112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3159 

AN ACT 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign development assistance, 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 DEVEL5 OPMENT ASSISTANCE. 

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

7 evaluate the performance of United States foreign develop8 ment assistance and its contribution to policy, strategies, 

9 projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken by the 

10 United States, to foster and promote innovative programs 

11 to improve the effectiveness of United States foreign devel12 opment assistance, and to coordinate the monitoring and 

13 evaluation processes of Federal departments and agencies 

14 that administer United States foreign development assist15 ance. 

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

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

18 Act, the President shall establish guidelines regarding the 

19 establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, 

20 and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied 

21 with reasonable consistency to United States foreign devel22 opment assistance. Such guidelines should be established 

23 according to best practices of monitoring and evaluation 

24 studies and analyses. 

25 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

2 under this section shall provide direction to Federal 

3 departments and agencies that administer United 

4 States foreign development assistance on how to de5 velop the complete range of activities relating to the 

6 monitoring of resources, the evaluation of projects, 

7 the evaluation of program impacts, and analysis that 

8 is necessary for the identification of findings, gen9 eralizations that can be derived from those findings, 

10 and their applicability to proposed project and pro11 gram design. 

12 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

13 shall provide direction on how to achieve the fol14 lowing objectives for monitoring and evaluation of 

15 programs: 

16 (A) Building measurable goals, perform17 ance metrics and monitoring and evaluation 

18 into program design at the outset, including the 

19 provision of sufficient program resources to 

20 conduct monitoring and evaluation. 

21 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel22 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

23 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

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

25 implementation, and management of United 
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1 States foreign development assistance pro2 grams. 

3 (C) Contributing to the collection and dis4 semination of knowledge and lessons learned to 

5 United States development professionals, imple6 menting partners, the international aid commu7 nity, and aid recipient governments, and as a 

8 repository of knowledge on lessons learned. 

9 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter10 nally. 

11 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

12 evaluation agendas and objectives. 

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

15 among a wide variety of qualitative and quan16 titative methods common in the field of social 

17 scientific 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 appropriate aid personnel on the 

3 proper conduct of monitoring and evaluation 

4 programs. 

5 (d) IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES.—Beginning 

6 not later than one year after the date on which the Presi7 dent establishes the guidelines under this section, the head 

8 of each Federal department or agency that administers 

9 United States foreign development assistance shall admin10 ister the United States foreign development assistance in 

11 accordance with the guidelines. 

12 (e) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

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

14 President shall submit to Congress a report that contains 

15 a detailed description of the guidelines that have been de16 veloped on measurable goals, performance metrics, and 

17 monitoring and evaluation plans for United States foreign 

18 development assistance established under this section. The 

19 report shall be submitted in unclassified form to the max20 imum extent possible, but may include a classified annex. 

21 (f) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.—The Comp22 troller General of the United States shall— 

23 (1) not later than one year after the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 

25 congressional committees a report that contains an 
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1 analysis of the actions that the major Federal de2 partments and agencies that administer United 

3 States foreign development assistance have taken to 

4 ensure that United States foreign development as5 sistance program evaluation is planned, conducted, 

6 and utilized effectively; and 

7 (2) not later than two years after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 

9 congressional committees a report that contains an 

10 analysis of— 

11 (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 

12 subsection (b); and 

13 (B) the implementation of the guidelines 

14 by the major Federal departments and agencies 

15 that administer United States foreign develop16 ment assistance. 

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

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

19 foreign development assistance program, the systematic 

20 collection and analysis of information about the character21 istics and outcomes of the program and projects under the 

22 program as a basis for judgments, to improve effective23 ness, and to inform decisions about current and future 

24 programming. 
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1 SEC. 3. INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAIL2 ABLE COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COM3 PARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION 

4 ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT 

5 ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT; PUBLICATION AND UP7 DATES.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the en8 actment of this Act, the President shall direct the Sec9 retary of State to establish and maintain an Internet 

10 website to make publicly available in unclassified form 

11 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible infor12 mation on United States foreign development assistance. 

