Supporting Legislation

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SUMMARY OF KEY ARRA REQUIREMENTS
OMB APRIL 13, 2009 GUIDANCE
From Pages 123-127
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. BACKGROUND
A.
Section 1512(c) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub.
L. 111-5, hereafter referred to as “the Recovery Act” or “the Act”) requires, as a
condition of receipt of funds, quarterly reporting on the use of funds. The data elements
proposed for reporting the information described in section 1512(c) were published in the
Federal Register on April 1, 2009 [74 FR 14824]. An entity that receives assistance
funding under the Recovery Act must report information including, but not limited to,
i. the total amount of recovery funds received from that agency;
ii. the amount of recovery funds received that were expended or obligated to projects or
activities; and
iii. a detailed list of all projects or activities for which recovery funds were expended or
obligated, including—
Reporting
Requirements

1. the name of the project or activity;
2. a description of the project or activity;
3. an evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity;
4. an estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained by the
project or activity; and
5. 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.

iv. Detailed information on any subcontracts or sub-grants awarded by the recipient to
include the data elements required to comply with the Federal Funding Accountability
and Transparency Act of 2006, as amended (Public Law 109-282, hereafter referred to as
“the Transparency Act”), allowing aggregate reporting on awards below $25,000 or to
individuals, as prescribed by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The
Transparency Act identifies specific data elements that the website (USAspending.gov)
must include for each federal award and authorizes OMB to specify additional elements
for other relevant information. A 2008 amendment to the Transparency Act called the
"Government Funding Transparency Act of 2008" (Public Law 110-252) added a
requirement to collect compensation information on certain chief executive officers
(CEOs) of the recipient and sub-recipient entity. An entity that receives assistance

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funding under the Recovery Act must report information required under the Transparency
Act including, but not limited to,
1. The name of the entity receiving the award;
2. The amount of the award;
3. The transaction type;
4. The funding agency;
5. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number;
6. The program source;
7. The location of the entity receiving the award, including four data elements for the
city, State, Congressional district, and country;
8. The location of the primary place of performance under the award, including four
data elements for the city, State, Congressional district, and country;
9. A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award;
10. A unique identifier of the parent entity of the recipient, should the recipient be
owned by another entity; and
11. The names and total compensation of the five most highly compensated officers
of the company if it received (1) 80% or more of its annual gross revenues in Federal
awards; and (2) $25M or more in annual gross revenue from Federal awards.
B.

Section 1512(h) of the Recovery Act requires recipients of Recovery Act funds,
including those receiving funds directly from the Federal government, to register
in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database at www.ccr.gov. Because
CCR
recipients must report information on their first-tier contracts and awards, the
Registration
proposed guidance also would establish a requirement for sub-recipient
registration in the CCR as a way to help ensure consistent reporting of data about each
entity and thereby make the data more useful to the public. Without the requirement,
multiple recipients doing business with the same entity may use different variations of the
entity’s name, address, or parent organization when they each report on their awards to
the entity. It should be noted that in order to register in CCR, a valid Data Universal
Numbering System (DUNS) Number is required.
C.
Buy
American

Section 1605 of the Recovery Act requires that projects, funded by the Recovery
Act, for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or
public work use American iron, steel, and manufactured goods in the project
unless one of the specified exemptions applies. The Act provides that this

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D.
Section 1606 of the Recovery Act requires the payment of Davis-Bacon
Act (40 USC 31) wage rates to “laborers and mechanics employed by
contractors and subcontractors on projects funded directly by or assisted in
whole or in part by and through the Federal Government” pursuant to the proposed
Recovery Act.

Davis Bacon

Separate
Accounting

E. To maximize the transparency and accountability of funds authorized under the
Recovery Act as required by Congress and in accordance with 2 CFR 215, sub-part
___. 21 “Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With
Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and other Non-Profit Organizations”
and OMB Circular A-102 Common Rules provisions, recipients agree to maintain
records that identify adequately the source and application of Recovery Act
funds. Guidance and an award term are provided in part 176 to help ensure that
recipients understand their responsibilities with respect to tracking, accounting and
reporting transactions during the award and in preparing audit documentation and
reports in accordance with OMB Circular A-133, if applicable.

