I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4174 
To amend titles 5 and 44, United States Code, to require Federal evaluation 
activities, improve Federal data management, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 31, 2017 
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin (for himself, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. GOWDY, and Mr. 
KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To amend titles 5 and 44, United States Code, to require 
Federal evaluation activities, improve Federal data man-
agement, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 
2017’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
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plan for identifying and addressing policy questions rel-
evant to the programs, policies, and regulations of the 
agency. Such plan shall be made available on the public 
website of the agency and shall cover at least a 4-year 
period beginning with the first fiscal year following the 
fiscal year in which the plan is submitted and published 
and contain the following: 
‘‘(1) A list of policy-relevant questions for 
which the agency intends to develop evidence to sup-
port policymaking. 
‘‘(2) A list of data the agency intends to collect, 
use, or acquire to facilitate the use of evidence in 
policymaking. 
‘‘(3) A list of methods and analytical ap-
proaches that may be used to develop evidence to 
support policymaking. 
‘‘(4) A list of any challenges to developing evi-
dence to support policymaking, including any statu-
tory or other restrictions to accessing relevant data. 
‘‘(5) A description of the steps the agency will 
take to accomplish paragraphs (1) and (2). 
‘‘(6) Any other information as required by guid-
ance issued by the Director. 
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‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In developing the plan re-
quired under subsection (a), the head of an agency shall 
consult with the following: 
‘‘(1) The public. 
‘‘(2) Any evaluation or analysis unit and per-
sonnel of the agency. 
‘‘(3) Agency officials responsible for imple-
menting privacy policy. 
‘‘(4) The Chief Data Officer of the agency. 
‘‘(5) The officials of the agency designated 
under section 315. 
‘‘(6) The Performance Improvement Officer of 
the agency. 
‘‘(7) Program administrators of the agency. 
‘‘(8) The committees of the House of Rep-
resentatives and Senate with oversight jurisdiction 
over the agency. 
‘‘§ 313. Governmentwide evidence-building coordina-
tion 
‘‘(a) UNIFIED
EVIDENCE-BUILDING
COORDINA-
TION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall consoli-
date the plans submitted under section 312 in a uni-
fied evidence-building plan. The Director shall notify 
agency heads of potentially overlapping or unneces-
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sary duplicative data acquisition plans and facilitate 
interagency evidence gathering and sharing. The 
head of the agency may incorporate the results of 
any interagency coordination by updating the plan 
required under section 312. The Director shall incor-
porate any such agency update in the unified evi-
dence-building plan. 
‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—In developing the uni-
fied evidence-building plan required under paragraph 
(1), the Director shall consult with the following: 
‘‘(A) The public. 
‘‘(B) The Interagency Council on Evalua-
tion Policy established under subsection (b). 
‘‘(C) The Interagency Council on Statis-
tical Policy established under section 3504(e)(8) 
of title 44. 
‘‘(D) Any other relevant interagency coun-
cil. 
‘‘(E) The head of each agency. 
‘‘(b) INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON EVALUATION POL-
ICY.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 
Interagency Council on Evaluation Policy (in this 
section referred to as the ‘Council’) to advise and as-
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sist the Director in supporting Governmentwide eval-
uation activities and policies. 
‘‘(2) PURPOSE AND FUNCTION.—The Council 
shall act as the principal interagency forum for co-
ordinating cross-agency evaluation activities and im-
proving agency practices related to program evalua-
tion. The Council shall— 
‘‘(A) advise and assist the Director in sup-
porting Governmentwide evaluation activities 
and policies; 
‘‘(B) foster capacity for program evalua-
tion across agencies by collaborating on a set of 
Governmentwide human capital strategies that 
develop and maintain agencies’ capacity for pro-
gram evaluation; 
‘‘(C) advise on the development of depart-
ment-wide evaluation policies and the system-
atic plans for identifying and addressing pri-
ority policy questions described in agency evi-
dence-building plans under section 312; and 
‘‘(D) serve as a forum in which members 
may engage in collective learning and sharing of 
information to strengthen and promote high- 
quality program evaluation practices across the 
Government. 
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‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the 
Council shall be the Chief Evaluation Officers ap-
pointed or designated under section 314. The Direc-
tor shall designate a Chair of the Council. Additional 
members may be designated by the Chair. 
