I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3766 
To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign 
development and economic assistance programs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2015 
Mr. POE of Texas (for himself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 
States foreign development and economic assistance pro-
grams, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans-
parency and Accountability Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVEL-
OPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAMS. 
(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 
evaluate the performance of United States foreign develop-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
ment and economic assistance and its contribution to the 
policies, strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities 
undertaken by the Federal Government, to foster and pro-
mote innovative programs to improve effectiveness, and to 
coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes of 
Federal departments and agencies that administer United 
States foreign development and economic assistance. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT
OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 
than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the President shall set forth guidelines for the estab-
lishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and 
monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with 
reasonable consistency to United States foreign develop-
ment and economic assistance. Such guidelines shall be 
established according to best practices of monitoring and 
evaluation studies and analyses. 
(c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The guidelines established 
under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Fed-
eral departments and agencies that administer 
United States foreign development and economic as-
sistance on monitoring the use of resources, evalu-
ating the outcomes and impacts of United States 
foreign 
development 
and 
economic 
assistance 
projects and programs, and applying the findings 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
and conclusions of such evaluations to proposed 
project and program design. 
(2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 
established under subsection (b) shall require Fed-
eral departments and agencies that administer 
United States foreign development and economic as-
sistance to take the following actions: 
(A) Establish annual monitoring and eval-
uation agendas and objectives to plan and man-
age the process of monitoring, evaluating, ana-
lyzing progress, and applying learning toward 
achieving results. 
(B) Develop specific project monitoring 
and evaluation plans, to include measurable 
goals and performance metrics, and identify the 
resources necessary to conduct such evalua-
tions, which should be covered by program 
costs, during project design. 
(C) Apply rigorous monitoring and evalua-
tion methodologies to such programs, including 
through the use of impact evaluations, ex-post 
evaluations, or other methods as appropriate, 
that clearly define program logic, inputs, out-
puts, intermediate outcomes, and end outcomes. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(D) Disseminate guidelines for the develop-
ment and implementation of monitoring and 
evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 
in the field, who are responsible for the design, 
implementation, and management of United 
States foreign development and economic assist-
ance programs. 
(E) Establish methodologies for the collec-
tion of data, including baseline data to serve as 
a reference point against which progress can be 
measured. 
(F) Evaluate at least once in their lifetime 
all programs whose dollar value equals or ex-
ceeds the median program size for the relevant 
office or bureau or an equivalent calculation to 
ensure the majority of program resources are 
evaluated. 
(G) Conduct impact evaluations on all pilot 
programs before replicating wherever possible, 
or provide a written justification for not con-
ducting an impact evaluation where such an 
evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impos-
sible. 
(H) Develop a clearinghouse capacity for 
the collection and dissemination of knowledge 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 
guide future programs for United States devel-
opment professionals, implementing partners, 
the donor community, and aid recipient govern-
ments, and as a repository of knowledge on les-
sons learned. 
(I) Distribute evaluation reports internally. 
(J) Develop a summary of each evaluation, 
including a description of the evaluation meth-
odology and key findings and recommendations 
made in the evaluation within 90 days after the 
completion of the evaluation. 
(K) Undertake collaborative partnerships 
and coordinate efforts with the academic com-
munity, implementing partners, and national 
and international institutions that have exper-
tise in program monitoring, evaluation, and 
analysis when such partnerships provide needed 
expertise or significantly improve the evaluation 
and analysis. 
(L) Ensure verifiable, valid, credible, pre-
cise, reliable, and timely data are available to 
monitoring and evaluation personnel to permit 
the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of 
United States foreign development and eco-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
nomic assistance programs, including an assess-
ment of assumptions and limitations in such 
evaluations. 
(M) Ensure that standards of professional 
evaluation organizations for monitoring and 
evaluation efforts are employed, including en-
suring the integrity and independence of evalua-
tions, permitting and encouraging the exercise 
of professional judgment, and providing for 
quality control and assurance in the monitoring 
and evaluation process. 
(d) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report that contains a detailed description 
of the guidelines established under subsection (b). The re-
port shall be submitted in unclassified form, but it may 
contain a classified annex. 
(e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—The Comp-
troller General of the United States shall, not later than 
1 year after the report required by subsection (d) is sub-
mitted to Congress, submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report that analyzes— 
(1) the guidelines established pursuant to sub-
section (b); and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(2) a side-by-side comparison of the President’s 
budget request for that fiscal year of every oper-
ational unit that carries out United States foreign 
development and economic assistance and the per-
formance of such units during the prior fiscal year. 
SEC. 3. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DE-
VELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 
PROGRAMS. 
(a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 
(1) UPDATE
OF
EXISTING
WEB
SITE.—Not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of State shall update the 
Department 
of 
State’s 
Internet 
Web 
site, 
‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to make publicly available 
comprehensive, timely, and comparable information 
on United States foreign development and economic 
assistance programs, including all information re-
quired pursuant to subsection (b) of this section that 
is then available to the Secretary of State. 
