A House bill ready for a floor vote after Congress returns to work early next month would heighten certain current requirements on agencies to report on their programs and would impose some new ones, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.
CBO said that HR-1423 would cost about $100 million over five years by requiring agencies to describe each program they administer, the cost to administer those programs, expenditures for services, the number of program beneficiaries, and the number of federal employees and contract staff involved. Under the bill, that information would be posted on each agency’s website.
The bill further would require OMB to produce an annual report that identifies duplicative federal programs and would require GAO to maintain and update a database on duplicative programs.
CBO noted that a recent amendment to the Government Performance and Results Act will require agencies to describe every program they administer. However, the legislation also would require agencies to report the total administrative costs and the total costs of contract services associated with each federal program.
Also, currently, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) lists more than 2,200 programs, projects, services, and activities that provide assistance or benefits to the public. But the bill would apply to the CFDA list of programs as well as any other government service, process, grant, contract, cooperative expense, compact, loan, lease, or agency guidance.
The measure cleared the Oversight and Government Reform Committee just before the current congressional recess.