‘‘(4) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet not 
less than twice per fiscal year and may meet at the 
call of the Chair or a majority of the members of the 
Council. 
‘‘(5) SUPPORT.—The head of each agency with 
a Chief Evaluation Officer serving on the Council 
shall, as appropriate and to the extent permitted by 
law, provide support in operating the Council, upon 
the request of the Chair. 
‘‘(6) ANNUAL
REPORT.—The Chair of the 
Council shall submit an annual report on the Coun-
cil’s work under paragraph (2) to the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Government Affairs of the Senate. The 
Director shall make such report publicly available 
online. 
‘‘(7) REPORT AND TERMINATION.— 
‘‘(A) EVALUATION OF COUNCIL.—Not later 
than four years after the date of the enactment 
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of this subsection, the Comptroller General of 
the United States shall submit a report to Con-
gress on whether the Council improved the use 
of evidence and program evaluation in the Fed-
eral Government. 
‘‘(B) TERMINATION
OF
COUNCIL.—The 
Council shall terminate and this subsection 
shall be repealed upon the expiration of the 
two-year period that begins on the date the 
Comptroller General of the United States sub-
mits the evaluation under subparagraph (A) to 
Congress. 
‘‘§ 314. Chief Evaluation Officers 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The head of each agency 
shall appoint or designate an employee of the agency as 
the Chief Evaluation Officer of the agency. 
‘‘(b) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Chief Evaluation Offi-
cer of an agency shall be appointed or designated without 
regard to political affiliation and based on demonstrated 
expertise in evaluation methodology, practices, and appro-
priate expertise to the disciplines of the agency. 
‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.—The Chief Evaluation Officer of 
an agency may not simultaneously serve as any of the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(1) The Chief Financial Officer of any agency. 
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‘‘(2) The Chief Information Officer of any 
agency. 
‘‘(3) The Chief Human Capital Officer of any 
agency. 
‘‘(4) The Chief Acquisition Officer of any agen-
cy. 
‘‘(5) The Inspector General of any agency. 
‘‘(d) COORDINATION.—The Chief Evaluation Officer 
of an agency shall, to the extent practicable, coordinate 
activities with agency officials, including the following: 
‘‘(1) Agency officials responsible for imple-
menting privacy policy regarding privacy and con-
fidentiality issues. 
‘‘(2) The Chief Data Officer of the agency. 
‘‘(3) Agency officials designated under section 
315. 
‘‘(4) Any evaluation or analysis unit and per-
sonnel of the agency on the needs for evaluation and 
analysis. 
‘‘(5) The Performance Improvement Officer of 
the agency. 
‘‘(6) Program administrators of the agency. 
‘‘(7) The Chief Evaluation Officers of other 
agencies. 
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‘‘(e) FUNCTIONS.—The Chief Evaluation Officer of 
each agency shall— 
‘‘(1) continually assess the coverage, quality, 
methods, consistency, effectiveness, independence, 
and balance of the portfolio of evaluations, policy re-
search, and ongoing evaluation activities of the agen-
cy; 
‘‘(2) assess agency capacity to support the de-
velopment and use of evaluation; 
‘‘(3) establish and implement an agency evalua-
tion policy; and 
‘‘(4) coordinate, develop, and implement the 
plan required under section 312. 
‘‘§ 315. Statistical expertise 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency shall 
designate the head of any statistical agency or unit within 
the agency, or in the case of an agency that does not have 
a statistical agency or unit, any senior agency official with 
appropriate expertise, as a statistical official to advise on 
statistical policy, techniques, and procedures. Agency offi-
cials engaged in statistical activities may consult with any 
such statistical official as necessary. 
‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP ON INTERAGENCY COUNCIL FOR 
STATISTICAL POLICY.—Each statistical official designated 
under subsection (a) shall serve as a member of the Inter-
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agency Council for Statistical Policy established under sec-
tion 3504(e)(8) of title 44. 
‘‘§ 316. Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence 
Building 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director, or the head of 
an agency head designated by the Director, shall establish 
an Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building (in 
this section referred to as the ‘Advisory Committee’) to 
review, analyze, and make recommendations on how to ex-
pand access to and use of Federal data for evidence build-
ing. 
‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the Advisory 
Committee shall consist of the Chief Statistician of the 
United States, who shall serve as the Chair of the Advi-
sory Committee, and other members appointed by the Di-
rector as follows: 
‘‘(1) One member who is an agency Chief Infor-
mation Officer. 
‘‘(2) One member who is an agency Chief Pri-
vacy Officer. 
‘‘(3) One member who is an agency Chief Per-
formance Officer. 
‘‘(4) Three members who are agency Chief 
Data Officers. 
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‘‘(5) Three members who are agency Chief 
Evaluation Officers. 
‘‘(6) Three members who are members of the 
Interagency Council for Statistical Policy established 
under section 3504(e)(8) of title 44. 
‘‘(7) At least 10 members who are representa-
tives of State and local governments and nongovern-
mental stakeholders with expertise in government 
data policy, privacy, technology, transparency policy, 
evaluation and research methodologies, and other 
relevant subjects, of whom— 
‘‘(A) at least one shall have expertise in 
transparency policy; 
‘‘(B) at least one shall have expertise in 
privacy policy; 
‘‘(C) at least one shall have expertise in 
statistical data use; 
‘‘(D) at least one shall have expertise in in-
formation management; 
‘‘(E) at least one shall have expertise in in-
formation technology; 
‘‘(F) at least one shall be from the re-
search and evaluation community; and 
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‘‘(G) if practicable, at least one shall be a 
former member of the Commission on Evidence- 
Based Policymaking. 
‘‘(c) TERM OF SERVICE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Advi-
sory Committee (other than the Chair) shall serve 
for a term of two years. 
‘‘(2) VACANCY.—Any member appointed to fill 
a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the 
term for which the member’s predecessor was ap-
pointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of 
that term. A vacancy in the Commission shall be 
filled in the manner in which the original appoint-
ment was made. 
‘‘(d) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Advisory 
Committee shall serve without compensation. 
‘‘(e) DUTIES.— 
‘‘(1) FIRST YEAR.—During the first year of the 
Advisory 
Committee, 
the 
Advisory 
Committee 
shall— 
‘‘(A) assist the Director in carrying out the 
duties of the Director under part D of sub-
chapter III of chapter 35 of title 44; and 
‘‘(B) evaluate and provide recommenda-
tions to the Director on the establishment of a 
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shared service to facilitate data sharing, enable 
data linkage, and develop privacy enhancing 
techniques, including— 
‘‘(i) the specific capabilities, needs, 
and necessary assets of such service, and 
the extent to which assets should be trans-
ferred from existing agencies; 
‘‘(ii) any prospective location for such 
service; 
‘‘(iii) best practices for transparency 
and interagency coordination; 
‘‘(iv) best practices for monitoring 
and auditing of privacy, data linkage, and 
confidentiality of data accessed through 
such service; and 
‘‘(v) necessary administrative and fi-
nancial authorities to support the activities 
of such service. 
‘‘(2) SECOND YEAR.—During the second and 
any subsequent year of the Advisory Committee, the 
Advisory Committee shall— 
‘‘(A) if determined necessary by the Direc-
tor, carry out the duties described in paragraph 
(1); and 
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‘‘(B) review the coordination of data shar-
ing or availability for evidence building across 
all agencies. 
‘‘(f) REPORTS.—For each year of the existence of the 
Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee shall submit 
to the Director and make publicly available an annual re-
port on the activities and findings of the Advisory Com-
mittee.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
The table of sections for chapter 3 of part I of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(1) by inserting before the item relating to sec-
tion 301 the following: 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL PROVISIONS’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER II—FEDERAL EVIDENCE-BUILDING ACTIVITIES 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘311. Definitions. 
‘‘312. Agency evidence-building plan. 
‘‘313. Governmentwide evidence-building coordination. 
‘‘314. Chief Evaluation Officers. 
‘‘315. Statistical expertise. 
‘‘316. Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building.’’. 
