[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1271 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1271

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 10, 2013

 Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Cardin) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States 
          foreign assistance programs, 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 PROGRAMS.

    (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 Federal Government, to foster and promote innovative programs to 
improve effectiveness, and to coordinate the monitoring and evaluation 
processes of Federal departments and agencies that administer 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 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 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 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 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 this material available online to the public. 
                Furthermore, 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 pursuant 
                to this subparagraph may not include any classified or 
                proprietary information of nongovernmental 
                organizations, contractors, or private sector clients.
                    (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 
                aid personnel on the proper conduct of monitoring and 
                evaluation programs.
                    (I) Providing relevant and useful evaluation 
                questions that meet the needs of decisionmakers, 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 in such 
                evaluations.
                    (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 subsection (b), the head of each Federal department or agency 
that administers United States foreign assistance shall administer the 
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 programs established under this 
section. The report shall be submitted in unclassified form to the 
maximum extent possible, but may contain 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 one 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 United 
        States foreign assistance program evaluation is planned, 
        conducted, and utilized effectively;
            (2) not later than three 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. INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE COMPREHENSIVE, 
              TIMELY, COMPARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION ON UNITED 
              STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    (a) Publication of Information.--
            (1) Establishment of website.--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 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and 
        accessible information on United States foreign assistance 
        programs.
            (2) Information sharing.--The head of each Federal 
        department or agency that administers United States foreign 
        assistance shall, not later than two years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter, 
        provide to the Secretary of State information about the foreign 
        assistance programs carried out by such department or agency.
            (3) Updates to website.--The Secretary of State shall 
        publish not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act and update on a quarterly basis on the 
        ``ForeignAssistance.gov'' website the information provided 
        under paragraph (2).
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--
            (1) In general.--The information described in subsection 
        (a) 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 programs, the information described in subsection 
        (a) shall include country assistance strategies, annual budget 
        documents, congressional budget justifications, obligations, 
        expenditures, and reports and evaluations 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 of issuance of the information.
            (3) Report in lieu of inclusion.--
                    (A) Health or security of implementing partners.--
                If the head of a Federal department or agency makes a 
                determination that the inclusion of a required item of 
                information on the Internet website would jeopardize 
                the health or security of an implementing partner or 
                program beneficiary, the head of the Federal department 
                or agency may 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 
                including it on the Internet website, along with the 
                reasons for not including it in the database required 
                under this section.
                    (B) National interests of the united states.--If 
                the Secretary of State makes a determination that the 
                inclusion of a required item of information on the 
                Internet website would be detrimental to the national 
                interests of the United States, the Secretary of State 
                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 
                including it on the Internet website, along with the 
                reasons for not including it in the database required 
                under this section.
                    (C) Form.--Any briefing or item of information 
                provided under this paragraph may be provided in 
                classified form.
            (4) Failure to comply.--If the head of the department or 
        agency fails to comply with the requirements under paragraph 
        (2), the head shall indicate for each required item--
                    (A) identification of the reason for not including 
                the information during that quarter;
                    (B) a detailed explanation of the reason; and
                    (C) the department's or agency's plan and timeline 
                for including the omitted information for the current 
                fiscal year and the following two fiscal years, 
                including milestones, deadlines, prerequisites, and 
                other explanatory information.
    (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, 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. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION.

    It is the sense of Congress that Congress shall take into account 
the Comptroller General's reports under section 2(f)(2) when making 
decisions regarding the appropriation of funds for each department or 
agency that administers United States foreign assistance.

SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.

    Up to 5 percent of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for a 
fiscal year for each Federal department or agency for United States 
foreign assistance programs is 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 Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) United states foreign assistance.--The term ``United 
        States foreign assistance'' means any tangible or intangible 
        item provided 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, and includes foreign assistance 
        provided by means of gift, loan, sale, credit, or guaranty.
            (3) United states security sector assistance.--The term 
        ``United States security sector assistance'' means the 
        policies, programs, and activities 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, to maintain international peace and security, to 
        contribute to efforts that address common security challenges, 
        and to enforce the law and provide oversight of security 
        institutions and forces, including through helping foreign 
        partners build and sustain the capacity and effectiveness of 
        institutions to provide security, safety, and justice for their 
        people.
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