I had a chance to take a look at a website that will delight porkbusters across the political spectrum. The good folks at OMB Watch, in conjunction with The Sunlight Foundation, will launch FedSpending.org on October 10th. FedSpending actually steals a march on the Coburn-Obama federal database by putting all of the federal contracts and grants in the federal budget in a searchable database. And let me tell you, if the federal government makes it work one-tenth as well as this, we've spent our money well indeed.

FedSpending didn't just restrain itself to FY2005. They assembled spending data for every year since FY2000, and the amounts account for the majority of federal spending. Just as the government directed, FS separates contracts and grants into two separate databases. Users will be able to sort spending by state, Congressional district, recipient, and by program. Porkbusters can look up individual contractors and grantees to see how they get our money and what they do with it.

In order to get a sneak peek at the data, I had to promise not to divulge any of the information I discovered in my searches. This is driving me crazy, because in just a few minutes, I discovered enough for a dozen blog posts. Instead of revealing the information, I'll leave you with some tantalizing questions:

* What percentage of federal contracts come from full and open competitive bids?

* What contractor gets the highest percentage of federal contracts?

* What state has four of the top eight Congressional districts for federal grant recipients?

* Where does administrative/management support rank in the list of federal contract types?

* Which federal contractor won 94.7% of its contracts in full and open competition?

On October 10th, I can give you the answers to those questions. Most importantly, on October 10th, you can find the answers yourselves -- and plenty more answers on top of these.

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» Bill's Bites -- 2006.10.03 from Old War Dogs
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» More accountability from Thebastidge
It's tough to understand where our money is going, and even once you get some insight, it's difficult to get other people to understand. It will be good to have a resource to point ignorant people (meant in the kindest way) towards. [Read More]

Tracked on October 4, 2006 2:55 AM