Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2013 - Directs the President to establish guidelines for the establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans for U.S. foreign assistance.
Requires such guidelines to provide direction to federal departments and agencies that administer U.S. foreign assistance relating to: (1) resource monitoring, (2) project and program evaluation, and (3) analysis of findings and generalizations and their applicability to proposed project and program design.
Requires: (1) each appropriate federal department or agency to begin using such guidelines within one year after their establishment, and (2) the President to submit a related report to Congress within 18 months.
Directs the President to require the Secretary of State to establish and maintain an Internet website to make publicly available comprehensive and accessible information on U.S. foreign assistance programs on a country-by-country and program-by program basis. Requires the head of a federal department or agency to brief Congress if specified information requirements are not met.
Authorizes a department or agency to use up to 5% of its foreign development assistance funds for activities under this Act.
[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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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