[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2638 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2638

   To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States 
              foreign assistance, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 10, 2013

    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 assistance, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Foreign Aid Transparency and 
Accountability Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to evaluate the 
performance of United States foreign assistance and its contribution to 
policy, strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken 
by the United States, to foster and promote innovative programs to 
improve the effectiveness of United States foreign assistance, and to 
coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes of Federal 
departments and agencies that administer United States foreign 
assistance.
    (b) Establishment of Guidelines.--Not later than 18 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall establish 
guidelines regarding the establishment of measurable goals, performance 
metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with 
reasonable consistency to United States foreign assistance. Such 
guidelines should be established according to best practices of 
monitoring and evaluation studies and analyses.
    (c) Objectives of Guidelines.--
            (1) In general.--The guidelines established under this 
        section shall provide direction to Federal departments and 
        agencies that administer United States foreign assistance on 
        how to develop the complete range of activities relating to the 
        monitoring of resources, the evaluation of projects, the 
        evaluation of program impacts, and analysis that is necessary 
        for the identification of findings, generalizations that can be 
        derived from those findings, and their applicability to 
        proposed project and program design.
            (2) Objectives.--Specifically, the guidelines shall provide 
        direction on how to achieve the following objectives for 
        monitoring and evaluation of programs:
                    (A) Building measurable goals, performance metrics, 
                and monitoring and evaluation into program design, to 
                be tracked against an established baseline at the 
                outset, including the provision of sufficient program 
                resources to conduct monitoring and evaluation.
                    (B) Disseminating guidelines for the development 
                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 assistance 
                programs.
                    (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity for the 
                collection and dissemination of knowledge and lessons 
                learned that serve as benchmarks to guide future 
                programs for United States development professionals, 
                implementing partners, the international aid community, 
                and aid recipient governments, and as a repository of 
                knowledge on lessons learned.
                    (D) Distributing evaluation reports internally and 
                making the reports available online to the public. In 
                addition, providing a summary of each evaluation, 
                including a description of the evaluation methodology, 
                and key findings and recommendations made in the 
                evaluation, to the public online in a fully searchable 
                form, within 90 days after the completion of the 
                evaluation. Any material made available online under 
                this subparagraph may not include any classified or 
                proprietary information of nongovernmental 
                organizations, contractors, or private sector entities.
                    (E) Establishing annual monitoring and evaluation 
                agendas and objectives.
                    (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
                methodologies to focus on learning, accountability, and 
                policymaking, choosing from among a wide variety of 
                qualitative, quantitative, summative, and formative 
                methods common in the field of social scientific 
                inquiry, including impact evaluations, a simple grading 
                system providing a clear evaluation of outcomes, and 
                analysis of project logic that includes inputs, 
                activities, outputs, intermediate outcomes, and end 
                outcomes.
                    (G) Partnering with the academic community, 
                implementing partners, and national and international 
                institutions that have expertise in monitoring and 
                evaluation and analysis when such partnerships will 
                provide needed expertise or will significantly improve 
                the evaluation and analysis.
                    (H) Developing and implementing a training plan for 
                appropriate aid personnel on the proper conduct of 
                monitoring and evaluation programs.
                    (I) Providing relevant and useful evaluation 
                questions that meet the needs of decision makers, an 
                appropriate and feasible design for the evaluation 
                questions, and criteria that permit objective 
                assessment and valid conclusions on the evaluation 
                questions.
                    (J) Ensuring sufficient, credible, and reliable 
                measures and data in the evaluation of the 
                effectiveness of foreign assistance programs, including 
                an assessment of assumptions and limitations made in 
                such evaluation.
                    (K) Ensuring that generally accepted standards such 
                as independence, professional judgment, competence, and 
                quality control and assurance are followed in the 
                monitoring and evaluation of programs.
    (d) Implementation of Guidelines.--Beginning not later than one 
year after the date on which the President establishes the guidelines 
under this section, the head of each Federal department or agency that 
administers United States foreign assistance shall administer the 
United States foreign assistance in accordance with the guidelines.
    (e) 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 that have been developed on measurable 
goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans for 
United States foreign assistance established under this section. The 
report shall be submitted in unclassified form to the maximum extent 
possible, but may include a classified annex.
    (f) Implementation Not Required for Certain Security Sector 
Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of State shall not be 
        required to administer any United States foreign assistance 
        program relating to United States security sector assistance in 
        accordance with the guidelines established under this section 
        if the Secretary of State makes a determination that the 
        administration of such program in accordance with the 
        guidelines would be detrimental to the national interests of 
        the United States.
            (2) Briefings or report.--The Secretary of State shall 
        provide briefings or submit a written report to the appropriate 
        congressional committees explaining any determination made 
        under paragraph (1). Any such report may be submitted to the 
        appropriate congressional committees in classified form.
    (g) Comptroller General Reports.--The Comptroller General of the 
United States shall--
            (1) not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
        a report that contains an analysis of the actions that the 
        major Federal departments and agencies that administer United 
        States foreign assistance have taken to ensure that the 
        evaluation of United States foreign assistance is planned, 
        conducted, and utilized effectively;
            (2) not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
        a report that contains an analysis of--
                    (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 
                subsection (b); and
                    (B) the implementation of the guidelines by the 
                major Federal departments and agencies that administer 
                United States foreign assistance; and
            (3) not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, and biennially thereafter for 8 years, submit to 
        the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains 
        an analysis of the implementation of the guidelines by the 
        major Federal departments and agencies that administer United 
        States foreign assistance.
    (h) Evaluation Defined.--In this section, the term ``evaluation'' 
means, with respect to a United States foreign assistance program, the 
systematic collection and analysis of information about the 
characteristics and outcomes of the program and projects under the 
program as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to 
inform decisions about current and future programming.

