Recovery Board Hits the Mark on Recipient Reports
The following post was written by Michael Wood, the Executive Director of the Recovery Board
Some argue that the federal government seldom does anything correctly.
I beg to differ.
On Monday, January 30, for the 10th consecutive reporting period, the Recovery Board will meet its legal requirement for posting spending data on Recovery.gov from recipients of Recovery Act funds. The data, contained in recipient reports, will cover the quarter ending December 31.
The Recovery Act requires recipients to report data each quarter. The process requires agencies to review the quality of recipient submissions, and then the Recovery Board publishes the data on Recovery.gov. The data is posted on the 30th day following the end of the quarterly reporting period — and I am proud to say we have always met that deadline, even when there were major obstacles in the early days of the program.
Although the exact numbers will be updated for posting on Monday, I can tell you now that we collected more than 170,000 quarterly reports from prime recipients and sub-recipients of Recovery awards. The job numbers will be lower than previous quarters, probably the result of the winter months and the slowdown in construction and the completion of more than half the Recovery awards.
The numbers indicate that most of the contracts, grants and loans, valued at $275 billion, have been awarded to recipients, although not all of the money has been spent.
Project Spotlight – Dam Replacement in the Everglades National Park
Recipient: Jay Cashman, Inc.
Award Amount: $6,119,056
The recipient reported that these Recovery funds would be used to:
- Construction two new dam structures to stop the uncontrolled flow of seawater flushing into and out of the Everglades.
- Demolition of the failed existing dam structures
- Clearing and removal of mangroves
- Planting of new plants upon completion of the backfill
- Replacement of rip rap
- Installation of new channel marker piles and mooring piles
- Installation of an access gangway and ramp for passage over the dam
Project Status: Completed
To see how funds were distributed between the project’s prime and sub recipients and to learn more about the project, check out the Award Summary or enter your zip code to find Recovery projects near you.
Recipients Report for the Sixth Time
On January 14, 2011, recipients of Recovery Act contracts, grants, and loans completed reporting for the period October 1 through December 31, 2010. From January 14 through the 29th, federal agencies and recipients reviewed the reports and recipients made changes and corrections. On January 30, the Recovery Board posted the recipient data on Recovery.gov — the sixth quarter that the data has been successfully collected and published in compliance with the Recovery Act. There are 10 more reporting quarters prior to the Board’s scheduled expiration in September 2013.
The quarterly reporting cycle is unique in a number of ways. First, it allows the data to be available on Recovery.gov in almost real time, providing an unprecedented level of transparency. The reports provide detailed information on the expenditures of federal stimulus dollars and jobs funded under the program. Finally, there has been a high rate of reporting compliance because the data is posted publicly and in a timely fashion.
Looking forward, the Recovery Board is evaluating ways to extend its recipient reporting model and the technologies developed for reporting to other federal spending programs.
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