[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3994 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3994

 To authorize and encourage the United States Agency for International 
     Development to pursue a model of locally led development and 
 humanitarian response and expanded engagement with local partners and 
                  to increase its local partner base.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 2024

    Mr. Coons (for himself, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Kaine, and Mr. Ricketts) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize and encourage the United States Agency for International 
     Development to pursue a model of locally led development and 
 humanitarian response and expanded engagement with local partners and 
                  to increase its local partner base.

    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 ``Locally Led Development and 
Humanitarian Response Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to encourage USAID to pursue a model of 
locally led development and humanitarian response and expanded 
engagement and partnership with local entities.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) locally led development and humanitarian response--
                    (A) is more equitable and inclusive;
                    (B) is linked to more efficient and sustainable 
                development and humanitarian outcomes; and
                    (C) is vital to building long-term self-reliance;
            (2) over multiple presidential administrations, USAID has 
        sought to achieve greater development outcomes through stronger 
        local partnerships, including through ``Country Ownership'', 
        ``The Journey to Self-Reliance'', and ``Locally Led 
        Development'';
            (3) USAID should increase direct funding to local entities, 
        including by increasing the amount of development and 
        humanitarian assistance to such entities;
            (4) USAID should ensure its programming enables local 
        communities to exercise leadership over priorities, project 
        design, implementation, and measuring and evaluating results of 
        such programs;
            (5) working with local partners often requires more time 
        and resources than traditional partners, including extended 
        availability of funds and additional staff resources; and
            (6) increased flexibility is critical to enable USAID to 
        respond to local priorities and leverage local capacities, 
        including with respect to staffing, availability of funds, 
        program design, and acquisition and assistance processes.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
                    (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives; and
                    (D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) NICRA.--The term ``NICRA'' means Negotiated Indirect 
        Cost Rate.
            (3) USAID.--The term ``USAID'' means the United States 
        Agency for International Development.

SEC. 5. WORKING WITH LOCAL PARTNERS.

    The Administrator of USAID should, to the extent feasible and 
appropriate, localize the USAID partner base by--
            (1) simplifying and increasing access to USAID resources 
        for local partners in humanitarian and development sectors, 
        including local partners who have relations, agency, or power 
        structures in place that produced, or can produce, strong 
        trust, accountability, and legitimacy in the communities or 
        networks in which such partners work;
            (2) diversifying award types to streamline performance 
        requirements and working with the Office of Management and 
        Budget to address threshold constraints, such as fixed amount 
        subaward thresholds, category management award targets, and 
        other thresholds, policies, and contracting incentives that 
        pose a barrier to effectively supporting local partners;
            (3) streamlining monitoring and evaluation, periodic 
        reporting, and other USAID reporting requirements;
            (4) ensuring USAID staff are able and encouraged to conduct 
        regular consultation with local partners in local languages of 
        the host countries, making available solicitations for 
        acquisitions and assistance and accepting submissions in local 
        languages, video format, or verbal presentations, including 
        by--
                    (A) investing in translation services;
                    (B) hosting workshop-based engagements; and
                    (C) advertising solicitations in local trade 
                publications, local media including newspapers and 
                radio, local community centers, and local online 
                forums;
            (5) allowing and promoting multi-year, flexible, tiered, 
        and milestone-based funding for new programs and to bring 
        successful programs to scale;
            (6) strengthening the capacity of USAID staff and local 
        partners to undertake risk management and mitigation;
            (7) supporting consistent and unimpeded access to full cost 
        recovery for local partners implementing activities funded by 
        USAID;
            (8) assessing current definitions of ``local partner'', 
        ``local ownership'', and ``localization'' used by USAID for 
        programming and reporting metrics, and updating such 
        definitions, as necessary;
            (9) undertaking outreach campaigns and engaging with local 
        partners (formally and informally) to raise awareness about 
        opportunities and the process for applying for and managing 
        awards in compliance with applicable Federal regulations and 
        USAID policies, and ensuring such engagement is accessible to 
        all entities, including unregistered and informal 
        organizations;
            (10) strengthening oversight of capacity strengthening 
        components of awards to ensure United States and international 
        awardees are making good-faith efforts to strengthen local 
        organizations' capacities, including independent and external 
        evaluations to evaluate the mentorship process and regular 
        feedback loops;
            (11) expeditiously solving the shortage of contracting 
        officers within USAID, including granting warrants to qualified 
        staff and providing appropriate training;
            (12) addressing performance evaluation criteria to create 
        greater workforce incentives for USAID personnel to champion 
        locally led development;
            (13) addressing internal delays and recipient organization 
        issues that result in the required extension of provisional 
        NICRAs, in accordance with section 200.414(g) of title 2, Code 
        of Federal Regulations;
            (14) conducting NICRA seminars in local languages and 
        providing NICRA documentation in local languages; and
            (15) ensuring that contracting officers and agreement 
        officers communicate to awardees who do not submit for a NICRA 
        that they are eligible for the de minimis indirect cost rate.

