Non-Reporters Could Pay The Price

By Robert Brodsky

Recipients of Recovery Act funds that fail to publicly report on their spending could soon face stiff penalties. An amendment added to the Senate jobs creation legislation, sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va. and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, would authorize the Attorney General to pursue civil penalties of up to $250,000 against grant recipients who knowingly and consistently fail to report their spending.

Last month, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board announced that recipients of more than 1,000 stimulus grant awards, totaling more than $500 million, had failed to file their required spending reports in the fourth quarter of 2009. Nearly 40 percent of those non-complying recipients had not submitted the required reports in the previous reporting period as well.

"We were promised accountability and transparency when we adopted the Recovery Act last year," Warner said. "Unfortunately, in some cases, we simply are not getting it."

A final vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday.

The amendment also instructs agencies to update the performance measurement tools used to gauge the effectiveness of stimulus-related spending by July 30, 2010. By Sept. 30th, federal agencies would be required to begin submitting quarterly reports to Congress and publicly disclose the results of programs that are funded through the Recovery Act.

As of the end of January, the board has received more than 1,700 fraud complaints related to stimulus funds, according to a quarterly report released by the Board on Monday. The board and agency inspectors general have opened147 investigations, accepted 43 cases for prosecution, denied six cases for prosecution and referred five for alternative resolution, the report said.