[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6411 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6411

   To strengthen transparency and accountability in Federal spending.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2008

   Mr. Murphy of Connecticut (for himself, Mr. Souder, Mr. Clay, Mr. 
Towns, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Shadegg, and Mr. Waxman) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To strengthen transparency and accountability in Federal spending.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening 
Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Improving application programming interface and website data 
                            elements.
Sec. 3. Improving data quality.
Sec. 4. Recipient performance transparency.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE AND WEBSITE DATA 
              ELEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2 of the Federal Funding Accountability 
and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) 
(referred to in this Act as the ``Act'' for purposes of any amendment) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii), by striking ``and 
                delivery orders'' and inserting ``lease agreements and 
                assignments, and delivery orders''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``and'' after the semicolon;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) programmatically search and access all data 
                in a serialized machine readable format (such as XML) 
                via a web-services application programming 
                interface.'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                        ``and'' after the semicolon;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(G) a unique award identifier that identifies 
                each individual award vehicle;
                    ``(H) the date that the financial award was made;
                    ``(I) the date that the financial award 
                requirements began;
                    ``(J) the date that the financial obligations are 
                dispersed to the recipient;
                    ``(K) to the extent possible, the agency and 
                department as well as subagencies and suboffices that 
                have authorized the Federal award;
                    ``(L) in negotiated procurements, the highest, 
                lowest, and median offered price among all technically 
                acceptable proposals or bids;
                    ``(M) after January 1, 2010, for all contracts, 
                subcontracts, purchase orders, task orders, lease 
                agreements and assignments, and delivery orders--
                            ``(i) both a copy in a format that 
                        reproduces the original image of each page and 
                        a copy in searchable text format of the request 
                        for proposals, the announcement of the award, 
                        the contract, and the scope of work to be 
                        performed;
                            ``(ii) a product or service code that 
                        identifies the general category of product or 
                        service procured under the transaction;
                            ``(iii) information about the extent of 
                        competition in making the award, including the 
                        number of qualified bids or proposals during 
                        the competitive process, and if the award was 
                        not competed, the legal authority and specific 
                        rationale for making the award without full and 
                        open competition;
                            ``(iv) the full amount of money that is 
                        awarded under a contract or, in the case of 
                        lease agreements or assignments, the amount 
                        paid to the Government, and the full amount of 
                        any options to expand or extend under a 
                        contract;
                            ``(v) the amount and nature of the profit 
                        incentive offered to contractors for achieving 
                        or exceeding specified goals such as fixed 
                        price, cost plus pricing, labor hour contracts, 
                        and time and materials contracts;
                            ``(vi) an indication if the contract is the 
                        result of legislative mandates, set-asides, 
                        preference program requirements, or other 
                        criteria, and whether the contract is 
                        multiyear, consolidated, or performance based;
                            ``(vii) an indication if the contract is a 
                        congressionally directed spending item as 
                        defined in Public Law 110-81; and
                            ``(viii) socioeconomic characteristics of 
                        the entity that receives an award including its 
                        size, industrial classification (NAICS code), 
                        and whether the entity is owned by minority 
                        individuals, women, veterans, or other special 
                        categories; and
                    ``(N) after January 1, 2009, for all grants, 
                subgrants, loans, awards, cooperative agreements, and 
                other forms of financial assistance--
                            ``(i) the type of recipient receiving the 
                        award, such as State government, local 
                        government, Indian tribe, individual, small 
                        business, for-profit, or nonprofit;
                            ``(ii) the type of financial assistance 
                        each transaction represents including direct 
                        payments, insurance, loans, grants, and 
                        cooperative agreements;
                            ``(iii) the amount of money from non-
                        Federal sources that is required to obtain the 
                        award; and
                            ``(iv) an indication if the funding is a 
                        congressionally directed spending item as 
                        defined in Public Law 110-81.'';
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) 
                as paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively; and
                    (C) by adding after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Presentation of data.--The website shall present 
        information about Federal awards and recipients of Federal 
        awards in ways that meet the needs of users with different 
        levels of understanding about government spending and abilities 
        using searching websites by--
                    ``(A) providing search results for novices 
                displayed in summary form and with top level 
                information such as amount of money received in a 
                fiscal year, basic information about the recipient, 
                purpose of the Federal award, what Federal agencies are 
                providing the money, where the work is performed, and 
                extent of competition, if applicable; and
                    ``(B) providing more detailed information for more 
                sophisticated users, including all data in paragraph 
                (1).''; and
            (3) in subsection (c), by striking paragraph (4) and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(4) shall be updated at least once every 30 days with new 
        information required by this Act; and''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Except as otherwise provided, amendments made 
by subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than 6 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY.

