Create a public "Contracts and Influence" database

Administration ups contracting disclosure, but specific database promised isn't a reality yet

Updated: Monday, December 14th, 2009 | By Louis Jacobson

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to create a "contracts and influence" database that would "disclose how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them."
 
No such database exists yet, but the administration has spent considerable effort on increasing transparency on government contracts -- something that could be the basis for such a database in the future.
 
On Jan. 21, 2009 -- one day after he was inaugurated -- Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, instructing the director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue an Open Government Directive. On Dec. 8, 2009, the OMB issued the directive. In it, the OMB said that "each agency shall take prompt steps to expand access to information by making it available online in open formats," adding that "the presumption shall be in favor of openness (to the extent permitted by law and subject to valid privacy, confidentiality, security, or other restrictions)." It sets timetables for providing data to the public, with the first coming just 45 days after issuance.
 
Transparency advocates say that several initiatives hold promise as models, though none is perfect and none adheres strictly to Obama's promise on a "contracts and influence" database. For instance, the Web site recovery.gov tracks where stimulus money is being spent, and usaspending.gov tracks a broader array of federal expenditures. It would be technically feasible to link such data with lobbying expenditure disclosures, experts say.
 
Despite problems such as unreliable data and redacted information, recovery.gov represents "the first time an administration has posted such information on the Internet as a routine program," said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist with the watchdog group Public Citizen. He added that he sees the release of the OMB memorandum as further evidence that the administration is making an effort on transparency.
 
So, while the specific database Obama promised does not exist yet, the administration is making headway. That's enough for us to rate the promise as In the Works.

Sources: Office of Management and Budget, " Open Government Directive ," Dec. 8, 2009
 
The White House, " Open Government: A Progress Report to the American People ," December 2009
 
recovery.gov, home page , accessed Dec. 11, 2009

usaspending.gov, home page , accessed Dec. 11, 2009

E-mail interview with Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, Dec. 10, 2009
 
E-mail interview with Jim Harper, director of information policy studies, Cato Institute, Dec. 10, 2009