S. 766 would require agencies to report on any of their projects that are $1 billion or more over budget or more than five years behind schedule. Those reports would include a description of the project, any changes to the project’s requirements, the original due date and expected completion date, and some financial information. The bill also would require the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to agencies on the reporting requirements, report annually to the Congress on the projects, and post that information online.

Although CBO does not have comprehensive information on the number of projects governmentwide that are at least $1 billion over budget or are more than five years behind schedule, we expect that such projects are tracked closely by agencies and that the bulk of the additional work under the bill would be from compiling and reporting on that information. Therefore, using information about the cost of similar reporting requirements, CBO estimates that implementing S. 766 would cost $1 million over the 2025-2030 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Enacting S. 766 also could affect direct spending by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.