(c) AGENCY STRATEGIC PLANS.—Section 306 of title 
5, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
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(B) in paragraph (8), by— 
(i) striking the period at the end; and 
(ii) inserting after ‘‘to be conducted’’ 
the following: ‘‘, and citations to relevant 
provisions of the plan required under sec-
tion 312; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(9) an assessment of the coverage, quality, 
methods, effectiveness, and independence of the sta-
tistics, evaluation, research, and analysis efforts of 
the agency, including— 
‘‘(A) a list of the activities and operations 
of the agency that are currently being evaluated 
and analyzed; 
‘‘(B) the extent to which the evaluations, 
research, and analysis efforts and related activi-
ties of the agency support the needs of various 
divisions within the agency; 
‘‘(C) the extent to which the evaluation re-
search and analysis efforts and related activities 
of the agency address an appropriate balance 
between needs related to organizational learn-
ing, ongoing program management, perform-
ance management, strategic management, inter-
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agency and private sector coordination, internal 
and external oversight, and accountability; 
‘‘(D) the extent to which the agency uses 
methods and combinations of methods that are 
appropriate to agency divisions and the cor-
responding research questions being addressed, 
including an appropriate combination of forma-
tive and summative evaluation research and 
analysis approaches; 
‘‘(E) the extent to which evaluation and re-
search capacity is present within the agency to 
include personnel and agency processes for 
planning and implementing evaluation activities, 
disseminating best practices and findings, and 
incorporating employee views and feedback; and 
‘‘(F) the extent to which the agency has 
the capacity to assist agency staff and program 
offices to develop the capacity to use evaluation 
research and analysis approaches and data in 
the day-to-day operations.’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub-
section (g); and 
(3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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‘‘(f) Not later than two years after the date on which 
each strategic plan required under subsection (a) is pub-
lished, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 
submit to Congress a report that— 
‘‘(1) summarizes agency findings and highlights 
trends in the assessment conducted pursuant to sub-
section (a)(9); and 
‘‘(2) if appropriate, recommends actions to fur-
ther improve agency capacity to use evaluation tech-
niques and data to support evaluation efforts.’’. 
TITLE II—OPEN GOVERNMENT 
DATA ACT 
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Open, Public, Elec-
tronic, and Necessary Government Data Act’ ’’ or the 
‘‘OPEN Government Data Act’’. 
SEC. 202. OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 3502 of title 44, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘; and’’ at 
the end and inserting a semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
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‘‘(15) the term ‘data’ means recorded informa-
tion, regardless of form or the media on which the 
data is recorded; 
‘‘(16) the term ‘data asset’ means a collection 
of data elements or data sets that may be grouped 
together; 
‘‘(17) the term ‘machine-readable’, when used 
with respect to data, means data in a format that 
can be easily processed by a computer without 
human intervention while ensuring no semantic 
meaning is lost; 
‘‘(18) the term ‘metadata’ means structural or 
descriptive information about data such as content, 
format, source, rights, accuracy, provenance, fre-
quency, periodicity, granularity, publisher or respon-
sible party, contact information, method of collec-
tion, and other descriptions; 
‘‘(19) the term ‘open Government data asset’ 
means a public data asset that is— 
‘‘(A) machine-readable; 
‘‘(B) available (or could be made available) 
in an open format; 
‘‘(C) not encumbered by restrictions that 
would impede the use or reuse of such asset; 
and 
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‘‘(D) based on an underlying open stand-
ard that is maintained by a standards organiza-
tion; 
‘‘(20) the term ‘open license’ means a legal 
guarantee that a data asset is made available— 
‘‘(A) at no cost to the public; and 
‘‘(B) with no restrictions on copying, pub-
lishing, distributing, transmitting, citing, or 
adapting such asset; 
‘‘(21) the term ‘public data asset’ means a data 
asset maintained by the Federal Government that 
has been, or may be, released to the public, includ-
ing any data asset subject to disclosure under sec-
tion 552 of title 5; and 
‘‘(22) the term ‘statistical laws’ means sub-
chapter III of this chapter and other laws pertaining 
to the protection of information collected for statis-
tical purposes as designated by the Director.’’. 