SEC. 6. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Administrator of USAID shall initiate policy actions, 
including rulemaking, if necessary, to institutionalize the actions 
taken pursuant to section 5, to the extent appropriate and feasible, 
within all relevant USAID internal rules and regulations, including--
            (1) the Automated Directive System;
            (2) the Acquisition and Assistance Strategy;
            (3) the Local Capacity Strengthening Policy;
            (4) the Localization of Humanitarian Assistance Strategy;
            (5) the USAID Acquisition Regulation;
            (6) the Local Systems Framework; and
            (7) the Private Sector Engagement Policy.

SEC. 7. AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT APPLICATIONS, PROPOSALS, AND CONTRACTING 
              AGREEMENTS IN LOCAL LANGUAGES AND LOCAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, USAID 
is authorized to accept applications or proposals in languages other 
than English if--
            (1) such acceptance eases the burden of a local entity 
        working with USAID; and
            (2) USAID staff are able to effectively evaluate such 
        applications or proposals.
    (b) Local Language Support.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator of USAID shall conduct 
        an assessment of options to enable USAID to utilize local 
        languages to support local partners with award solicitations, 
        proposals and applications, evaluations, management, and close 
        out, including advising local partners on applicable United 
        States regulations and USAID policies and local country rules 
        and regulations common in such activities.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator of USAID shall submit 
        a report to Congress containing the results of the assessment 
        conducted pursuant to paragraph (1).

SEC. 8. MODIFICATIONS RELATING TO THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AND 
              OTHER REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Increase in the De Minimis Indirect Cost.--The Administrator of 
USAID is authorized--
            (1) to increase the de minimis indirect cost rate provided 
        for in section 200.414 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, 
        or in any successor regulations, to 15 percent for local 
        entities receiving USAID assistance awards;
            (2) to establish a similar de minimis indirect cost rate of 
        15 percent for acquisitions awarded to local entities pursuant 
        to title 48, Code of Federal Regulations; and
            (3) to further increase such threshold if such action is 
        recommended by regulations promulgated by the Office of 
        Management and Budget.
    (b) Exemption for Local Entities.--The Administrator of USAID is 
authorized to exempt local entities, as needed, from the reporting 
requirements under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency 
Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6106 note; Public Law 109-282) to allow for a 
180-day delay in obtaining a unique entity identifier and registration 
in the System for Award Management if such exemption is not granted 
later than 30 days before the end of the award's period of performance.
    (c) Local Competition Authority.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the Administrator of USAID, or a designee of the 
        Administrator, may award contracts and other acquisition 
        instruments in which competition is limited to local entities 
        if such process would--
                    (A) result in cost savings;
                    (B) strengthen local capacity; or
                    (C) enable USAID to deliver a program or activities 
                more sustainably or quickly than if competition were 
                not so limited.
            (2) Limitation.--The authority granted under paragraph (1) 
        may not be used--
                    (A) to make acquisition awards in excess of 
                $25,000,000; or
                    (B) with respect to more than 10 percent of the 
                amounts appropriated to USAID in any fiscal year.
    (d) Use of National or International Generally Accepted Accounting 
Principles.--The Administrator of USAID, in consultation with the 
Administrator of the General Services Administration, the Secretary of 
Defense, and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, may permit foreign entities to use national or 
international generally accepted accounting principles instead of 
United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for 
contracts or grants awarded under chapter 7 of title 2, Code of Federal 
Regulations, or chapter 7 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations.

SEC. 9. ANNUAL REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the last day of each fiscal year, and 
annually thereafter, the Administrator of USAID shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees and publish on the USAID website a 
report on the progress made by USAID during the most recently completed 
fiscal year to advance locally led development and humanitarian 
response, which shall include, with respect to the reporting period--
            (1) the amount of funding expended directly or indirectly 
        by local entities, including through all development and 
        humanitarian assistance programs;
            (2) an assessment of how USAID is enabling more local 
        leadership of programs funded by USAID, including--
                    (A) recipients of direct funding;
                    (B) subrecipients and subcontractors to an 
                international implementing partner;
                    (C) participants in a USAID-funded program; and
                    (D) members of a community affected by a USAID 
                program;
            (3) an assessment of progress made by USAID towards 
        implementing--
                    (A) the Acquisitions and Assistance Strategy;
                    (B) the Local Capacity Strengthening Policy;
                    (C) the Policy on Locally Led Humanitarian 
                Assistance; and
                    (D) any other relevant strategies and policies;
            (4) an assessment of--
                    (A) how USAID is using the new authorities granted 
                under sections 7 and 8; and
                    (B) the impact of such authorities on the ability 
                of USAID to work with local partners; and
            (5) an assessment of--
                    (A) the number of organizations with a NICRA known 
                to USAID that are utilizing provisional NICRAs for 
                longer than 4 years without a final NICRA; and
                    (B) the steps that USAID recommends be taken to 
                reduce the extension of provisional NICRAs beyond 1 
                year.
                                 <all>