From Page 134
§176.50 Award term--Reporting and Registration Requirements under Section 1512
of the Recovery Act.
Agencies are responsible for ensuring that their recipients report information required
under the Recovery Act in a timely manner. The following award term shall be used by
agencies to implement the recipient reporting and registration requirements in section
1512:
Reporting and Registration Requirements under Section 1512 of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5
(a) This award requires the recipient to complete projects or activities which are
Subcontract
funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Recovery
Award Term –
Act”) and to report on use of Recovery Act funds provided through this award.
Information from these reports will be made available to the public.
Reporting, etc.
(b) The reports are due no later than ten calendar days after each calendar
quarter in which the recipient receives the assistance award funded in whole or in
part by the Recovery Act.
(c) Recipients and their first-tier recipients must maintain current registrations in the
Central Contractor Registration (www.ccr.gov) at all times during which they have active
federal awards funded with Recovery Act funds. A Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal
Numbering System (DUNS) Number (www.dnb.com) is one of the requirements for
registration in the Central Contractor Registration.
(d) The recipient shall report the information described in section 1512(c) using the
reporting instructions and data elements that will be provided online at

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www.FederalReporting.gov and ensure that any information that is pre-filled is corrected
or updated as needed.
(End of award term)
From Page 51:
....Each grantee or sub-grantee awarded funds made available under the Recovery Act
shall promptly refer to an appropriate inspector general any credible evidence
Waste, Fraud that a principal, employee, agent, contractor, sub-grantee, subcontractor, or
other person has submitted a false claim under the False Claims Act or has
& Abuse
committed a criminal or civil violation of laws pertaining to fraud, conflict of
interest, bribery, gratuity, or similar misconduct involving those funds.

EXCERPT FROM THE ARRA
WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION
Section 1553 of the Recovery Act, ‘‘Protecting State and Local Government and
Contractor Whistleblowers’’. This requirement promotes transparency in Federal
contracting.
SEC. 1553. PROTECTING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND
CONTRACTOR WHISTLEBLOWERS.
(a) PROHIBITION OF REPRISALS.—An employee of any non-Federal
Whistleblower
employer receiving covered funds may not be discharged, demoted, or
Protection
otherwise discriminated against as a reprisal for disclosing, including a
disclosure made in the ordinary course of an employee’s duties, to the Board, an
inspector general, the Comptroller General, a member of Congress, a State or Federal
regulatory or law enforcement agency, a person with supervisory authority over the
employee (or such other person working for the employer who has the authority to
investigate, discover, or terminate misconduct), a court or grand jury, the head of a
Federal agency, or their representatives, information that the employee reasonably
believes is evidence of—
(1) gross mismanagement of an agency contract or grant relating to covered funds;
(2) a gross waste of covered funds;
(3) a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the
implementation or use of covered funds;
(4) an abuse of authority related to the implementation or use of covered funds; or
(5) a violation of law, rule, or regulation related to an agency contract (including the
competition for or negotiation of a contract) or grant, awarded or issued relating to
covered funds.

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EXCERPT FROM THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATIONS (FARS):
3.907–7 Contract Clause.
Use the clause at 52.203–15, Whistleblower Protections Under the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in all solicitations and contracts funded in whole or in part
with Recovery Act funds.
PART 52—SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES
■ 5. Add section 52.203–15 to read as follows:
52.203–15 Whistleblower Protections Under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009
As prescribed in 3.907–7, use the following clause:
Whistleblower Protections Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (Mar 2009)
(a) The Contractor shall post notice of employees rights and remedies for whistleblower
protections provided under section 1553 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111–5).
(b) The Contractor shall include the substance of this clause including this paragraph (b)
in all subcontracts

PUBLIC INFORMATION
EXCERPT FROM ARRA
SEC. 1511. CERTIFICATIONS.
With respect to covered funds made available to State or local governments for
infrastructure investments, the Governor, mayor, or other chief executive, as appropriate,
shall certify that the infrastructure investment has received the full review and
Post
vetting required by law and that the chief executive accepts responsibility that the
Certifications
infrastructure investment is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. Such
on Website
certification shall include a description of the investment, the estimated total cost,
and the amount of covered funds to be used, and shall be posted on a website
and linked to the website established by section 1526. A State or local agency may not
receive infrastructure investment funding from funds made available in this Act unless
this certification is made and posted.