Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016

The Act aims to improve the transparency and accountability of United States foreign assistance programs. The legislation requires the President to establish guidelines for covered United States foreign assistance programs, which include assistance authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, and the Food for Peace Act. The guidelines are intended to provide direction to Federal departments and agencies that administer covered United States foreign assistance on monitoring the use of resources, evaluating the outcomes and impacts of covered United States foreign assistance projects and programs, and applying the findings and conclusions of such evaluations to proposed project and program design. The guidelines also require the establishment of annual monitoring and evaluation objectives and timetables, the development of specific project monitoring and evaluation plans, and the dissemination of guidelines for the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation programs. The Act requires the President to submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees containing a detailed description of the guidelines established pursuant to the Act. The report is to be submitted in unclassified form, but it may contain a classified annex. The Comptroller General of the United States is also required to submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees analyzing the guidelines established pursuant to the Act and assessing the implementation of the guidelines by the agencies, bureaus, and offices that implement covered United States foreign assistance. The Act also requires the Secretary of State to 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. The head of each Federal department or agency that administers covered United States foreign assistance is required to provide the Secretary of State with comprehensive information about the covered United States foreign assistance programs carried out by such department or agency on a quarterly basis. The guidelines established pursuant to the Act are intended to improve the effectiveness and accountability of United States foreign assistance programs. The Act requires the use of rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including the use of impact evaluations, ex-post evaluations, or other methods, as appropriate. The guidelines also require the dissemination of evaluation reports and the public reporting of each evaluation, including an executive summary, a description of the evaluation methodology, key findings, and recommendations made in the evaluation. The Act requires the use of verifiable, reliable, and timely data, including from local beneficiaries and stakeholders, to permit the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of covered United States foreign assistance programs. The guidelines also require the employment of standards of professional evaluation organizations for monitoring and evaluation efforts, including ensuring the integrity and independence of evaluations, permitting and encouraging the exercise of professional judgment, and providing for quality control and assurance in the monitoring and evaluation process. The Act aims to improve the transparency and accountability of United States foreign assistance programs by requiring the establishment of guidelines for covered United States foreign assistance programs, the submission of reports to the appropriate congressional committees, and the public reporting of evaluation results. The guidelines established pursuant to the Act are intended to improve the effectiveness and accountability of United States foreign assistance programs.