[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1436 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1436

 To provide for the evaluation of Government programs for efficiency, 
                   effectiveness, and accountability.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 2009

 Mr. Cuellar introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the evaluation of Government programs for efficiency, 
                   effectiveness, and accountability.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Government Efficiency, 
Effectiveness, and Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and unaccountability in 
        Federal programs undermines the confidence of the American 
        people in the Government and reduces the Federal Government's 
        ability to adequately address vital public needs;
            (2) insufficient information on program performance 
        seriously disadvantages Federal managers in their efforts to 
        improve program efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability;
            (3) congressional policy making, spending decisions, and 
        program oversight are handicapped by insufficient attention to 
        program performance and results;
            (4) programs performing similar or duplicative functions 
        that exist within a single agency or across multiple agencies 
        should be identified and their performance and results shared 
        among all such programs to improve their performance and 
        results;
            (5) advocates of good government continue to seek ways to 
        improve efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability; focus on 
        results; and integrate the performance of programs with 
        decisions about budgets;
            (6) with the passage of the Government Performance and 
        Results Act of 1993, the Congress directed the executive branch 
        to seek improvements in the effectiveness, efficiency, and 
        accountability of Federal programs by having agencies focus on 
        program results; and
            (7) the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 
        provided a strong framework for the executive branch to monitor 
        the long-term goals and annual performance of its departments 
        and agencies.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING STRATEGIC AND PERFORMANCE PLANS OF 
              THE GOVERNMENT.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President should establish a government-wide 
        strategic plan and a government-wide performance plan; and
            (2) the head of each Federal agency should consult with the 
        committees with jurisdiction over the agency and other 
        interested members of Congress at the beginning of each 
        Congress regarding the performance plan of the agency (required 
        by section 1115 of title 31, United States Code).

SEC. 4. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to improve the Government Performance and Results Act 
        of 1993 by implementing a program assessment and evaluation 
        process that attempts to determine the strengths and weaknesses 
        of Federal programs with a particular focus on the efficiency, 
        effectiveness, and accountability of Federal programs and to 
        identify programs that have missions or outcomes that are 
        duplicative;
            (2) to use the information gathered in the assessment and 
        evaluation process to build on the groundwork laid in the 
        Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to help the 
        executive branch make informed management decisions and 
        results-based funding requests aimed at achieving positive 
        results;
            (3) to provide congressional policy makers the information 
        needed to conduct more effective oversight, to make better-
        informed authorization decisions, and to make more results-
        based spending decisions that achieve positive results for the 
        American people;
            (4) to encourage the wise expenditure of funds on the most 
        effective Federal programs in an effort to save money;
            (5) to eliminate Federal programs subject to waste, fraud, 
        and abuse;
            (6) to identify best practices in Federal programs for 
        allocating resources in an efficient and effective manner;
            (7) to provide agencies with the information needed to 
        track low-performing programs; and
            (8) to provide agencies with the information needed to 
        quickly respond to poor performance of agency programs.

SEC. 5. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT.

