22 USC 2394c – Information on covered United States foreign assistance programs
(a) Publication of information
(1) Update of existing website
Not later than 90 days after July 15, 2016, the Secretary of State shall update the Department of State’s website, “ForeignAssistance.gov”, to make publicly available comprehensive, timely, and comparable information on covered United States foreign assistance programs, including all information required under subsection (b) that is available to the Secretary of State.
(2) Information sharing
Not later than 2 years after July 15, 2016, and quarterly thereafter, the head of each Federal department or agency that administers covered United States foreign assistance shall provide the Secretary of State with comprehensive information about the covered United States foreign assistance programs carried out by such department or agency.
(3) Updates to website
Not later than 2 years after July 15, 2016, and quarterly thereafter, the Secretary of State shall publish, on the “ForeignAssistance.gov” website or through a successor online publication, the information provided under subsection (b).
(b) Matters to be included
(1) In general
The information described in subsection (a)—
(A) shall be published for each country on a detailed basis, such as award-by-award; or
(B) if assistance is provided on a regional level, shall be published for each such region on a detailed basis, such as award-by-award.
(2) Types of information
(A) In general
To ensure the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of covered United States foreign assistance programs, the information described in subsection (a) shall include—
(i) links to all regional, country, and sector assistance strategies, annual budget documents, congressional budget justifications, and evaluations in accordance with section 3(c)(2)(J);
(ii) basic descriptive summaries for covered United States foreign assistance programs and awards under such programs; and
(iii) obligations and expenditures.
(B) Publication
Each type of information described in subparagraph (A) shall be published or updated on the appropriate website not later than 90 days after the date on which the information is issued.
(C) Rule of construction
Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to require a Federal department or agency that administers covered United States foreign assistance to provide any information that does not relate to, or is not otherwise required by, the covered United States foreign assistance programs carried out by such department or agency.
(3) Report in lieu of inclusion
(A) Health or security of implementing partners
If the head of a Federal department or agency, in consultation with the Secretary of State, makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would jeopardize the health or security of an implementing partner or program beneficiary or would require the release of proprietary information of an implementing partner or program beneficiary, the head of the Federal department or agency shall provide such determination in writing to the appropriate congressional committees, including the basis for such determination.
(B) National interests of the United States
If the Secretary of State makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would be detrimental to the national interests of the United States, the Secretary of State shall provide such determination, including the basis for such determination, in writing to the appropriate congressional committees.
(C) Form
Information provided under this paragraph may be provided in classified form, as appropriate.
(4) Failure to comply
If a Federal department or agency fails to comply with the requirements under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a), or subsection (c), with respect to providing information described in subsection (a), and the information is not subject to a determination under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) not to make the information publicly available, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the head of such department or agency, not later than one year after July 15, 2016, shall submit a consolidated report to the appropriate congressional committees that includes, with respect to each required item of information not made publicly available—
(A) a detailed explanation of the reason for not making such information publicly available; and
(B) a description of the department’s or agency’s plan and timeline for—
(i) making such information publicly available; and
(ii) ensuring that such information is made publicly available in subsequent years.
(c) Scope of information
The online publication required under subsection (a) shall, at a minimum—
(1) in each of the fiscal years 2016 through 2019, provide the information required under subsection (b) for fiscal years 2015 through the current fiscal year; and
(2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, provide the information required under subsection (b) for the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years in a fully searchable form.
(d) Sense of Congress
Terms Used In 22 USC 2394c
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
- writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development should coordinate the consolidation of processes and data collection and presentation for the Department of State’s website, “ForeignAssistance.gov”, and the United States Agency for International Development’s website, “Explorer.USAID.gov”, to the extent that is possible to maximize efficiencies, no later than the end of fiscal year 2018.