(2) INFORMATION SHARING.—The head of each 
Federal department or agency that administers 
United States foreign development and economic as-
sistance shall, not later than 2 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and on a quarterly 
basis thereafter, provide to the Secretary of State 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
comprehensive information about the United States 
foreign development and economic assistance pro-
grams carried out by such department or agency. 
(3) UPDATES TO WEB SITE.—Not later than 2 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of State shall publish, through the 
‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ Web site or a successor on-
line publication, the information provided under sub-
section (b) of this section and shall update such in-
formation on a quarterly basis. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The information described in 
subsection (a) shall be published on a detailed 
award-by-award and country-by-country basis unless 
assistance is provided on a regional level, in which 
case the information shall be published on an award- 
by-award and region-by-region basis. 
(2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.— 
(A) 
IN
GENERAL.—To 
ensure 
trans-
parency, accountability, and effectiveness of 
United States foreign development and eco-
nomic assistance programs, the information de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall include all re-
gional, country, and sector assistance strategies, 
annual budget documents, congressional budget 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
justifications, obligations, expenditures, evalua-
tions and summaries of evaluations as required 
under section 2(c)(2)(J), and basic descriptive 
summaries for United States foreign develop-
ment and economic assistance programs and 
awards under such programs. Each type of in-
formation described in this paragraph shall be 
published or updated on the Internet Web site 
not later than 90 days after the date of 
issuance of the information. 
(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 
subparagraph (A) shall be construed to require 
a Federal department or agency that admin-
isters United States foreign development and 
economic assistance to provide any information 
that does not relate to or is not otherwise re-
quired by the United States foreign develop-
ment and economic assistance programs carried 
out by such department or agency. 
(3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 
(A) HEALTH
OR
SECURITY
OF
IMPLE-
MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 
department or agency makes a determination 
that the inclusion of a required item of informa-
tion online would jeopardize the health or secu-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
rity of an implementing partner or program 
beneficiary or would require the release of pro-
prietary information of an implementing part-
ner or program beneficiary, the head of the 
Federal department or agency shall provide 
such determination in writing to the appro-
priate congressional committees, including the 
basis for such determination and shall— 
(i) provide a briefing to the appro-
priate congressional committees on such 
information; or 
(ii) submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees such information in a 
written report. 
(B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED 
STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de-
termination that the inclusion of a required 
item of information online would be detrimental 
to the national interests of the United States, 
the Secretary of State shall provide such deter-
mination in writing to the appropriate congres-
sional committees, including the basis for such 
determination and shall— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(i) provide a briefing to the appro-
priate congressional committees on such 
information; or 
(ii) submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees the item of information 
in a written report. 
(C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor-
mation provided under this paragraph may be 
provided in classified form, as appropriate. 
(4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If a Federal depart-
ment or agency fails to comply with the require-
ments of subsection (a), paragraph (1) or (2) of this 
subsection, or subsection (c) with respect to pro-
viding information described in subsection (a), and 
the information is not subject to a determination 
under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) of 
this subsection not to make the information pub-
lically available, the Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget, in consultation with the head 
of such department or agency, shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees not later than 
September 1, 2016, a consolidated report describing, 
with respect to each required item of information 
not made publicly available— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(A) a detailed explanation of the failure of 
not making such information publicly available; 
and 
(B) the department’s or agency’s plan and 
timeline for immediately making such informa-
tion publicly available, and for ensuring that 
such failures do not take place in following 
years. 
(c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.—The online publication 
required by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, provide 
the information required by subsection (b)— 
(1) in each fiscal year from 2016 through 2019, 
such information for fiscal years 2012 through the 
current fiscal year; and 
(2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year 
thereafter, such information for the immediately pre-
ceding five fiscal years in a fully searchable form. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives. 
(2) 
EVALUATION.—The 
term 
‘‘evaluation’’ 
means, with respect to a United States foreign de-
velopment and economic assistance program, the 
systematic collection and analysis of information 
about the characteristics and outcomes of the pro-
gram, including projects conducted under such pro-
gram, as a basis for making judgments and evalua-
tions regarding the program, to improve program ef-
fectiveness, and to inform decisions about current 
and future programming. 
(3) UNITED
STATES
FOREIGN
DEVELOPMENT 
AND
ECONOMIC
ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United 
States foreign development and economic assistance’’ 
means assistance provided primarily for the purposes 
of foreign development and economic support, in-
cluding assistance authorized under— 
(A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), other than— 
(i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part 
(relating to the Overseas Private Invest-
ment Corporation); 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to 
International 
Organizations 
and 
Pro-
grams); and 
(iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating 
to International Narcotics Control); 
(B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 
relating to Economic Support Fund); 
(C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 
(22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); and 
(D) the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 
1721 et seq.). 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:51 Oct 21, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H3766.IH
H3766
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS