[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2924 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2924

  To amend title 31, United States Code, to improve the management of 
               improper payments, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 26 (legislative day, September 22), 2023

 Mr. Carper (for himself and Mr. Braun) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 31, United States Code, to improve the management of 
               improper payments, 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 ``Safeguarding the Transparency and 
Efficiency of Payments Act'' or the ``STEP Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROPER PAYMENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3351 of title 31, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (8) as 
                paragraphs (3) through (9), respectively;
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Chief financial officer.--The term `chief financial 
        officer' means--
                    ``(A) with respect to an executive agency described 
                in section 901(b), the Chief Financial Officer of the 
                executive agency appointed under such section; and
                    ``(B) with respect to an executive agency that is 
                not described in section 901(b), the official serving 
                as the senior executive responsible for managing the 
                financial activities of the executive agency.''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) in clause (i)--
                                            (aa) by striking 
                                        ``published'' and inserting 
                                        ``included''; and
                                            (bb) by striking ``with'' 
                                        and inserting ``in the document 
                                        containing''; and
                                    (II) in clause (ii), by striking 
                                ``statement'' and inserting 
                                ``document'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``accompanying materials to'' and inserting 
                        ``document containing;''
                            (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
                        ``accompanying materials to'' and inserting 
                        ``document containing''; and
                            (iv) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                        ``accompanying materials to'' and inserting 
                        ``document containing''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 3353(a)(4)(B) of title 
        31, United States Code, is amended--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``section 
                3351(2)(B)'' and inserting ``section 3351(3)(B)'';
                    (B) in clause (ii), by striking ``section 
                3351(2)(C)'' and inserting ``section 3351(3)(C)'';
                    (C) in clause (iii), by striking ``section 
                3351(2)(D)'' and inserting ``section 3351(3)(D)''; and
                    (D) in clause (vi), by striking ``section 
                3351(2)(A)'' and inserting ``section 3351(3)(A)''.
    (b) Estimates of Improper Payments and Reports on Actions To Reduce 
Improper Payments.--Section 3352 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B), in the matter 
                        preceding clause (i), by striking ``paragraph 
                        (1)'' and inserting ``paragraph (1)(B)''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``paragraph (1)'' and inserting ``paragraphs 
                        (1) and (4)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) New programs and activities.--In addition to the 
        programs and activities identified under paragraph (1)(B), the 
        head of an executive agency shall annually identify as 
        susceptible to significant improper payments any program or 
        activity that--
                    ``(A) has or is expected to have outlays exceeding 
                $100,000,000 in any one of the first 3 fiscal years of 
                operation; and
                    ``(B) is in the first 4 years of operation.'';
            (2) in subsection (c)(1)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
                striking ``subsection (a)(1)'' and inserting 
                ``paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (a)''; and
                    (B) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) and 
                inserting the following:
                    ``(A) produce a statistically valid estimate of the 
                improper payments made under the program or activity, 
                or an estimate of such improper payments that is 
                otherwise appropriate using a methodology approved by--
                            ``(i) the Director of the Office of 
                        Management and Budget; and
                            ``(ii) the chief financial officer of the 
                        executive agency; and
                    ``(B) report the estimates described in 
                subparagraph (A) in accordance with subsection (j).''; 
                and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j) Annual Reports.--Any annual report required to be made by the 
head of an executive agency under this section shall--
            ``(1) be included in full in the document containing the 
        annual financial statement of the executive agency; and
            ``(2) include a statement by the chief financial officer of 
        the executive agency--
                    ``(A) certifying--
                            ``(i) the reliability of the executive 
                        agency's identification of programs and 
                        activities that may be susceptible to 
                        significant improper payments under subsection 
                        (a); and
                            ``(ii) the validity of each estimate of 
                        improper payments under subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) describing the actions of the chief financial 
                officer of the executive agency to monitor the 
                development and implementation of any corrective action 
                plans reported under subsection (d).''.
    (c) Financial and Administrative Controls Relating to Fraud and 
Improper Payments.--Section 3357 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following:
    ``(d) Reports.--For each fiscal year beginning in the first fiscal 
year after the date of enactment of the Safeguarding the Transparency 
and Efficiency of Payments Act, and in each of the following 9 fiscal 
years, the head of each agency shall submit to Congress, in the report 
containing the annual financial statement of the agency, a report--
            ``(1) on the progress of the agency in--
                    ``(A) implementing--
                            ``(i) the financial and administrative 
                        controls required to be established under 
                        subsection (c)(1);
                            ``(ii) the fraud risk principles in the 
                        Standards for Internal Control in the Federal 
                        Government of the Government Accountability 
                        Office; and
                            ``(iii) Circular A-123 of the Office of 
                        Management and Budget with respect to the 
                        leading practices for managing fraud risk;
                    ``(B) identifying fraud risks and vulnerabilities, 
                including with respect to payroll, beneficiary 
                payments, grants, large contracts, and purchase and 
                travel cards; and
                    ``(C) establishing strategies, procedures, and 
                other steps to curb fraud; and
            ``(2) that includes, as defined by the leading practices 
        identified in the report published by the Government 
        Accountability Office on July 28, 2015, entitled `Framework for 
        Managing Fraud Risks in Federal Programs'--
                    ``(A) an identification of--
                            ``(i) each dedicated entity that leads the 
                        fraud risk management activities of the agency 
                        and the roles of each such entity;
                            ``(ii) the responsibilities of each entity 
                        described in clause (i);
                            ``(iii) each program and operation of the 
                        agency for which each entity described in 
                        clause (i) is responsible;
                            ``(iv) the capacity of the entity described 
                        in clause (i), including any limitations, to 
                        strategically manage the fraud risks of the 
                        agency;
                            ``(v) any program or operation of the 
                        agency for which there is not a dedicated 
                        entity that leads fraud risk management 
                        activities; and
                            ``(vi) if applicable, a detailed 
                        justification for not having a dedicated 
                        entity, as described in clause (v);
                    ``(B) the status of the fraud risk profiles for 
                each program and operation of the agency, including the 
                date of the last update and date of the next planned 
                update of those fraud risk profiles;
                    ``(C) with respect to each program or operation of 
                the agency for which there is not a fraud risk profile, 
                an identification of that program or operation and a 
                detailed justification for not having a fraud risk 
                profile for the program or operation;
                    ``(D) the status of the antifraud strategies for 
                each program and operation of the agency, including the 
                date of the last update and the date of the next 
                planned update of those antifraud strategies; and
                    ``(E) with respect to each program or operation of 
                the agency for which there is not an antifraud 
                strategy, an identification of that program or 
                operation and a detailed justification for not having 
                an antifraud strategy for the program or operation.''.
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