Administration alters reporting rules for stimulus money
The rule change requires first-tier subcontractors to report their jobs information to the prime contractors to include in their quarterly reports.
The Obama administration now wants jobs data from subcontractors for work paid for with Recovery Act funds, according to a new regulation.
The interim rule, which goes into effect today, requires first-tier subcontractors to report their jobs information for contract awards of at least $25,000 in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The subcontractors’ information goes to the prime contractors for reporting into FederalReporting.gov. The Web site is the central repository of governmentwide data on the economic results from stimulus spending.
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The rule also requires a prime contractor to turn in its first report no more than 10 days after the end of the quarter in which it received the Recovery Act award and then quarterly from then on, according to a notice in today’s Federal Register.
The reporting changes apply only to new awards with Recovery Act funds issued after the rule went into effect, according to the notice. For awards before then, the original clause still applies.
Officials are taking comments on the interim rule through Aug. 31 as they draw up the final rule, the notice states.
Office of Management and Budget officials believe it’s advantageous to gather this publicly reported jobs information at the subcontractor level on new contracts, according to the notice. However, the overall result is more limited, officials say, because the federal government estimates it has already obligated roughly 80 percent of the Recovery Act-funded contracts.