific 

17 inquiry. 

18 (G) Partnering with the academic commu19 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

20 international institutions that have expertise in 

21 monitoring and evaluation and analysis when 

22 such partnerships will provide needed expertise 

23 or will significantly improve the evaluation and 

24 analysis. 


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1 (H) Developing and implementing a train2 ing plan for aid personnel on the proper conduct 

3 of monitoring and evaluation programs. 

4 (d) IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES.—Beginning 

5 not later than one year after the date on which the Presi6 dent establishes the guidelines under subsection (b), the head 

7 of each Federal department or agency that administers 

8 United States foreign assistance shall administer the for9 eign assistance in accordance with the guidelines. 

10 (e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to 

12 Congress a report that contains a detailed description of 

13 the guidelines that have been developed on measurable goals, 

14 performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans 

15 for United States foreign assistance programs established 

16 under this section. 

17 (f) EVALUATION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘‘evaluation’’ means, with respect to a United States foreign 

19 assistance program, the systematic collection and analysis 

20 of information about the characteristics and outcomes of the 

21 program and projects under the program as a basis for 

22 judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to inform decisions 

23 about current and future programming. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERNET WEB SITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 

2 COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COMPARABLE, 

3 AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION ON UNITED 

4 STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT; PUBLICATION AND UPDATES.— 

6 Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of 

7 this Act, the President shall direct the Secretary of State 

8 to establish and maintain an Internet website to make pub9 licly available comprehensive, timely, comparable, and ac10 cessible information on United States foreign assistance 

11 programs. The head of each Federal department or agency 

12 that administers United States foreign assistance shall, not 

13 later than three years after the date of the enactment of 

14 this Act, publish and on a quarterly basis update on an 

15 Internet website such information with respect to the pro16 grams of the department or agency. 

17 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such information shall be 

19 published on a detailed program-by-program basis 

20 and country-by-country basis. 

21 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans22 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

23 States foreign assistance programs, the information 

24 shall include country assistance strategies, annual 

25 budget documents, congressional budget justifications, 

26 obligations, expenditures, and reports and evaluations 


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1 for United States foreign assistance programs and 

2 projects under such programs. Each type of informa3 tion described in this paragraph shall be published or 

4 updated on the Internet website not later than 90 

5 days after the date of issuance of the information. 

6 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.—If the head 

7 of a Federal department or agency makes a deter8 mination that the inclusion of a required item of in9 formation on the Internet website would jeopardize 

10 the health or security of an implementing partner or 

11 program beneficiary or would be detrimental to the 

12 national interests of the United States, the head of the 

13 Federal department or agency may provide briefings 

14 to Congress on the item of information or submit to 

15 Congress the item of information in a written report 

16 in lieu of including it on the Internet website, along 

17 with the reasons for not including it in the database 

18 required under this section. 

19 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Internet website shall 

21 contain the information described in subsection (b) as 

22 follows: 

23 (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information 

24 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im25 mediately preceding 2 fiscal years. 


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1 (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information 

2 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im3 mediately preceding 3 fiscal years. 

4 (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information 

5 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im6 mediately preceding 4 fiscal years. 

7 (D) For fiscal year 2016, the information 

8 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im9 mediately preceding 5 fiscal years. 

10 (2) OLDER INFORMATION.—For fiscal year 2017 

11 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Internet website 

12 shall also contain a link to a searchable database 

13 available to the public containing information de14 scribed in subsection (b) relating to fiscal years prior 

15 to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years but subse16 quent to fiscal year 2010. 

17 (d) FORM.—The information required under sub18 section (b) shall be published on the Internet website in un19 classified form. Any information determined to be classified 

20 or particularly sensitive information may be submitted to 

21 Congress in classified form. An unclassified summary of 

22 such information shall be published on the Internet website 

23 unless the head of the Federal department or agency, in con24 sultation with the appropriate congressional committees, 


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1 determines that such publication would have a detrimental 

2 effect on national security. 

3 SEC. 4. OFFSET. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec5 retary of State and the head of each other Federal depart6 ment or agency that administers United States foreign as7 sistance, in consultation with the appropriate congressional 

8 committees, shall— 

9 (1) eliminate such initiatives, positions, and 

10 programs within the Department of State or such 

11 other department or agency that are not otherwise re12 quired by law as the Secretary or the head of such 

13 other department or agency determines to be nec14 essary to entirely offset any and all costs incurred to 

15 carry out the provisions of this Act with respect to the 

16 Department of State or such other department or 

17 agency; 

18 (2) ensure no net increases in personnel are 

19 added to carry out the provisions of this Act, with 

20 any new full or part time employees ore equivalents 

21 offset by eliminating an equivalent number of existing 

22 staff; and 

23 (3) report to Congress not later than 90 days 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act the actions 

25 taken to ensure compliance with paragraphs (1) and 


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1 (2), including the specific initiatives, positions, and 

2 programs within the Department of State or such 

3 other department or agency that have been eliminated 

4 to ensure that the costs of carrying out this Act will 

5 be offset. 

6 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit10 tees’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

12 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

13 Senate; and 

14 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

15 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

16 Representatives. 

17 (2) UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The 

18 term ‘‘United States foreign assistance’’ has the 

19 meaning given the term ‘‘foreign assistance’’ in sec20 tion 634(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

21 U.S.C. 2394 (b)). 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to direct the 

President to establish guidelines for United States foreign assistance, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Calendar No. 538 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3310 

[Report No. 112–233] 

A BILL 

To direct the President, in consultation with the 

sistance programs, and for other purposes. establish guidelines for United States foreign asCorporation, and the Department of Defense, to International Development, Millennium Challenge Department of State, United States Agency for 

NOVEMBER 13, 2012 

Reported with an amendment and an amendment to the 

title 


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