Revamped Recovery.gov site unveiled, but not garnering much praise

A supposedly new and improved version of Recovery.gov -the official Web site for tracking stimulus money-has been unveiled by the independent agency responsible for stimulus oversight, but it’s not getting two thumbs up, according to an online ProPublica report.

The revamped site has more maps and more data, according to the report, but its real test will come at the end of October, when spending reports from hundreds of thousands of stimulus money recipients are due to be posted.

Federal Times says that it’s still hard to use the site’s search tools to find out how much stimulus money has gone to a specific contractor, the ProPublica report points out.

Other criticisms from the ProPublica report about the revamped site:

  • OMB Watch says that while the site lists non-competitive contracts that have been awarded, that list doesn’t include an award identification number, making it hard to get more information.
  • The Wall Street Journal notes that the site still doesn’t include how much stimulus money each federal agency got in the first place.