Devaney: Uniform Award ID Would Improve Spending Oversight

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recovery Board Chairman Earl E. Devaney, in his final column on lessons learned during the Recovery program, says a uniform award ID would help federal oversight authorities track federal spending.

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In the column, posted on Recovery.gov, Devaney says the existing system creates mismatched award entries, making it difficult to follow the money and collect data on federal spending.

"Think about it," Devaney said. "Each year, the government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on contracts, grants, and loans. That's a lot of tax money. A better system of tracking awards would save money, prevent fraud and waste, and improve transparency and accountability in government spending reports.  In hard economic times, that makes perfect sense."

Devaney said there is no doubt "our work in overseeing the Recovery program has been hampered by the lack of a uniform system."

"This failing has cost the government time and money," he said. "The lesson here is simple: A new award ID system would go a long way toward eliminating bureaucracy and simplifying the process for tracking all federal spending."

This "lessons learned" column and Devaney's four previous columns can be found in the  "Chairman's Corner" on the Recovery website.

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SOURCE Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

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