White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and OMB director Peter Orszag have asked agencies receiving significant funding from the economic stimulus bill to name a senior official responsible for coordinating spending-related efforts.
Implementing provisions in the package will require sustained focus by managers throughout the federal government, particularly in planning, awarding, managing, and overseeing contracts and grants, according to a February 9 memo.
It called on departments and agencies to immediately begin developing plans for allocating workforce resources to meet recovery-related responsibilities and for mitigating potential implementation risks.
The memo said guidance is forthcoming and it will cover spending and performance data, internal controls, oversight mechanisms and processes for awarding and overseeing funds to meet accelerated timeframes and other unique challenges posed by the recovery bill’s transparency and accountability framework.