Where is My State’s Economic Stimulus Funding Going?

Posted by editor on May 8th, 2009

Now that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been passed and stimulus money is starting to become more available, many Americans are asking, “where is my state’s economic stimulus funding going?”

In many states, taxpayers have yet to see any real results from the economic stimulus. While it’s easy to become frustrated with the perceived lack of motion, the truth is that it’s still early in the game. Federal funding becoming available is just the first step in what can be a very long process of routing funds to state, municipal and educational agencies.

Why Hasn’t Economic Stimulus Funding Been Spent Yet?

When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was first announced, it was unclear how much money each state would receive, and what requirements (infrastructure spending, Medicaid reform, etc.) would be attached to it. This made it difficult to accurately plan for how stimulus funding would be spent. While some states and agencies started the approval and RFP process in advance, with the assumption that the projects would be funded with stimulus dollars, the majority of agencies had to wait to see exactly how much funding would be disbursed.

Now that the Act has passed, stimulus funding is available, but it’s not as simple to spend as going to an ATM or cutting a check. Programs like energy efficiency projects require that states apply for the money; in other cases, an agency must have a contractor’s proposal in hand before receiving funding for it. Since the economic stimulus is very high-visibility, it’s important to every state government to ensure that the stimulus funding isn’t being wasted. Addressing these concerns means waiting for legislative approval, obliging agencies to agree to specific terms, and other such safeguards. All of these processes can add to the length of time between when economic stimulus funding is approved and when projects begin. CNN Money recently ran an article titled “Why Some Stimulus Money Goes Unspent” that goes into more detail about these setbacks – read the full text here.

How Can My Business Find Economic Stimulus-Funded Projects?

The lengthy path that stimulus funding takes from the federal government, through proper state channels and into an agency’s budget before it finally flows into the hands of the contractor has some businesses worried. The economic stimulus is intended to spread out over the next several months and even years, but many of these long-term contracts are up for bid now or will be coming up for bid in the near future. Businesses who want to tap into economic stimulus funding need to know what projects are getting funded, and when their bid submission dates are, as early as possible.

Right now, government agencies are struggling with the best way to report on contracting activity coming from stimulus funding. This can make it difficult for businesses pursuing stimulus-funded projects to see what projects are available in their areas. At Onvia, we’ve been tracking every dime of federal, state and local government spending for years. We’ve got the taxonomy in place to follow stimulus dollars on every step of their journey, not just at the federal level but at the state, local and even contractor level. To help businesses find and track economic stimulus spending information, we’ve developed www.Recovery.org. All stimulus dollars are currently being tracked at Recovery.org, so businesses can easily find government contract work stemming from the stimulus as soon as it becomes available.