SEC. 3. REVISION TO INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 
              COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COMPARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE 
              INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    (a) Revision; Information Sharing and Updates; Feedback 
Mechanism.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall direct the 
        Secretary of State to revise the Department of State's Internet 
        website ``ForeignAssistance.gov'' to make publicly available in 
        unclassified form comprehensive, timely, comparable, and 
        accessible information on United States foreign assistance.
            (2) Information sharing and updates.--
                    (A) Information sharing.--The head of each Federal 
                department or agency that administers United States 
                foreign assistance shall, not later than 2 years after 
                the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 
                days thereafter, provide to the Secretary of State such 
                information with respect to the United States foreign 
                assistance programs carried out by such Federal 
                department or agency.
                    (B) Updates.--The Secretary of State shall publish 
                not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
                of this Act and thereafter update on a quarterly basis 
                on the Internet website the information provided under 
                subparagraph (A).
            (3) Feedback mechanism.--The website described in paragraph 
        (1) shall include a feedback mechanism through which 
        individuals are able to provide comments on any United States 
        foreign assistance program.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--
            (1) In general.--The information described in subsection 
        (a)(1) shall be published on a detailed program-by-program 
        basis and country-by-country basis.
            (2) Types of information.--To ensure transparency, 
        accountability, and effectiveness of United States foreign 
        assistance, such information shall include country assistance 
        strategies, annual budget documents, congressional budget 
        justifications, obligations, expenditures, and reports and 
        evaluations, including those developed pursuant to the 
        guidelines established under section 2, for United States 
        foreign assistance programs and projects under such programs. 
        Each type of information described in this paragraph shall be 
        published or updated on the Internet website not later than 90 
        days after the date on which the information is issued.
            (3) Report in lieu of inclusion.--If--
                    (A) the head of a Federal department or agency 
                makes a determination that the inclusion of a required 
                item of information on the Internet website under 
                subsection (a)(1) would jeopardize the health or 
                security of an implementing partner or program 
                beneficiary, or
                    (B) the Secretary of State makes a determination 
                that the inclusion of a required item of information on 
                the Internet website under subsection (a)(1) would be 
                detrimental to the national interests of the United 
                States,
        then the head of such Federal department or agency or the 
        Secretary of State, as the case may be, shall provide briefings 
        to the appropriate congressional committees on the item of 
        information or submit to the appropriate congressional 
        committees the item of information in a written report in lieu 
        of it being included on the Internet website, along with the 
        reasons for it not being included on the Internet website. Any 
        such item of information may be submitted to the appropriate 
        congressional committees in classified form.
    (c) Scope of Information.--
            (1) In general.--The Internet website shall contain the 
        information described in subsection (b) as follows:
                    (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 2 fiscal years.
                    (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 3 fiscal years.
                    (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information relating 
                to such fiscal year and each of the immediately 
                preceding 4 fiscal years.
                    (D) For fiscal year 2016 and each fiscal year 
                thereafter, the information relating to such fiscal 
                year and each of the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 
                years.
            (2) Older information.--For fiscal year 2017 and each 
        fiscal year thereafter, the Internet website shall also contain 
        a link to a searchable database available to the public 
        containing information described in subsection (b) relating to 
        fiscal years prior to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years 
        but subsequent to fiscal year 2010.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS IF REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 3 ARE NOT 
              MET.

    If the information described in section 3(b) with respect to a 
United States foreign assistance program is not provided as required 
under section 3, then the head of the relevant Federal department or 
agency shall provide briefings to the appropriate congressional 
committees, along with a detailed explanation of why the requirements 
for publication on the Internet have not been met and when they will be 
met, with respect to each month for which such information is not 
published on the Internet.

SEC. 5. OFFSET.

    Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for United States 
foreign assistance programs of a Federal department or agency that 
administers such programs for a fiscal year, up to 5 percent of such 
amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act with 
respect to such programs for such fiscal year.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
            (2) United states foreign assistance.--The term ``United 
        States foreign assistance'' means any tangible or intangible 
        item provided by gift, loan, sale, credit, guaranty, or other 
        means by any agency of the United States Government to a 
        foreign country, including any training, service, or technical 
        advice, any item of real, personal, or mixed property, any 
        agricultural commodity, United States dollars, and any 
        currencies of any foreign country which are owned by the United 
        States Government.
            (3) United states security sector assistance.--The term 
        ``United States security sector assistance''--
                    (A) means policies, programs, and activities that 
                the United States Government employs to engage with 
                foreign partners in the use of force to protect both 
                the foreign state and its citizens at home or abroad, 
                maintain international peace and security, and to 
                enforce the law and provide oversight of security 
                institutions and forces; and
                    (B) includes helping foreign partners build and 
                sustain the capacity and effectiveness of institutions 
                to provide security, safety, and justice for their 
                people and to contribute to efforts that address common 
                security challenges.
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