OMB Watch Launches Recovery Act Data Tab on FedSpending.org

PRESS RELEASE
-For Immediate Release-
December 3, 2009

Contact: Brian Gumm, (202) 683-4812, bgumm@ombwatch.org [1]

OMB Watch Launches Recovery Act Data Tab on FedSpending.org

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2009—Today, OMB Watch released a beta version of a new database on FedSpending.org that gives the public improved access to and searchability of Recovery Act recipient report data. The database allows users to search more than 160,000 reports from recipients of almost $159 billion in Recovery Act contracts, grants, and loans awarded between Feb. 17 and Sept. 30.

OMB Watch obtained the recipient reports through Recovery.gov, a website required by the Recovery Act and maintained by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. FedSpending.org's Recovery Act data tab gives users flexibility to search, either individually or in aggregate, for prime recipients, sub-recipients, ZIP codes, congressional districts, federal awarding agencies, award amounts, and much more through a variety of means, including an Advanced Search function [2]. Additionally, any search results can be downloaded from the site.

"We created the Recovery Act data tab to expand the options people have for searching, sorting, and analyzing Recovery Act data," said Gary D. Bass, Executive Director of OMB Watch. "The mapping features on Recovery.gov are great, but there are lots of other ways to interact with this data. We hope our website serves as a springboard for further changes at Recovery.gov."

Another key feature of the website is that it shows the extent to which Recovery Act funds are passed from prime recipients to sub-recipients and vendors. This is done by creating a new field called "net amount retained," which is the amount of money a prime recipient does not pass on to a sub-recipient or vendor. This also allows summary level data to be displayed without double counting Recovery Act funds.

The Recovery Act database on FedSpending.org is being released as a beta version and may contain technical glitches despite OMB Watch's best efforts, and the organization welcomes feedback from the public. The database was created in just one month at a relatively small cost.

The database is available at http://www.fedspending.org/rcv [3].

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OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization dedicated to promoting government accountability, citizen participation in public policy decisions, and the use of fiscal and regulatory policy to serve the public interest.