13 The head of each Federal department or agency that ad14 ministers United States foreign development assistance 

15 shall, not later than 3 years after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, publish and on a quarterly basis update 

17 on the Internet website such information with respect to 

18 the United States foreign development assistance pro19 grams of such Federal department or agency. 

20 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

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

22 published on a detailed program-by-program basis 

23 and country-by-country basis. 

24 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans25 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

26 States foreign development assistance, such informa-
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1 tion should include country assistance strategies, an2 nual budget documents, congressional budget jus3 tifications, obligations, expenditures, and reports 

4 and evaluations, including those developed pursuant 

5 to the guidelines established by section 2, for United 

6 States foreign development assistance programs and 

7 projects under such programs. Each type of infor8 mation described in this paragraph shall be pub9 lished or updated on the Internet website not later 

10 than 90 days after the date of issuance of the infor11 mation. 

12 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.—If— 

13 (A) the head of a Federal department or 

14 agency makes a determination that the inclu15 sion of a required item of information on the 

16 Internet website would jeopardize the health or 

17 security of an implementing partner or program 

18 beneficiary; or 

19 (B) the Secretary of State makes a deter20 mination that the inclusion of a required item 

21 of information on the Internet website would be 

22 detrimental to the national interests of the 

23 United States, 

24 then the head of such Federal department or agency 

25 or the Secretary of State, as the case may be, shall 
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1 provide briefings to Congress on the item of infor2 mation or submit to Congress the item of informa3 tion in a written report in lieu of it being included 

4 on the Internet website, along with the reasons for 

5 it not being included on the Internet website. Any 

6 such item of information may be submitted to Con7 gress in classified form. 

8 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

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

10 contain the information described in subsection (b) 

11 as follows: 

12 (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information 

13 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im14 mediately preceding 2 fiscal years. 

15 (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information 

16 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im17 mediately preceding 3 fiscal years. 

18 (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information 

19 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im20 mediately preceding 4 fiscal years. 

21 (D) For fiscal year 2016 and each fiscal 

22 year thereafter, the information relating to such 

23 fiscal year and each of the immediately pre24 ceding 5 fiscal years. 
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1 (2) OLDER INFORMATION.—For fiscal year 

2 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Internet 

3 website shall also contain a link to a searchable 

4 database available to the public containing informa5 tion described in subsection (b) relating to fiscal 

6 years prior to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

7 years but subsequent to fiscal year 2010. 

8 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS IF REQUIREMENTS OF 

9 SECTION 3 ARE NOT MET. 

10 If the information described in section 3(b) with re11 spect to a United States foreign development assistance 

12 program is not provided as required under section 3, then 

13 the head of the relevant Federal department or agency 

14 shall provide briefings to the appropriate congressional 

15 committees, along with a detailed explanation of why the 

16 requirements for publication on the Internet have not been 

17 met and when they will be met, with respect to each month 

18 for which such information is not published on the Inter19 net. 

20 SEC. 5. OFFSET. 

21 Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for 

22 United States foreign development assistance programs of 

23 a Federal department or agency that administers such 

24 programs for a fiscal year, up to 5 percent of such 

25 amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
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1 this Act with respect to such programs for such fiscal 

2 year. 

3 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

9 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

10 of Representatives; and 

11 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

12 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

13 Senate. 

14 (2) UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT

15 ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United States foreign de16 velopment assistance’’ means assistance primarily 

17 for purposes of foreign development and economic 

18 support, including but not limited to assistance au19 thorized under— 

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

21 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), other than— 

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

23 (relating to the Overseas Private Invest24 ment 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 

5 to 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.; 

8 relating to Economic Support Fund) for long9 term development; and 

10 (C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 

11 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.). 

Passed the House of Representatives December 30, 

2012. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3159 

AN ACT 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for 

and for other purposes. United States foreign development assistance,