OMB seeks public input on federal spending search tool

The Office of Management and Budget has announced an ambitious schedule to implement a requirement to report on federal spending, sketching out how data will flow from a spaghetti bowl of sources and formats into a unified, searchable database by the end of this year.

The agency on Thursday launched a Web site, FederalSpending.gov, that lays out a schedule to implement the 2006 Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and solicits comments on "how you, as a citizen, would like to see the [law] implemented and government award information presented."

The law, which was enacted last September, mandates the creation of a single user-friendly Web site where citizens can search through all federal contracts, grants, loans and other awards, by January 2008.

"This site is about transparency," OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson said Thursday in a statement. "That's why we're posting our implementation plan and asking for feedback directly from the public about how they want to design this Web site that puts information about federal spending at their fingertips."

OMB's timeline for implementation indicates that any necessary changes to reporting requirements will be identified by the end of this month, and by March, agencies will be informed of new information collection and reporting requirements. For April, the timeline shows that OMB will "develop Web site with search capability."

The agency will conduct a pilot program to track subcontracts and subgrants starting in July. That capability is lacking in the government's main contracting database, the Federal Procurement Data System, and in the central awards database, the Federal Assistance Award Data System. The new Web site is scheduled to go live by Jan. 1, 2008, with subawards to be included a year later.

In a 10-page section of the FederalSpending.gov site dedicated to frequently asked questions, OMB indicated that FPDS and FAADS data would be used in the new searchable Web site "to the extent possible." But officials said "significant system modifications to FAADS and FPDS are not anticipated in order to meet the reporting requirements of the act."

Officials said no new contracts are anticipated to meet the requirements for the new system.

In September, in response to questions surrounding widely acknowledged problems with the accuracy of data included in FPDS, OMB's Johnson promised that "we will not be going public with information that's not worthy of the public."

On Thursday, a senior OMB official said the office would work with agencies to improve data quality and would address related procedures next month, but would not wait to deploy the Web site based on data problems. "We'll be candid about whatever weaknesses there are in the data, and be sure that agencies will be implementing controls for whatever weaknesses are necessary to improve it," the official said.

In October 2006, the Washington-based advocacy group OMB Watch launched a Web site that the organization said would serve as a baseline for what OMB should strive for in implementing the transparency act. That site, FedSpending.org, allows searches for contracts and grants using data from a third-party vendor, Fairfax, Va.-based Eagle Eye Publishers Inc.

Sean Moulton, OMB Watch's director of federal information policy, said the interim site launched by OMB was a good start that seems to indicate a "generally open and interactive approach" that would be beneficial in the long run. "Even though the law lists certain requirements in terms of search capabilities, to fulfill the spirit of the law it is necessary to understand what users are going to want," he said.

Moulton said his group has been in discussions with OMB officials, and that he would like to see OMB reach out to potential user groups such as congressional staff members, researchers and bloggers, for additional feedback and wish lists for the site.

The OMB official described OMB Watch's database site as "a really attractive way to present the information."

OMB's timeline calls for the newly-launched interim Web site to provide "initial, enhanced search capability," but the official said the agency was focused on moving forward with the bigger project and decided to provide links to existing information sources instead. The site provides links to government spending data sources as well as to FedSpending.org.

Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., welcomed the Web site launch. "The launch of an interim Web site is a good step toward greater transparency and full implementation of the transparency law that was passed last year," Coburn said.

"People who care about government spending should visit the site and leave their comments," Obama urged.