Although NIH and NSF have issued statements regarding use of the economic recovery funds, all agencies plans will need to be reviewed and approved by OMB. Please see memo to federal agencies regarding the spending of the economic recovery funds at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-10.pdf
Interesting provisions in the memo are:
1) Allocation of grants & cooperative agreeements (pg 32) - calls for agencies to spend the funding as quickly as possible with the warning that this statement does not constitute justification to support awards of federal grants on a non-competitive basis.
2) Extensive New Reporting Requirements for any recipients of ARRA funds. (pg 14)
" As required by Section 1512 of the Recovery Act and this guidance, each recipient, as described
above, is required to report the following information to the Federal agency providing the award
10 days after the end of each calendar quarter, starting on July 10th.
These reports will include the following data elements, as prescribed by the Recovery Act:
(1) The total amount of recovery funds received from that agency;
(2) The amount of recovery funds received that were obligated and expended to projects or
activities. This reporting will also included unobligated Allotment balances to facilitate
reconciliations.
(3) A detailed list of all projects or activities for which recovery funds were obligated and
expended, including--
(A) The name of the project or activity;
(B) A description of the project or activity;
(C) An evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity;
(D) An estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained by the
project or activity; and
(E) For infrastructure investments made by State and local governments, the purpose,
total cost, and rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with
funds made available under this Act, and name of the person to contact at the agency
if there are concerns with the infrastructure investment.
(4) Detailed information on any subcontracts or subgrants awarded by the recipient to include
the data elements required to comply with the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-282), allowing aggregate reporting on awards below
$25,000 or to individuals, as prescribed by the Director of OMB. "
