The House has voted to establish a Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board modeled on the Recovery Board and that would be charged with setting up a reporting and publication process for federal spending.
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011, HR-2146, sponsored by Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Elija Cummings, D-Md., would build on the Recovery Board and USASpending.gov to establish a single electronic system combining spending information from agencies, the Treasury as well as all recipients of federal funds.
The board would be required under the bill to designate common data elements for information required to be reported along with data reporting standards, including a widely accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent computer-readable format.
It would be charged with establishing one or more websites for the publication of this information, and directs OMB to transfer the functions of USASpending.gov there.
The bill also would require the board to audit, investigate, and review the spending of federal funds, especially non-competitive awards, as well as make recommendations to executive agencies on measures to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse relating to federal funds.
The director of public policy for the Project On Government Oversight called the bill’s passage a “major step toward improving transparency and accountability in government spending,” and urged the Senate to pass its companion bill, S-1222.
