The first federal effort to publicly display comprehensive data on federal awards was USAspending.gov. Among other things, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA) required OMB to establish a free, publicly accessible website containing data on federal awards no later than January 1, 2008. In addition, OMB was required to include data on subawards by January 1, 2009. The act specified a number of required data fields, including the recipient’s name, funding agency, amount of award, and a descriptive title. The act also authorized OMB to issue guidance and instructions to federal agencies for reporting award information and requires agencies to comply with that guidance. OMB launched USAspending.gov to meet the act’s requirements, relying primarily on federal sources of information. In 2010, we reported on compliance with FFATA’s requirements. In that report we presented several key findings, including:  OMB had satisfied six of the act’s nine requirements we reviewed and partially satisfied another, but did not satisfy two requirements (see appendix II for details). For example, OMB established the publicly searchable website–USAspending.gov–in December 2007. The site included the required data elements and search capabilities, and OMB guidance required periodic updates from agencies consistent with the act’s requirement for timeliness. OMB partially satisfied the act’s requirement to establish a pilot to test the collection of subaward data. Although it started pilots at two agencies, they were initiated after the date provided for in the act. Also, OMB had not satisfied the provision requiring the inclusion of subaward data on the website by January 2009 or the provision regarding periodic reporting to Congress.  Although USAspending.gov included required grant information from 29 agencies for fiscal year 2008, it did not include grant information from 15 programs at 9 other agencies. The unlisted awards were made by large agencies, including the Department of the Treasury and General Services Administration, and smaller agencies such as the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. We reported that incomplete reporting by agencies was due in part to OMB not implementing a process to identify agencies that did not report required award information and stated that without such a process, it risked continued data gaps that limited the usefulness of the site. In a sample of 100 awards from USAspending.gov that we reviewed, each had at least one data error in a required field, consisting of either a blank data field, an inconsistency between the USAspending.gov data and agency records, or a lack of sufficient agency information to determine consistency. In 73 of the sampled awards, 6 or more of the 17 required data fields exhibited an error. Agency officials attributed the lack of sufficient information, in part, to procedures and systems that did not include documenting all of the data required by FFATA. For those awards where we had enough information to judge sufficiency, the data field with the most inconsistencies was the award title, which often lacked necessary specificity. This weakness was attributed, in part, to the lack of specific guidance from OMB and to the lack of tools to identify incomplete reports. We reported that until OMB addressed these issues, the ability of the public to find requested information and of OMB to correct errors would be limited. To address these findings, we made several recommendations to the Director of OMB. For example, we recommended that OMB revise its guidance to agencies to clarify that award titles should describe the purpose of each award and how agencies should validate and document their submitted data. We also recommended that OMB develop and implement a plan to collect and report subaward data, as well as a procedure to regularly ensure that agencies report required award information. OMB generally agreed with our findings and recommendations. Since we last evaluated FFATA compliance, OMB has taken steps to improve USAspending.gov and the quality of its data through increased agency-level accountability and government-wide improvements. First, in OMB’s 2009 Open Government Directive, agencies were directed to designate a high-level senior official to be accountable for the quality of, and internal controls over, federal spending information disseminated on public websites. A list of the agency-designated officials appears on USAspending.gov. Subsequently, in an April 2010 memorandum to senior accountable officials, OMB required agencies to establish a data quality framework for federal spending information, including a governance structure, risk assessments, control activities, and monitoring program. Agencies were directed to submit plans for addressing these requirements to OMB. To address government-wide weaknesses, OMB issued guidance to agencies on improving the quality of data in the Federal Procurement Data System, a contract database that is one of the main sources of USAspending.gov data. In addition, OMB’s April 2010 memo established a deadline for the agency collection of subaward data and announced technical improvements to USAspending.gov, including a move to a cloud computing environment, and a control board to coordinate policies and systems that support the collection and presentation of federal spending data. One result of these efforts is the current availability of subaward data on USAspending.gov. Agencies have also reported taking steps to improve their USAspending.gov data. For example, automated tools have been developed through interagency electronic government initiatives that are expected to improve the quality of data on grants and cooperative agreements by making it easier for agencies to regularly report their awards. Additionally, individual agencies reported efforts to improve data quality in open government plans released earlier this year. For example, the Department of Commerce established a formal process to ensure that all grant offices are reporting awards in a timely manner, and the General Services Administration developed an "Information and Data Quality Handbook" that contains a framework for consistent data management. Agencies also reported ongoing efforts to improve data quality. For example, the Department of Homeland Security plans to improve the accuracy and timeliness of data posted on USAspending.gov by promulgating best practices, and the Department of Transportation is working with its components to develop memorandums of understanding to ensure they meet quality assurance reporting guidelines. While the steps discussed above could contribute to improvements in the quality of spending data, their impact is not yet known because OMB’s recent reporting on data quality and user feedback has been limited. Specifically:  Previously available information on the timeliness and completeness of agency-submitted data is no longer provided on USAspending.gov. We previously reported that OMB maintained a page at USAspending.gov that addressed the completeness of the agency- submitted data by field. That information is no longer available on the site. In its April 2010 memo, OMB discussed the creation of a dashboard on USAspending.gov to track the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of agencies’ reported data. After establishing a baseline, these data were to be updated quarterly. However, the USAspending.gov site does not currently include such a dashboard.  OMB has produced only one of the required annual reports to Congress that were to include data on usage of the site and public feedback on its utility. In July 2010, OMB reported that USAspending.gov had been used extensively by the public, and that it had adopted or planned improvements based on user feedback. However, OMB has not produced any subsequent reports, as required by FFATA. On July 13, 2012, officials with OMB’s Office of Federal Financial Management told us that OMB no longer plans to rely on a public dashboard to improve data quality. Instead, the officials said, OMB is pursuing several other efforts, including ensuring the implementation of the data quality framework established through its prior guidance and identifying best practices for improving data quality. As we initiate work to address your recent request on spending transparency, we will reassess the quality of data on USAspending.gov, including the extent to which agencies report award data, the accuracy of the data that are reported, and the quality assurance processes used by agencies. As Congress and the administration crafted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), they built into it provisions to increase transparency and accountability over spending. It required recipients of Recovery Act funds, including grants, contracts, or loans, to submit quarterly reports with information on each project or activity, including the amount and use of funds and an estimate of the jobs created or retained. Similar to FFATA, the Recovery Act called for the establishment of a website through which the public could gain easy access to this information. Initial establishment of the website was to take place 30 days after the Recovery Act’s enactment. The Recovery.gov site was launched in 2009 to fulfill these requirements, and a second site— http://www.FederalReporting.gov—was established for recipients to report their data. Recipients first reported in early October 2009 on the period from February through September 2009, and reporting has continued for each quarter since then. The transparency envisioned under the Recovery Act for tracking spending and results was unprecedented for the federal government. Tracking billions of dollars disbursed to thousands of recipients promised to be an enormous effort. Further, the need to get a system developed and operating quickly added to the challenge, as did the fact that the public would be able to access the system and form its own views as to the system’s transparency. The system also needed to be operational quickly for a variety of programs, across which even the basic question of what constituted a project could differ. Given this daunting task, OMB and the Recovery Board implemented an iterative process involving many stakeholders that can provide insight into challenges and solutions for establishing procedures to increase spending transparency. As part of our oversight of the Recovery Act and in response to a mandate to comment quarterly on recipient reporting, we issued a number of reports addressing procedures related to recipient reporting and the quality of data on Recovery.gov, and we made several recommendations for improvements.