(b) GUIDANCE TO MAKE DATA OPEN
BY DE-
FAULT.—Section 3504(b) of title 44, United States Code, 
is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 
inserting a semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
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(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(6) issue guidance for agencies to implement 
section 3506(b)(6) in a manner that takes into ac-
count— 
‘‘(A) risks and restrictions related to the 
disclosure of personally identifiable information, 
including the risk that an individual data asset 
in isolation does not pose a privacy or confiden-
tiality risk but when combined with other avail-
able information may pose such a risk; 
‘‘(B) security considerations, including the 
risk that information in an individual data asset 
in isolation does not pose a security risk but 
when combined with other available information 
may pose such a risk; 
‘‘(C) the cost and benefits to the public of 
converting a data asset into a machine-readable 
format that is accessible and useful to the pub-
lic; 
‘‘(D) whether a data asset— 
‘‘(i) is protected by intellectual prop-
erty rights; 
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‘‘(ii) contains confidential business in-
formation, that could be withheld under 
section 552(b)(4) of title 5; or 
‘‘(iii) is otherwise restricted by con-
tract or other binding, written agreement; 
‘‘(E) the requirement that a data asset be 
disclosed, if it would otherwise be made avail-
able under section 552 of title 5 (commonly 
known as the Freedom of Information Act); and 
‘‘(F) any other considerations that the Di-
rector determines to be relevant.’’. 
(c) FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES TO MAKE 
DATA OPEN BY DEFAULT.— 
(1) AMENDMENTS.—Section 3506 of title 44, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(A) in subsection (b)— 
(i) by amending paragraph (2) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(2) in accordance with guidance by the Direc-
tor, develop and maintain a strategic information re-
sources management plan that— 
‘‘(A) describes how information resources 
management activities help accomplish agency 
missions; 
‘‘(B) includes an open data plan that— 
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‘‘(i) requires the agency to develop 
processes and procedures that— 
‘‘(I) require data collection mech-
anisms created on or after the date of 
the enactment of the OPEN Govern-
ment Data Act to be available in an 
open format; and 
‘‘(II) facilitate collaboration with 
non-Government entities (including 
businesses), researchers, and the pub-
lic for the purpose of understanding 
how data users value and use govern-
ment data; 
‘‘(ii) identifies and implements meth-
ods for collecting and analyzing digital in-
formation on data asset usage by users 
within and outside of the agency, including 
designating a point of contact within the 
agency to assist the public and to respond 
to quality issues, usability issues, rec-
ommendations for improvements, and com-
plaints about adherence to open data re-
quirements within a reasonable period of 
time; 
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‘‘(iii) develops and implements a proc-
ess to evaluate and improve the timeliness, 
completeness, consistency, accuracy, use-
fulness, and availability of open Govern-
ment data assets; 
‘‘(iv) includes requirements for meet-
ing the goals of the agency open data plan, 
including the acquisition of technology, 
provision of training for employees, and 
the implementation of procurement stand-
ards, in accordance with existing law, regu-
lation, and policy, that allow for the acqui-
sition of innovative solutions from public 
and private sectors; and 
‘‘(v) requires the agency to comply 
with requirements under section 3511, in-
cluding any standards established by the 
Director under such section, when dis-
closing a data asset pursuant to such sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(C) is updated annually and made pub-
licly available on the website of the agency not 
later than five days after each such update;’’; 
(ii) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; 
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 
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(iii) in paragraph (5), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
and 
(iv) by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) in accordance with guidance by the Direc-
tor— 
‘‘(A) make each data asset of the agency 
available in an open format and under an open 
license; 
‘‘(B) make each public data asset of the 
agency available as an open Government data 
asset; and 
‘‘(C) make each open Government data 
asset created by or for the agency available 
under an open license.’’; and 
(B) in subsection (d)— 
(i) in paragraph (3), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(ii) in paragraph (4), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting a semi-
colon; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
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‘‘(5) ensure that any public data asset of the 
agency is machine-readable; and 
‘‘(6) engage the public in using public data as-
sets of the agency and encourage collaboration by— 
‘‘(A) publishing on the website of the agen-
cy, on a regular basis (not less than annually), 
information on the usage of such assets by non- 
Government users; 
‘‘(B) providing the public with the oppor-
tunity to request specific data assets to be 
prioritized for disclosure and to provide sugges-
tions for the development of agency criteria 
with respect to prioritizing data assets for dis-
closure; 
‘‘(C) assisting the public in expanding the 
use of public data assets; and 
‘‘(D) 
hosting 
challenges, 
competitions, 
events, or other initiatives designed to create 
additional value from public data assets of the 
agency.’’. 
(2) USE
OF
OPEN
DATA
ASSETS.—Not later 
than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the head of each agency shall ensure that any 
activities by the agency or any new contract entered 
into by the agency meet the requirements of section 
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