Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013

To expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to increase accountability and transparency in Federal spending, and for other purposes. 1. Short title; table of contents (a) Short title This Act may be cited as the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013 (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purposes. Sec. 3. Amendments to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. Sec. 4. Pilot program to evaluate consolidated recipient reporting. Sec. 5. Classified and protected information. Sec. 6. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 amendments. Sec. 7. Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 amendments. Sec. 8. Executive agency accounting and other financial management reports and plans. 2. Purposes The purposes of this Act are to— (1) expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 by disclosing direct Federal agency expenditures and linking Federal contract, loan, and grant spending information to programs of Federal agencies in order to enable taxpayers and policy makers to track Federal spending more effectively; (2) provide consistent, reliable, and searchable Government-wide spending data that is displayed accurately for taxpayers and policy makers on USASpending.gov; (3) analyze Federal spending data to proactively prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and improper payments; (4) simplify reporting for entities receiving Federal funds by streamlining reporting requirements and reducing compliance costs while improving transparency; and (5) improve the quality of data submitted to USASpending.gov by holding Federal agencies accountable for the completeness and accuracy of the data submitted. 3. Amendments to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 Section 2 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 (1) in the section heading, by striking full disclosure of entities receiving Federal funding disclosure of Federal funding (2) in subsection (a)— (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs (3) and (7), respectively; (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new paragraph (2): (2) Federal agency The term Federal agency Executive agency section 105 ; (C) by inserting after paragraph (3), as redesignated by subparagraph (A), the following new paragraphs: (4) Federal funds The term Federal funds (5) Object class The term object class section 1105(a) (6) Program activity The term program activity section 1115(h) ; and (D) in paragraph (7), as redesignated by subparagraph (A)— (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking paragraph (2)(A)(i) paragraph (3)(A)(i) (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking paragraph (2)(A)(ii) paragraph (3)(A)(ii) (3) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1)— (i) by striking the Office of Management and Budget the Secretary of the Treasury (ii) in subparagraph (F)— (I) in clause (i), by redesignating subclauses (I) and (II) as items (aa) and (bb), respectively; (II) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II); and (III) by striking the period at the end of subclause (II) as so redesignated and inserting “; and”; (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (G) as clauses (i) through (vii), respectively, and adjusting the margin accordingly; (iv) by striking for each Federal award— (A) for each Federal agency, component of a Federal agency, appropriations account, program activity, and object class (including any subcomponent of an object class), and other accounts or data as appropriate— (i) the amount of budget authority available; (ii) the amount obligated; (iii) the amount of outlays; (iv) the amount of any Federal funds reprogrammed or transferred; and (v) the amount of expired and unexpired unobligated balances; and (B) for each Federal award— ; and (v) in subparagraph (B)(iii), as so designated by this subparagraph, by inserting , which shall be assigned a unique identifier, information on the award (B) in paragraph (3)— (i) by striking The Director of the Office of Management and Budget The Secretary of the Treasury (ii) by striking the Director the Secretary (C) in paragraph (4)— (i) by striking the Director of the Office of Management and Budget the Secretary of the Treasury (ii) by striking the Director the Secretary (D) by adding at the end the following: (5) Application of data standards The Secretary of the Treasury shall apply the data standards established under subsection (e) to all data collection, data dissemination, and data publication required under this section. (6) Data feed to recovery accountability and transparency board The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the data described in paragraph (1) to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board so that it can be included in the Recovery Operations Center described in subsection (h). ; (4) in subsection (c)— (A) in paragraph (1)— (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking and Grants.gov Grants.gov, the Payment Automation Manager and Financial Information Repository and other data or databases from the Department of the Treasury, the MAX Information System of the Office of Management and Budget, and other data from Federal agencies collected and identified by the Office of Management and Budget (ii) in subparagraph (B), by adding and (iii) by adding at the end the following: (C) specify such search shall be confined to Federal funds; ; (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting the Payment Automation Manager and Financial Information Repository and other data or databases from the Department of the Treasury, the MAX Information System of the Office of Management and Budget, other data from Federal agencies collected and identified by the Office of Management and Budget, Grants.gov website, (C) in paragraph (4)— (i) by striking shall be updated not later (A) not later ; and (ii) by adding at the end the following: (B) not less than once each quarter with information relating to Federal funds; ; (D) in paragraph (5)— (i) by inserting Federal funds and Federal awards (ii) by striking subsection (a)(2)(A)(i) and those described in subsection (a)(2)(A)(ii) subsection (a)(3)(A)(i) and those described in subsection (a)(3)(A)(ii) (iii) by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and (E) by adding at the end the following: (6) shall have the ability to aggregate data for the categories described in paragraphs (1) through (5) without double-counting data; and (7) shall permit all information published under this section to be downloaded in bulk. ; (5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (g) as subsections (i), (j), and (k), respectively; and (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsections: (e) Department of the treasury requirements for data standards (1) In general The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Administrator of General Services, and the heads of Federal agencies, shall establish Government-wide financial data standards for Federal funds, which shall— (A) include common data elements, such as codes, unique award identifiers, and