In keeping with President Obama’s commitment to government transparency, the Office of Management and Budget has announced a new website dedicated to showing exactly where American tax dollars are being spent. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act two websites will display funds received and spent from the US government. Participants will ultimately submit to Federalreporting.gov and the published reports will be found at Recovery.gov.Federalreporting.gov will be available by October 1st of this year and participants who use grants, loans, tribal agreements, cooperative agreements and contracts made by an organization other than the federal government must participate. Some have sounded the alarm of the new website because government contractors are exempt from submitting to the website.
To that,  the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board spokesman Ed Pound replies, “This can be very complex, “ “But to the question of are we going to be able to know where the money is going … the answer is yes.”
The OMB guidance memo to the Recovery Act details the function of the new website to recipients. Next.gov reports that stimulous recipiants must report publicly:
- Awarding agency, award type, spending amount, date of work and place of performance
- Project description and status
- Specific figures for jobs created or saved
- Infrastructure expenditures
- Names and compensation of the five highest paid employees
The OMB has also declared that 10 days after each quarter recipients must report to the website and that no waivers will be granted.
