rectly, to a State, local, or tribal government or
a qualified organization to carry out a specified
program;
(B) does not include a Federal program
under which financial assistance is provided by
the Federal Government directly to a bene-
ficiary of that financial assistance, or to a State
to provide financial or food voucher assistance
directly to a beneficiary (but may include ad-
ministrative costs for such a program if admin-
istrative funding levels are set separately from
benefit funding by law or regulation);
(C) includes the services portion of a pro-
gram that provides both direct cash payments
and services; and
(D) does not include a direct spending pro-
gram (as defined under the Budget Enforce-
ment Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 900(c)(8)).
(2) the term ‘‘eligible State, local, or tribal gov-
ernment’’ means a State, local, or tribal government
that is eligible to receive financial assistance under
one or more eligible Federal financial assistance pro-
grams;
(3) the term ‘‘local government’’ means—
(A) a subdivision of a State that is a unit
of general local government (as defined under
section 6501 of title 31, United States Code);
(B) any combination of political subdivi-
sions described in subparagraph (A) recognized
by the Council; and
(C) local education agencies (as defined
under section 8801(18) of title 20, United
States Code);
(4) the term ‘‘qualified organization’’ means a
private, nonprofit organization described in section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that
is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(5) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50
States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Amer-
ican Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands;
(6) the term ‘‘qualified consortium’’ means a
group that—
(A) is composed of any combination of
qualified organizations, State agencies, or local
agencies that receive federally appropriated
funds, and
(B) includes representatives from not less
than three organizations providing services in
not less than three of the following areas:
(i) Education.
(ii) Head Start.
(iii) Child care.
(iv) Family support and preservation.
(v) Maternal and child health.
(vi) Job training.
(vii) Housing.
(viii) Nutrition.
(ix) Juvenile justice.
(x) Drug abuse prevention and treat-
ment; and
(7) the term ‘‘tribal government’’ means the
governing entity of an Indian tribe as defined in the
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994
(25 U.S.C. 479a), and any amendments to such Act.
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL COORDINATION
COUNCIL.
(a) The President shall designate a Federal Coordi-
nation Council, in this Act referred to as ‘‘Council’’, com-
posed of the following:
(1) The Secretary of the Treasury.
(2) The Attorney General.
(3) The Secretary of the Interior.
(4) The Secretary of Agriculture.
(5) The Secretary of Commerce.
(6) The Secretary of Labor.
(7) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices.
(8) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment.
(9) The Secretary of Transportation.
(10) The Secretary of Education.
(11) The Secretary of Energy.
(12) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
(13) The Secretary of Defense.
(14) The Director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
(15) The Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
(16) The Director of National Drug Control
Policy.
(17) The Administrator of the Small Business
Administration.
(18) The Director of the Office of Management
and Budget.
(19) The Administrator of the General Services
Administration.
(20) The Chair, Council of Economic Advisers.
(21) The Assistant to the President for Domes-
tic Policy.
(22) The Assistant to the President for Eco-
nomic Policy.
(23) Any additional members appointed at the
discretion of the President.
(b) The President shall designate the Chair of the
Council from among the members of the Council.
(c) The Council shall perform the following functions:
(1) Review regulations governing eligible Fed-
eral financial assistance programs in the areas listed
in section 4(1)(A) and identify more efficient oper-
ation and coordination of such programs.
(2) Coordinate and assist Federal agencies in
eliminating, revising, and coordinating regulations,
including regulations with respect to the blending of
funds.
(3) Coordinate and assist Federal agencies in
creating an application to be used to apply for as-
sistance from eligible Federal financial assistance
programs in the areas listed in section 4(1)(A).
(4) Coordinate and assist Federal agencies in
creating a release form to be used by a client to au-
thorize or prohibit service providers, including
schools, from sharing information across eligible
Federal financial assistance programs.
(5) Coordinate and assist agencies in creating a
system wherein an organization or consortium of or-
ganizations may use one proposal to apply for fund-
ing from multiple eligible Federal financial assist-
ance programs.
(6) Evaluate current performance standards
and evaluation criteria for eligible Federal financial
assistance 
programs, 
and 
make 
specific 
rec-
ommendations to Federal agencies regarding how to
revise such standards and criteria in order to estab-
lish specific and measurable performance and out-
come measures by which program success may be
judged and future funding decisions made.
(7) Ensure that Federal grants program cri-
teria award priority funding to qualified consortia.
(8) Establish interagency teams comprised of
staff from the agencies that administer the covered
federal financial assistance programs to provide
training and technical assistance to assist program
coordination.
(9) Establish interagency teams to provide out-
come-based, cross-program evaluation of coordinated
programs.
(10) Identify not less than ten qualified consor-
tia to participate in a demonstration program to de-
termine the benefits of the following accountability
procedures:
(A) The qualified consortium shall select
program goals from a set of specific and meas-
urable goals identified by the State in which the
members of the consortium are located.
(B) The qualified consortium shall develop
a flexibility and coordination plan to describe—
(i) how the consortium will attain
these goals;
(ii) how performance will be meas-
ured; and
(iii) how the consortium will identify
subgroups within the community, and col-
lect and maintain data to measure the im-
pact of the plan on individuals, the
subgroups, and the community.
SEC. 6. INCENTIVES TO FORM CONSORTIA.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, mem-
bers of a qualified consortium shall be exempted, without
any waiver application or approval, but subject to prior
notification to the agency administering the affected Fed-
eral assistance programs, from meeting requirements or
providing services which are met or performed by another
member of the consortium, so long as the standards of
the requirement or service are met by that other member
of the consortium.
(b) Any funds which each individual program saves
from the program coordination described in subsection (a)
may be retained by the consortium in a flexible account.
Flexible account funds may be used to expand, improve,
or otherwise augment services provided by the consortium,
consistent with the intent of Federal programs managed
by consortium members, including data systems develop-
ment and joint professional development with staff from
other consortium members.
(c) Any agency or organization that is a member of
a consortium may at its discretion set aside a maximum
of 10 percent of its Federal funds in the flexible account
described in subsection (b).
(d) The flexible account described in subsection (b)
shall be administered in accordance with a memorandum
of understanding agreed to by each member of the consor-
tium.
(e) The Federal agencies with jurisdiction over Fed-
eral financial assistance programs included in a consor-
tium may designate a cognizant agency to audit flexible
fund expenditures.