fields, for financial and payment information required to be reported by Federal agencies and entities receiving Federal funds, including identifiers for Federal awards and entities receiving Federal awards; (B) to the extent reasonable and practicable, ensure interoperability and incorporate— (i) common data elements developed and maintained by an international voluntary consensus standards body, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, such as the International Organization for Standardization; (ii) common data elements developed and maintained by Federal agencies with authority over contracting and financial assistance, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council; and (iii) common data elements developed and maintained by accounting standards organizations; and (C) include data reporting standards that— (i) incorporate a widely accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent computer-readable format; (ii) are consistent with and implement applicable accounting principles; (iii) are capable of being continually upgraded as necessary; (iv) are structured to specifically support the reporting of financial and performance-related data, such as that any data produced, regardless of reporting need or software used for creation or consumption, is consistent and comparable across reporting situations; (v) establish, for each data point, a standard method of conveying the reporting period, reporting entity, unit of measure, and other associated attributes; and (vi) incorporate nonproprietary standards in effect on the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013. (2) Deadlines (A) Guidance The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall issue guidance on the data standards established under paragraph (1) to Federal agencies not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013. (B) Website Not later than 1 year after the date on which the guidance under clause (i) is issued, the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure that the website required under this section makes data publicly available in accordance with the data standards established under paragraph (1). (C) Agencies Not later than 180 days after the date on which the guidance under subparagraph (A) is issued, each Federal agency shall collect, report, and maintain data in accordance with the data standards established under paragraph (1). (3) Consultation The Secretary of the Treasury shall consult with public and private stakeholders in establishing data standards under this subsection. (f) Consolidated recipient financial reports The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall— (1) review the financial reporting required by Federal agencies for Federal award recipients to consolidate financial reporting and reduce duplicative financial reporting and compliance costs for recipients; (2) request input from Federal award recipients to reduce duplicative financial reporting, especially from State and local governments and institutions of higher education; (3) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, provide guidance to the heads of Federal agencies regarding how to simplify the reporting requirements for Federal award recipients to consolidate financial reporting, reduce duplicative reporting, and reduce compliance costs, as appropriate; and (4) not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, submit to Congress a report regarding any legislative action required to consolidate, streamline, or reduce the cost of reporting requirements for Federal award recipients. (g) Accountability for Federal funding (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, and every 2 years thereafter until the date that is 6 years after such date of enactment, the Inspector General of each Federal agency, in consultation with the Comptroller General of the United States, shall review a sampling of the data submitted under this Act by the agency, and shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report on the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the data sampled and the implementation and use of consistent data standards by the Federal agency. (2) Comptroller general (A) In general Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, and every 2 years thereafter until the date that is 6 years after such date of enactment, and after review of the reports submitted under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report on the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the data submitted under this Act by each Federal agency and the implementation and use of consistent data standards by each Federal agency. (B) Ranking The Comptroller General of the United States shall make available a ranking of Federal agencies regarding data quality, accuracy, and compliance with this Act. (h) Recovery accountability and transparency board (1) Resources and mechanisms The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shall develop and test information technology resources and oversight mechanisms to enhance the transparency of and detect and remediate waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending for Inspectors General. (2) Website The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shall maintain a website informing the public of its activities to identify waste, fraud, and abuse and increase transparency of Federal funds to provide support for Inspectors General. (3) Recovery Operations Center The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shall establish and maintain a Recovery Operations Center as a government-wide Internet-based data access system to carry out the functions described in paragraph (4). (4) Functions of the Recovery Operations Center The functions referred to in paragraph (3) are the following: (A) In General The Recovery Operations Center shall incorporate— (i) all information described in subsection (b)(1); (ii) other information maintained by Federal, State, local, and foreign government agencies; and (iii) other commercially and publicly available information. (B) Specific Functions The Recovery Operations Center shall be designed and operated to carry out the following functions: (i) Combine information described in subsection (b)(1) with other compilations of information, including those listed in subparagraph (A). (ii) Permit agencies, in accordance with applicable law, to detect and remediate waste, fraud, and abuse. . 