OMB stimulus reporting rules don’t require sharing raw data

Bottom line: it’s XML, web forms, .XLS over RSS. Office of Management and Budget spokesman Tom Gavin said the choice was made to find “balance between providing information and being overly burdensome on the recipient. XML is more universal and less burdensome” than news feed formats.

Craig Jennings, a senior policy analyst at government accountability group OMB Watch is looking out for GIS.

For example, say the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which maintains Recovery.gov, wants to display on a user-friendly map the location of stimulus projects using Geographic Information System data. If OMB doesn’t require GIS reporting, then it will be nearly impossible to illustrate the map, he said.

Agencies must start reporting on projects to Recovery.gov in October. Only then will a board decide which data is made public (in XML).

- NextGov