OMB has issued operational guidelines for federal agencies to use to report data to USASpending.gov, defining award-reporting requirements necessary to comply with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
According to M-09-19, which replaces earlier guidance issued on March 6, agency submissions will now be processed twice each month – on the 5th and the 20th.
OMB called on agencies to make every effort to submit any available data by the 5th of each month, and said they must ensure prior month data is complete no later than the 20th of the month.
Further, in keeping with an increased demand for high-quality award data, agencies must continue to improve data quality, OMB said, adding that some of the data submitted for posting to USAspending.gov in the past has contained duplicates, missing transactions and data elements, and other data quality problems.
It called on agencies to designate individuals responsible for working with OMB to effectively transmit data, and said agencies must meet a number of criteria for submitting data, including putting in place appropriate measures to review the content of FFATA and Recovery Act data submissions for accuracy and completeness, as well as to ensure submissions are validated by an "appropriate" official.
