The House has approved the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, which amends the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to increase the amount and kind of spending data that is publicly available.
The DATA Act, HR-2061, would transfer responsibility for maintaining the USASpending.gov website from OMB to the Department of Treasury to provide public information about awards of federal funds, and require spending data for all federal funds to indicate the appropriation, federal agency, sub-agency, account, program activity, and budget category for such funds, for example.
Included are provisions would require Treasury to establish government-wide financial data standards for federal funds, require OMB to review the financial reporting required by federal agencies to consolidate financial reporting and reduce duplicative reporting, and require the inspectors general at each agency to report biennially on the completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of spending data submitted by each agency – among other provisions.
A companion bill was introduced in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in May.