4. Pilot program to evaluate consolidated recipient reporting (a) In general Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall establish a pilot program relating to reporting by recipients of Federal funds (in this section referred to as the pilot program (1) display the full cycle of Federal funds; (2) improve the accuracy of Federal financial data; and (3) develop recommendations for reducing reporting required of recipients of Federal funds by consolidating and automating financial reporting requirements across the Federal Government. (b) Requirements The pilot program shall— (1) include recipients that collectively receive not less than $1,000,000,000 in Federal funds each fiscal year; (2) include recipients that receive Federal funds under multiple programs across multiple agencies; and (3) include recipients that collectively receive Federal funds under contracts, grants, and subawards. (c) Reporting and evaluation requirements Each recipient of Federal funds participating in the pilot program shall submit to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board reports on the finances of the selected Federal awards. (d) Publication of information All the information collected by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board under the pilot program shall be made publicly available and searchable on the website established under section 2 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 (e) Termination The pilot program shall terminate on the date that is 3 years after the date on which the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board establishes the pilot program. (f) Report Not later than 90 days after the date on which the pilot program terminates under subsection (e), the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shall submit to the Office of Management and Budget, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a report on the pilot program, which shall include— (1) a description of financial data collected under the pilot program, the accuracy of the data provided, and the cost to collect the data from recipients; and (2) recommendations for— (A) consolidating some or all aspects of Federal financial reporting to reduce the costs to recipients of Federal funds; (B) automating some or all aspects of Federal financial reporting to increase efficiency and reduce the costs to recipients of Federal funds; and (C) improving financial transparency. (g) Government-wide implementation Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Office of Management and Budget receives the report required by subsection (f), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall determine whether to authorize the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to extend the recipient reporting requirements of the pilot program to all Federal funds. The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shall begin requiring Government-wide recipient reporting at the start of the fiscal year that commences after the fiscal year during which such authorization is granted, and under such terms and conditions that the Board shall determine, in consultation with the Director. 5. Classified and protected information Section 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 3. Classified and protected information Nothing in this Act shall require the disclosure to the public or to any person without an identifiable need to know— (1) information protected under section 552 Freedom of Information Act (2) information protected under section 552a Privacy Act of 1974 section 6103 . 6. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 amendments Division A of Public Law 111–5 (1) in section 1501 of title XV, by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following: (4) Covered funds The term covered funds (A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), means any funds that are expended or obligated from appropriations made under this Act; and (B) for purposes of sections 1522 and 1524, means funds that are expended or obligated by an agency from appropriations made under this or any other Act. ; (2) in section 1512 of title XV, by adding at the end the following: (i) Expiration The requirements in this section shall expire on September 30, 2013. ; (3) in section 1523 of title XV, by adding at the end the following: (d) Expiration The requirements in this section shall expire on September 30, 2013. ; (4) in section 1526 of title XV, by adding at the end the following: (e) Expiration The requirements in this section shall expire on September 30, 2013. ; and (5) in section 1530 of title XV, by striking September 30, 2013. September 30, 2017. 7. Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 amendments Division A of Public Law 113–2 (1) by striking for purposes related to the impact of Hurricane Sandy (2) by striking related to the impact of Hurricane Sandy receiving appropriations (3) by striking related to funds appropriated for the impact of Hurricane Sandy on its activities 8. Executive agency accounting and other financial management reports and plans Section 3512(a) (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting and make available on the website described under section 1122 of this title appropriate committees of the Congress (2) in paragraph (3)(B)(vi), by inserting , system development, financial management workforce development, related risk assessment and mitigation for the Federal Government as a whole, related risk assessment and mitigation for executive agencies, development of capacity to prevent and detect fraud, equipment acquisitions (3) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end the following: (C) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, and every 90 days thereafter, the Director shall make available on the website described under section 1122 of this title a report regarding— (i) specific goals for the most recent full fiscal year, the fiscal year during which the report is submitted, and the fiscal year following the year during which the report is submitted that are necessary steps toward implementing the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 ( 31 U.S.C. 6101 (ii) the status and progress achieved toward each goal described in clause (i), including any changes to the cost, schedule, or performance baselines of achieving each goal, using earned value management where appropriate. . November 18, 2013 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Summary: Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013 - (Sec. 2) States as the purposes of this Act to: (1) expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 by disclosing direct federal agency expenditures and linking federal contract, loan, and grant spending information to programs of federal agencies to enable taxpayers and policy makers to track federal spending more effectively; (2) provide consistent, reliable, and searchable government-wide spending data that is displayed accurately for taxpayers and policy makers on the USASpending.gov website; (3) analyze federal spending data to proactively prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and improper payments; (4) simplify reporting for entities receiving federal funds by streamlining reporting requirements and reducing compliance costs while improving transparency; and (5) improve the quality of data submitted to USASpending.gov by holding federal agencies accountable for the completeness and accuracy of the data submitted. (Sec. 3) Amends the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to transfer from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the Secretary of the Treasury the responsibility for maintaining the website established by such Act (i.e., USASpending.gov) to provide public information about awards of federal funds. Expands sources from which USASpending.gov will incorporate data, including the Payment Automation Manager and Financial Information Repository and other data or databases from the Department of the Treasury, the MAX Information System of OMB, and other federal agencies identified by OMB. Expands agency reporting requirements for all agency funds to include: (1) the amount of budget authority available, (2) the amount obligated, (3) the amount of outlays, (4) the amount of any federal funds reprogrammed or transferred, and (5) the amount of expired and unexpired unobligated balances. Requires such reporting to be updated not less than once each quarter. Directs the Secretary to establish government-wide financial data standards for federal funds, including common data elements such as codes, unique award identifiers, and fields. Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue guidance on such data standards, (2) make such data standards publicly available, and (3) consult with public and private stakeholders in establishing such standards. Requires the OMB Director to review agency financial reporting requirements to consolidate and simplify such requirements. Requires the Inspector General of each federal agency to review a sampling of the financial data submitted by the agency and report on the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the sampled data and the implementation and use of consistent data standards by each agency. Directs the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to: (1) develop and test information technology resources and oversight mechanisms to identify and remediate waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending for Inspectors General; (2) maintain a website to inform the public of such activities; and (3) establish and maintain a Recovery Operations Center to incorporate data reported by this Act, other data from federal, state, local, and foreign government agencies, and other commercially and publicly available information. (Sec. 4) Requires the Board to establish a three-year pilot program relating to reporting by recipients of federal funds for the purpose of increasing financial transparency to: (1) display the full cycle of federal funds, (2) improve the accuracy of federal financial data, and (3) develop recommendations for reducing reporting requirements by consolidating and automating financial reporting requirements across the federal government. Requires such pilot program to include: (1) a combination of contract and grant recipients with an aggregate value of not less than $1 billion, (2) a diverse group of contract and grant recipients, and (3) recipients that receive federal awards from multiple programs across multiple agencies. Requires all information collected by the Board to be made publicly available and searchable on the Board's website. Terminates the pilot program three years after its establishment by the Board. Requires the Board to submit to OMB and appropriate congressional committees a report on the pilot program not later than 90 days after its termination. Requires OMB to determine whether the pilot program reporting requirements should be extended government-wide to all award recipients. (Sec. 5) Expands protections against disclosure of information under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparence Act of 2006 to classified information protected by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and to information protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 or the Internal Revenue Code. (Sec. 6) Amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to terminate on December 30, 2013: (1) reporting requirements relating to the use of funds under such Act, (2) oversight functions of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and (3) the requirement that the Board maintain a public website. Extends the termination date for such Board until September 30, 2017. (Sec. 7) Amends the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 to repeal the the monitoring and reporting requirements of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board related to the impact of Hurricane Sandy. (Sec. 8) Requires the OMB Director to make available on the OMB website: (1) OMB's report to Congress on its five-year financial management plan for the executive branch, and (2) a report on specific goals for implementing the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and the status and progress achieved toward each goal. (Sec. 9) Requires each federal agency to post on its public website detailed information on any presentation made by any employee of that agency at a conference (excluding information relating to national security), including: (1) the prepared text of any verbal presentation; and (2) any visual, digital, video, or audio materials presented, including photographs, slides, and audio-visual recordings. Limits agency expenditures on any single conference to $500,000. Allows a waiver of such limitation if the head of the agency determines that a greater expenditure is justified as the most cost-effective option to achieve a compelling purpose and submits a justification for the waiver to appropriate congressional committees. Prohibits an agency from paying the travel expenses for more than 50 agency employees who are stationed in the United States for any international conference, unless the Secretary of State determines that attendance by agency employees is in the national interest or the agency head determines that such attendance is critical to the agency's mission. Requires the Secretary and the agency head to report on any waiver of such requirement and the justification for such waiver. Requires each agency to post on its public website for 5 years a report on each conference that costs more than $10,000 for which the agency paid travel expenses during the preceding 3 months. Requires such report to include the itemized expenses paid by the agency, the primary sponsor of the conference, the location and date of the conference, and a brief explanation of how employee participation in such conference advanced the mission of the agency. Limits agency travel expenses for FY2014-FY2018 to 70% of the aggregate amount of agency travel expenses for FY2010. Allows an agency to exclude travel expenses from such limitation if the agency head determines that the inclusion of such expenses would undermine national security, international diplomacy, health and safety inspections, law enforcement, or site visits required for oversight or investigatory purposes. Requires agency heads to report to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in FY2014-FY2018 on the justification for any expenses excluded from the spending limitation and the positive or negative impacts, if any, of such limitation on the agency's mission, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and ability to perform core functions. Requires the OMB Director, not later than January 1, 2014, to establish guidelines for determining what expenses constitute travel expenses, which shall identify specific expenses and classes of expenses. Excludes military travel expenses, including expenses involving military combat and the training or deployment of uniformed military personnel, from such identification requirement.