    (a) In General.--The Act is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 5. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall ensure the following:
            ``(1) A simple method for the public to report errors is 
        available on the website created by this Act which should--
                    ``(A) allow the public to report errors on single 
                records as well as problems affecting multiple records;
                    ``(B) allow the public to provide contact 
                information, including e-mail address, mail address, or 
                telephone number, to be used for informing the reporter 
                of the outcome of the records review;
                    ``(C) send copies of the error report to both an 
                official responsible for the data quality at the agency 
                that generated the data and to the Office of Management 
                and Budget;
                    ``(D) if reported errors are deemed to be 
                nonfrivolous, place an indicator on the records on the 
                website that informs users that the accuracy of the 
                record has been brought into question, until the 
                information is either confirmed as correct or updated 
                to be correct; and
                    ``(E) maintain a public record organized by agency 
                of the total number of records which have had 
                nonfrivolous reports of errors, the number of records 
                which have been corrected, and number of records for 
                which error reports remain unresolved.
            ``(2) Each agency inspector general--
                    ``(A) reviews a statistically representative sample 
                of agency Federal awards every 6 months to verify 
                accuracy of the data and that data standards are being 
                followed;
                    ``(B) reports to the Director of the Office of 
                Management and Budget the findings of the review; and
                    ``(C) makes publicly available, including through 
                the website created by this Act, the findings of the 
                review.
            ``(3) The data used on the website created by this Act is 
        audited for quality every 6 months with the audit to include at 
        least the following steps:
                    ``(A) Review and report publicly on the activity in 
                the error reporting system created by this section with 
                an analysis for each agency and combined for agencies 
                that includes at least the following indicators:
                            ``(i) Number of errors reported.
                            ``(ii) Number of reported errors resolved.
                            ``(iii) Number of reported errors that 
                        remain unresolved.
                            ``(iv) Number of reported errors that led 
                        to corrections.
                            ``(v) Number of reported errors on records 
                        that proved to be correct.
                            ``(vi) Average number of days to resolve 
                        error report.
                            ``(vii) Longest number of days to resolve 
                        an error report.
                            ``(viii) Longest held reported error that 
                        remains unresolved.
                    ``(B) An independent review every 6 months of data 
                used for the website to verify accuracy of the data and 
                assess the process used for improving data quality with 
                an ability for the public to review these findings.
                    ``(C) Identify and report new standards that should 
                be implemented by agencies to improve data quality.
            ``(4)(A) No personally identifiable information is made 
        available through the website created by this Act and a common 
        standard is created across the Government for assigning a 
        unique award identifier across both contract and Federal 
        assistance award transactions.
            ``(B) A report is submitted within 6 months of the date of 
        enactment of this Act to Congress (and made publicly available 
        on the Internet) that no personally identifiable information is 
        available on the website.
            ``(C) Agencies are required to correct data for past years 
        when personally identifiable information was used.
            ``(D) The unique recipient identifier and parent company 
        identifier are--
                    ``(i) accurate;
                    ``(ii) able to identify past and current subsidiary 
                ownership; and
                    ``(iii) publicly available through the download and 
                application programming interfaces in section 2(a)(3).
            ``(5) The data on the website created by this Act is 
        normalized to correct nonstandard ways of reporting names and 
        other information.
            ``(6) The Consolidated Federal Funds Report is published 
        not later than 6 months after the end of the fiscal year.
            ``(7) A plan for improving the management and accuracy of 
        agency financial information about Federal awards, including 
        public access to such data, is submitted to the Committee on 
        Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 
        the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 
        of Representatives and made publicly available through the 
        Internet not later than December 31, 2009.
            ``(8) Findings from the agency inspectors general reports, 
        the data quality audits, and other information are used to 
        develop standards or guidance for agency implementation of, and 
        compliance with, the requirements of this Act.
    ``(b) Statutory Obligations.--Nothing in this Act relieves the 
director or any Federal agency of any statutory obligation to develop, 
maintain, or provide access to complete, accurate, and timely Federal 
financial data.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Except as otherwise provided, the amendments 
made by subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than June 30, 
2009.

SEC. 4. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY.

    (a) In General.--The Act as amended by section 4 is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 7. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND TAX COMPLIANCE.

    ``(a) Performance Transparency.--The Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall ensure that the unique identifier required 
in section 2(b)(1)(E) that is used to link information on the website 
described in section 2 is also used to link information about 
performance of individual contractors and recipients of financial 
assistance starting with awards given in fiscal year 2008 including--
            ``(1) an assessment of the quality of work performed on 
        Federal awards during the past 5 years, but not before fiscal 
        year 2008;
            ``(2) information about Federal audit disputes and 
        resolutions;
            ``(3) information regarding civil, criminal, and 
        administrative actions initiated or concluded by the Federal 
        Government or a State government against Federal awards 
        recipients or violations of Federal or State laws or 
        regulations during the preceding 5 years including, but not 
        limited to--
                    ``(A) with respect to each proceeding--
                            ``(i) a brief description of the proceeding 
                        and its disposition;
                            ``(ii) any amount paid by the person to the 
                        Federal Government or a State government; and
                            ``(iii) any violation of law or 
                        regulations, if applicable, related to the 
                        workplace, environmental protection, fraud, 
                        securities, and consumer protections 
                        including--
                                    ``(I) those affecting worker safety 
                                and health;
                                    ``(II) working pay and leave 
                                rights;
                                    ``(III) workplace discrimination, 
                                including trafficking in persons;
                                    ``(IV) labor relations;
                                    ``(V) the Clean Air Act, Clean 
                                Water Act, the Resource Conservation 
                                and Recovery Act, and other 
                                environmental enforcement actions;
                                    ``(VI) whistleblower protections;
                                    ``(VII) Security and Exchange 
                                Commission actions; and
                                    ``(VIII) Federal Trade Commission 
                                actions;
                    ``(B) all Federal contracts and assistance awarded 
                to the Federal awards recipient that were terminated in 
                such period due to default;
                    ``(C) all Federal suspensions and debarments of the 
                Federal awards recipient in that period;
                    ``(D) all Federal suspension and debarment show 
                cause orders received by the Federal awards recipient 
                in that period; and
                    ``(E) all administrative agreements signed with 
                such Federal awards recipient in that period; and
            ``(4) publicly available Government reports, including 
        those from the Government Accountability Office, Congressional 
        Research Service, Congressional Budget Office, and agency 
        inspectors general, concerning general contractor or assistance 
        recipient performance or specific instances of waste, fraud, 
        and abuse.
    ``(b) Tax Compliance.--
            ``(1) In general.--The chief executive officer of an entity 
        that receives a Federal award shall be required to certify 
        whether--
                    ``(A) the entity has filed all Federal tax returns 
                required during the preceding 5 years;
                    ``(B) the entity has been convicted of a criminal 
                offense under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
                    ``(C) the entity has an outstanding debt under the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for which a notice of 
                lien has been filed in public records pursuant to 
                section 6323 of such Code that is not--
                            ``(i) being paid in a timely manner 
                        pursuant to an agreement under section 6159 or 
                        section 7122 of such Code; or
                            ``(ii) a debt with respect to which a 
                        collection due process hearing under section 
                        6330 of such Code, or relief under subsection 
                        (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 of such Code, 
                        is requested or pending.
            ``(2) OMB.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
        Budget shall--
                    ``(A) develop the certification forms required by 
                paragraph (1);
                    ``(B) ensure that each agency providing Federal 
                awards complies with the requirements of this 
                subsection; and
                    ``(C) after January 1, 2009, ensure that the 
                website described in section 2 contains information 
                collected under paragraph (1).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 
implemented not later than June 30, 2009.
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