This bill makes the State Department more transparent about how it builds and maintains U.S. embassies around the world. Right now, the State Department reports to Congress every two years about these construction projects, but the bill requires them to share more detailed information about what goes wrong and how they plan to fix it.

Specifically, when a construction project costs more than expected—if the price tag jumps by 15% or more—the State Department now has to explain why the costs went up and what they're doing to prevent even bigger cost overruns. Similarly, if a project falls behind schedule by six months or more, they have to explain what caused the delay and how it will affect the embassy's operations. The bill also requires the State Department to report if they've ordered work to stop on any part of a project, how long that stoppage is expected to last, and why they made that decision.

The bill also expands which congressional committees get these reports. In addition to the committees that already receive them, the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House's Oversight and Accountability Committee will now get copies too. This gives more lawmakers the ability to watch over how taxpayer money is being spent on embassy construction projects and hold the State Department accountable for delays and cost increases.

Embassy Construction Accountability Act of 2023

Lynch, Stephen F.

Embassy Construction Accountability Act of 2023 This bill requires additional information to be included in a report from the Department of State to Congress concerning overseas capital construction projects and major embassy security upgrade projects. The additional information required for such projects includes (1) the causes of cost increases of 15 percent or more, (2) the causes of completion delays of 180 days or more, and (3) the justification for any stop-work or suspension-of-work orders issued by the State Department.