On December 3, the nonprofit organization OMB Watch launched a beta version of a new database on FedSpending.org that enables users to search for recipients of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds allocated between February 17 and September 30.  While the information is pulled from Recovery.gov, the U.S. government’s official website providing access to data related to Recovery Act spending, the OMB Watch database is designed to give users “improved access to and searchability of Recovery Act recipient report data.”

Under the Recovery Act, recipients are required to report on a quarterly basis how their funds have been used.  The OMB Watch database accesses over 160,000 reports from recipients of almost $159 million in contracts, grants, and loans awarded under the Recovery Act.  Users can search by prime recipient, sub-recipient, ZIP code, congressional district, federal agency and many other methods.  In addition, search results can be downloaded from the website.  One significant aspect of the database is that users can see the dollar amount kept by the prime recipient and the amount passed on to sub-recipients and vendors.

Gary D. Bass, Executive Director of OMB Watch, believes that "the mapping features on Recovery.gov are great, but there are lots of other ways to interact with this data.”  He hopes that the OMB Watch website “serves as a springboard for further changes at Recovery.gov."  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.

For additional information on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) programs and opportunities and links to key websites, please visit Taft’s Recovery Act Resource Center.