A provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 calls for establishing
“a website on the Internet to be named Recovery.gov, to foster greater accountability
and transparency in the use of funds made available in this Act.”
Recovery.gov went live shortly after President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law on Feb. 17, 2009. Given its primary mandate – to allow taxpayers to see precisely what entities receive Recovery money in addition to how and where the money is spent – the site displays easy-to-understand, user-friendly graphs, charts, and maps.
These tools, which the site continues to enhance and refine, offer both telescopic and microscopic views of Recovery spending and projects across the country, from a larger national overview down to details of individual projects in specific zip codes.
The site also provides an online way for reporting any suspected fraud, waste or abuse related to Recovery funding and projects.
As recipients of Recovery funds file quarterly reports about their spending and the status of their projects – including the number of jobs created and/or saved – Recovery.gov will update data and information accordingly. More frequently, the site posts Recovery-related news and developments as well as the results of any Recovery-related audits or investigations.
Recovery.gov is operated by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which was also created by the Recovery Act.