S. 994: DATA Act

113th Congress

A bill to expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to increase accountability and transparency in Federal spending, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen. Mark Warner — D — VA

Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 or the DATA Act - (Sec. 2) States as the purposes of this Act to: expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 by disclosing direct federal agency expenditures and linking federal contract, loan, and grant spending information to federal programs to enable taxpayers and policy makers to track federal spending more effectively; establish government-wide data standards for financial data and provide consistent, reliable, and searchable government-wide spending data that is displayed accurately for taxpayers and policy makers on USASpending.gov; simplify reporting for entities receiving federal funds by streamlining reporting requirements and reducing compliance costs while improving transparency; improve the quality of data submitted to USASpending.gov by holding federal agencies accountable for the completeness and accuracy of the data submitted; and apply approaches developed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to spending across the federal government. (Sec. 3) Amends the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to define "federal agency," for purposes of such Act, to mean an executive department, a government corporation, or an independent establishment. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than three years after the enactment of this Act and monthly, when practicable, but not less than quarterly thereafter, to ensure that information on funds made available to or expended by a federal agency is posted online, in a searchable, downloadable format. Directs the Secretary and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish government-wide financial data standards for federal funds and entities receiving such funds. Requires such data standards, to the extent reasonable and practicable, to: (1) incorporate widely-accepted common data elements and a widely-accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent, computer-readable format; (2) include government-wide universal identifiers for federal awards and entities; (3) be consistent with and implement applicable accounting principles; (4) be capable of being continually updated; (5) produce consistent and comparable data; and (6) establish a standard method of conveying the reporting period, reporting entity, unit of measure, and other associated attributes. Requires the Secretary and the Director to issue guidance to federal agencies on such data standards and consult with public and private stakeholders in establishing such standards. Requires the Director to review the information required to be reported by recipients of federal awards to identify: (1) common reporting elements across the federal government, (2) unnecessary duplication in financial reporting, and (3) unnecessarily burdensome reporting requirements for recipients of federal awards. Requires the Director to establish a two-year pilot program to develop recommendations for: (1) standardized reporting elements across the federal government, (2) the elimination of unnecessary duplication in financial reporting, and (3) the reduction of compliance costs for recipients of federal awards. Requires such pilot program to include: (1) a combination of federal contracts, grants, and subawards, with an aggregate value of not less than $1 billion and not more than $2 billion; (2) a diverse group of recipients of federal awards; (3) recipients who receive awards from multiple programs across multiple agencies; and (4) data collected during a 12-month reporting cycle. Requires the Director, not later than 90 days after the termination of the pilot program, to submit a report to the House Committees on the Budget and Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committees on the Budget and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that includes: (1) a description of the data collected under the pilot program, its usefulness, and the cost to collect the data from other recipients; and (2) recommendations. Directs the Inspector General of each federal agency to: (1) review a statistically valid sampling of the spending data submitted under this Act by the federal agency; and (2) submit to Congress and make publicly available a report assessing the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the data sampled and the implementation and use of data standards by the federal agency. Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to submit a publicly available report to Congress assessing and comparing the data completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the data submitted under this Act by federal agencies and the implementation and use of data standards by federal agencies. Authorizes the Secretary to establish a data analysis center, or expand an existing service, to provide data, analytic tools, and data management techniques to support: (1) the prevention and reduction of improper payments, and (2) the improvement of efficiency and transparency in federal spending. Transfers assets of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to the Department of the Treasury upon the establishment of the data analysis center. Declares that nothing in this Act: (1) shall require disclosure to the public of information protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or information protected under the Privacy Act of 1974 or the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) shall be construed to create a private right of action. (Sec. 4) Requires the OMB Director to make available on the OMB website a financial management status report and government-wide five-year financial management plan. (Sec. 5) Requires a federal agency to notify the Secretary of the Treasury of any legally enforceable non-tax debt owed to such agency that is over 120 (currently, 180) days delinquent so that the Secretary can offset such debt administratively. Requires the Secretary to notify Congress of any instance in which an agency fails to notify the Secretary of such a debt.

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