How many jobs does $36.6 billion buy? That was the question many were hoping to answer as the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board released reports detailing how and where stimulus dollars were being spent. According to data released on Friday, the answer is roughly 640,000, with the White House claiming closer to one million.
A panel of data management and warehousing experts gathered Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to discuss the role of technology in achieving transparency in government. Executives from Teradata, Dow Jones and noted author and reporter Stephen Baker said the fundamental challenge facing government was turning unstructured, static data into usable information.
Despite the weeklong reprieve for stimulus funds reporting, administration officials are already working to stay ahead of possible inconsistencies and maintain their timeline. Another major milestone for the Obama administration’s transparency initiatives plays out this month in the form of recipient reporting. For those who received grants, loans or contracts from the Recovery Act, October [...]
The metaphor that watching a bill be made in Congress is like watching a butcher make sausage may have a rival in stimulus funds reporting. According to one industry expert, high expectations and early setbacks in the Recovery Act reporting process have caused state and local recipients to worry about the looming October 10 reporting [...]
The National Association of Counties (NACo) held a webinar Tuesday for recipients of stimulus funds. Forum participants called the data gathering process for the upcoming reporting deadlines a “first of its kind effort” and praised county leaders for helping facilitate the largest government-to-government collaboration project the country has ever undertaken. But they also tempered expectations [...]
When the tab for the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act starts to be counted in October, an unlikely group of government employees may well prove to be the most capable of insuring the stimulus’ success. The Association of Government Accountants held their fourth annual Internal Control & Fraud Conference in Washington, D.C. last [...]
Short-handed public officials struggling to meet the strict accounting demands of the Recovery Act may have a new tool, available through a partnership that merges Microsoft’s stimulus360 and Bank of New York Mellon’s funds management capabilities.
Deloitte released a report recently that warned contractors bidding on Recovery Act funds to be prepared for especially strong transparency and accountability requirements. And a meeting of government accountants this week will help the government enforce of those requirements. The federal government is appropriating $200 million for inspectors general to provide oversight of stimulus spending. [...]
Microsoft Corp. and Bank New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) Corporate Trust services announced a partnership today designed to help state and local governments manage stimulus funds related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The state of Colorado has launched the beta version of a Web-based information and records database about state expenditures and revenues. Governor Bill Ritter and State Treasurer Cary Kennedy unveiled the Transparency Online Project (TOP) system Tuesday to make the state’s operations more accessible for public viewing. “TOP sets a new standard for accountability, responsibility [...]
