Recovery Act contracting data posted online

President Obama's promise for an open and of transparent government will get a true test today when his administration uses the Internet to post information on the contracts approved by federal agencies using billions of dollars in stimulus spending.

"In this first reporting period, you will find a lot of data essential to your understanding of Recovery spending," said Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board Chairman Earl Devaney. "You will see, firsthand, what your state and local governments are doing with Recovery money, and which contractors are benefiting from this program."

Data from companies and other entities that received direct stimulus contracts from federal agencies will be available today on Recovery.gov. Grants, state-issued contracts, loans and other forms of assistance will be available on Oct. 30.

The contracts represent a small part of the spending compared to the grants and loans. Other major components of the stimulus package are the tax breaks and entitlement spending, but the identities of tax break and entitlement recipients will not be made public.

The contract data posted online will identify the recipient, the place of performance, the agency that made the award, and date and amount of the award. Some large companies also will have to report the names and compensation of their five highest-paid employees. All the required data, however, may not be immediately available. The Recovery Board granted a 10-day grace period for late filers to submit their required quarterly report.

The task of compiling and posting all of the financial data has been complicated, and according to Devaney, may include some errors and omissions. He said he hopes any errors will be highlighted and corrected.

"Over time, with so much public scrutiny of the data, we expect improved reporting; the number of recipients will grow and more information will be displayed on Recovery.gov," said Devaney.

For more on recovery.gov:
- see this Government Executive article

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