II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1171
To require Federal agencies to conduct a benefit-cost analysis on relocations
involving the movement of employment positions to different areas, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH27, 2025
Mr. V
ANHOLLEN(for himself, Mr. KAINE, Mr. WARNER, and Ms.
A
LSOBROOKS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To require Federal agencies to conduct a benefit-cost analysis
on relocations involving the movement of employment
positions to different areas, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Over-4
sight to Secure Transparency of Relocations Act’’ or the 5
‘‘COST of Relocations Act’’. 6
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•S 1171 IS
SEC. 2. BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS ON CERTAIN RELOCA-1
TIONS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 3
(d), a Federal agency may not carry out a covered reloca-4
tion unless, prior to any submission to the Office of Man-5
agement and Budget or other reviewing entity regarding 6
such covered relocation— 7
(1) such agency— 8
(A) conducts a benefit-cost analysis on the 9
covered relocation; and 10
(B) submits to the Office of Inspector 11
General for such agency an unredacted report 12
on the findings of the benefit-cost analysis and 13
including such other information such Office of 14
Inspector General determines necessary for 15
compliance with subsection (c); and 16
(2) such Office of Inspector General reviews the 17
report and submits to Congress the report described 18
in subsection (c). 19
(b) B
ENEFIT-COSTANALYSIS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The benefit-cost analysis de-21
scribed in subsection (a)(1) shall be conducted in a 22
manner consistent with the economic and social 23
science principles articulated in the guidance appli-24
cable to relocations in the Office of Management and 25
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Budget Circular A–4, as in effect on September 17, 1
2003. 2
(2) A
NALYSIS REPORT.— 3
(A) C
ONTENTS.—The report described in 4
subsection (a)(1)(B) shall include, at a min-5
imum— 6
(i) the anticipated outcomes and im-7
provements that will result from the pro-8
posed covered relocation, quantified in 9
monetary or other appropriate measures to 10
the extent practicable; 11
(ii) an explanation of how the pro-12
posed covered relocation will result in the 13
anticipated outcomes and improvements; 14
(iii) the metrics for measuring wheth-15
er the proposed covered relocation results 16
in the anticipated outcomes and improve-17
ments; 18
(iv) a detailed employee engagement 19
plan; 20
(v) a list of stakeholders; 21
(vi) a timeline of past and future en-22
gagements with stakeholders regarding the 23
proposed covered relocation; 24
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(vii) an assessment of how the pro-1
posed covered relocation may affect stake-2
holders— 3
(I) served by the positions af-4
fected by the covered relocation; and 5
(II) in the destination agency or 6
region; 7
(viii) a comprehensive strategy for ac-8
complishing the proposed covered reloca-9
tion that includes— 10
(I) staffing, resourcing, and fi-11
nancial needs; 12
(II) an implementation timeline 13
identifying milestones and the persons 14
accountable for meeting such mile-15
stones; 16
(III) a risk assessment; 17
(IV) a risk mitigation plan; and 18
(V) documentation of ongoing 19
succession and recruiting planning 20
processes; 21
(ix) an analysis of the effect the pro-22
posed covered relocation may have on the 23
ability of the Federal agency to carry out 24
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its mission during the covered relocation 1
and thereafter; and 2
(x) an assessment of the short- and 3
long-term effects of the covered relocation 4
on the mission of the Federal agency. 5
(B) P
UBLICATION.—A Federal agency 6
shall make publicly available the report de-7
scribed in subsection (a)(1)(B) in a form that 8
excludes any proprietary information or trade 9
secrets of any person and other confidential in-10
formation. 11
(c) I
NSPECTORGENERALREPORT TOCONGRESS.— 12
Not later than 90 days after the date on which a Federal 13
agency submits a report under subsection (a)(1)(B), the 14
Office of Inspector General for that agency shall submit 15
to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-16
mental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Environ-17
ment and Public Works of the Senate, the Committee on 18
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Rep-19
resentatives, and the Committee on Transportation and 20
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report 21
on the findings of the review conducted under subsection 22
(a)(2), including— 23
(1) detailed descriptions of the data used in the 24
benefit-cost analysis described in subsection (a)(1), 25
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including the types of data and the time periods cov-1
ered by the data; 2
(2) the conclusions of the benefit-cost analysis 3
and the analysis underlying such conclusions; and 4
(3) a comprehensive assessment of— 5
(A) the extent to which the Federal agency 6
adhered to the guidance in the Office of Man-7
agement and Budget Circular A–4, as in effect 8
on September 17, 2003, in conducting the ben-9
efit-cost analysis, including a determination 10
whether such adherence is sufficient to justify 11
the use of Federal funds for the proposed cov-12
ered relocation involved; and 13
(B) if the proposed covered relocation in-14
volves moving positions from inside the Na-15
tional Capital Region to outside the National 16
Capital Region, the extent to which real estate 17
options in the National Capital Region were 18
compared to those in the destination as part of 19
that analysis. 20
(d) O
THERREQUIREMENTS NOTABROGATED.— 21
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to abrogate, reduce, 22
or eliminate any requirements imposed by law pertaining 23
to any covered relocation of a Federal agency or compo-24
nent of a Federal agency. 25
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(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 1
(1) A
DMINISTRATIVE REDELEGATION OF FUNC -2
TION.—The term ‘‘administrative redelegation of 3
function’’ means a Federal agency establishing new 4
positions within the agency that replace existing po-5
sitions within the agency and perform the functions 6
of the positions replaced. 7
(2) C
OVERED RELOCATION .—The term ‘‘cov-8
ered relocation’’ means— 9
(A) an administrative redelegation of func-10
tion which, by itself or in conjunction with 11
other related redelegations, involves replacing 12
the existing positions of more than the lesser of 13
5 percent or 100 of the employees of the rel-14
evant Federal agency with new positions located 15
outside the commuting area of such employees; 16
(B) moving a Federal agency or any com-17
ponent of a Federal agency if such move, by 18
itself or in conjunction with other related 19
moves, involves moving the positions of more 20
than the lesser of 5 percent or 100 of the em-21
ployees of the Federal agency outside the com-22
muting area of such employees or under the ju-23
risdiction of another Federal agency; or 24
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(C) a combination of related redelegations 1
and moves which together involve the positions 2
of more than the lesser of 5 percent or 100 of 3
the employees of the relevant Federal agency 4
being moved to or replaced with new positions 5
located outside the commuting area of such em-6
ployees or moved under the jurisdiction of an-7
other Federal agency. 8
(3) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 9
an employee or officer of a Federal agency. 10
(4) F
EDERAL AGENCY .—The term ‘‘Federal 11
agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘agency’’ 12
in section 902 of title 5, United States Code. 13
(5) N
ATIONAL CAPITAL REGION .—The term 14
‘‘National Capital Region’’ has the meaning given 15
such term in section 8702 of title 40, United States 16
Code. 17
Æ
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