    (a) Requirement for Program Assessments.--Chapter 11 of title 31, 
United States Code, as amended by the Government Performance and 
Results Act of 1993, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:
``Sec. 1120. Program assessment
    ``(a) Assessment.--The head of each Federal agency, in consultation 
with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall, to the 
maximum extent practicable, conduct an assessment of each program of 
the agency at least once every 5 fiscal years.
    ``(b) Assessment Requirements.--In conducting an assessment of a 
program under subsection (a), the head of a Federal agency, in 
consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
shall--
            ``(1) coordinate to determine the programs to be assessed; 
        and
            ``(2) evaluate the purpose, design, strategic plan, 
        management, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, 
        performance measures, and results of the program, and such 
        other matters as the head of the agency considers appropriate.
    ``(c) Additional Requirements.--After a fiscal year during which 
one or more programs of a Federal agency have been assessed under 
subsection (a), the head of the agency shall--
            ``(1) determine how the information gathered from the 
        assessments can help save taxpayers money;
            ``(2) with respect to any assessed programs that have 
        duplicative outcomes or missions, develop a plan for merging 
        the programs to make them more effective and to save money;
            ``(3) identify, within any program assessed, the best 
        practices conducted in the program for allocating resources in 
        an efficient and effective manner that resulted in positive 
        outcomes, and the key reasons why such practices resulted in 
        positive outcomes; and
            ``(4) determine the level of performance of any program 
        assessed, determine the reasons for any substantial variation 
        from the targeted level of performance of the program, and 
        develop a quick response to improve any low-performing program.
    ``(d) Criteria for Identifying Programs to Assess.--The head of 
each Federal agency, in consultation with the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget, shall develop criteria for identifying programs 
to be assessed within the agency each fiscal year. In developing the 
criteria, the head of the agency shall take into account the advantages 
of assessing during the same fiscal year any programs that are 
performing similar functions, have similar purposes, share common 
goals, or have similar outcomes.
    ``(e) Criteria for More Frequent Assessments.--The head of each 
Federal agency, in consultation with the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget, shall make every effort to assess programs more 
frequently than required under subsection (a) in cases in which 
programs are determined to be of higher priority, special circumstances 
exist, improvements have been made, or the head of the agency and the 
Director determine that more frequent assessment is warranted.
    ``(f) Cross-Referencing System.--The Direction of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall develop a government-wide system to cross 
reference programs within each Federal agency for the following 
purposes:
            ``(1) To enable the identification of programs with 
        missions and outcomes that are duplicative.
            ``(2) To identify best practices within the programs for 
        allocating resources in an efficient and effective manner.
            ``(3) To make the programs more effective and efficient.
            ``(4) To save money.
    ``(g) Notice and Comment Requirement.--At the beginning of each 
fiscal year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, 
by publication in the Federal Register, provide notice and an 
opportunity for public comment on a detailed description in draft form 
of each program to be assessed in that fiscal year by Federal agencies, 
the performance goals in draft form for each such program, and the 
criteria in draft form that will be used to evaluate each such program. 
Upon conclusion of the comment period, which shall be at least 60 days, 
the Director shall publish in the Federal Register a final detailed 
description of each program to be assessed in that fiscal year, the 
final performance goals for each such program, and the final criteria 
that will be used to evaluate each such program, including a summary of 
all public comments and their disposition.
    ``(h) Report.--(1) The results of the assessments conducted during 
a fiscal year shall be submitted in a report to Congress at the same 
time that the President submits the next budget under section 1105 of 
this title after the end of that fiscal year.
    ``(2) The report shall--
            ``(A) include the performance goals and performance 
        measures for each program assessment;
            ``(B) specify the criteria used for each assessment;
            ``(C) describe the results of each assessment, including 
        any significant limitation in the assessments;
            ``(D) describe significant modifications to the Federal 
        Government performance plan required under section 1105(a)(28) 
        of this title made as a result of the assessments;
            ``(E) describe best practices identified during program 
        assessments for allocating resources in an efficient and 
        effective manner;
            ``(F) include recommendations for the resources necessary 
        to improve any low performing programs;
            ``(G) include a summary of the actions taken by the head of 
        the Federal agency under subsection (c) with respect to program 
        assessments conducted by that agency, including a summary of 
        any plan for merging programs and for quickly responding to 
        improve a low-performing program; and
            ``(H) be available in electronic form through the Office of 
        Management and Budget website or any successor website.
    ``(i) Classified Information.--(1) With respect to program 
assessments conducted during a fiscal year that contain classified 
information, the President shall submit on the same date as the report 
is submitted under subsection (f)--
            ``(A) a copy of each such assessment (including the 
        classified information), to the appropriate committees of 
        jurisdiction of the House of Representatives and the Senate; 
        and
            ``(B) consistent with statutory law governing the 
        disclosure of classified information, an appendix containing a 
        list of each such assessment and the committees to which a copy 
        of the assessment was submitted under subparagraph (A), to the 
        Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives 
        and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
    ``(2) Upon request from the Committee on Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives or the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 
the Senate, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, 
consistent with statutory law governing the disclosure of classified 
information, provide to the Committee a copy of--
            ``(A) any assessment described in subparagraph (A) of 
        paragraph (1) (including any assessment not listed in any 
        appendix submitted under subparagraph (B) of such paragraph); 
        and
            ``(B) any appendix described in subparagraph (B) of 
        paragraph (1).
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `classified information' refers 
to matters described in section 552(b)(1)(A) of title 5.
    ``(j) Inherently Governmental Functions.--The functions and 
activities authorized or required by this section shall be considered 
inherently governmental functions and shall be performed only by 
Federal employees.
    ``(k) Quality Control and Certification of Data.--The Director of 
the Office of Managment and Budget, in consultation with the heads of 
Federal agencies, shall develop a process for controlling the quality 
of data produced from the conduct of assessments under this section and 
shall certify the quality of such data.
    ``(l) Termination.--The requirements of this section shall 
terminate on September 30, 2017.''.
    (b) Guidance.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall prescribe guidance to implement the requirements of 
section 1120 of title 31, United States Code, as added by subsection 
(a), including guidance on a definition of the term ``program''.
    (c) Conforming and Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) Section 1115(g) of title 31, United States Code, is 
        amended by striking ``1119'' and inserting ``1120''.
            (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of 
        title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
        the following:

``1120. Program assessment.''.

SEC. 6. STRATEGIC PLANNING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Change in Deadline for Strategic Plan.--Subsection (a) of 
section 306 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking ``No 
later than September 30, 1997,'' and inserting ``Not later than 
September 30 of each year following a year in which an election for 
President occurs, beginning with September 30, 2009,''.
    (b) Change in Period of Coverage of Strategic Plan.--Subsection (b) 
of section 306 of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(b) Each strategic plan shall cover the 4-year period beginning 
on October 1 of the year following a year in which an election for 
President occurs.''.
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