Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act

Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act

This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect information from federal agencies and report to Congress regarding projects that are behind schedule or have expenditures that have exceeded the original cost estimate.

Specifically, the bill requires OMB to issue guidance directing federal agencies to annually submit specified information to OMB regarding certain federally funded projects that (1) are more than five years behind schedule, or (2) have expenditures that are at least $1 billion more than the original cost estimate for the project.

Among other information, the agencies must submit to OMB

• a description of each project;
• an explanation of any change to the original scope of the project;
• the original and current expected dates for the completion of the project;
• the original and current cost estimates adjusted for inflation;
• an explanation for any delays in completing the project or increases in the cost; and
• the amount of and rationale for any award, incentive fee, or other type of bonus awarded for the project.

The bill also requires OMB to submit an annual report to Congress containing the information submitted by the agencies and post the report on the OMB website. The report must be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov