The upgraded FedSpending.org site includes the following improvements:
• Updated Data – FY 2005 now contains all four quarters of federal assistance data (i.e., grants, loans, direct payments); the most recent publicly available data from the government for FY 2006 has been added for both federal contracts and federal assistance (but the data for both remains incomplete at this time); many problems in older data have been corrected.
• Summary View – This level of detail has been designed to provide a better overview of contractors, recipients, congressional districts, states, and agencies, as well as other data categories, such as recipient type, assistance type, grant programs, products and services contracted for, and extent of competition. The summary view also includes a new Trend bar chart to quickly compare changes over time. The view is brand new for contracts and significantly upgraded for assistance.
• XML Output – The site now provides an XML format for data through an Application Programming Interface (API), which will allow advanced users and programmers to design their own interfaces to pull and display FedSpending.org data.
• More Searchable – Improvements in page titles and implementation of sitemaps protocol should make it easier to find FedSpending.org data through online search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc).
• Improved Navigation and Help Files – The side bar navigation now includes a separate "Home" folder tab for the home page of the website, making it easier for visitors to navigate among the different sections of the website. The help files have also been improved and expanded.
In addition to providing a vehicle for gathering feedback on how visitors would like to search transaction data, the site also includes:
• A copy of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act;
• The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Task Force’s Implementation Plan;
• Answers to frequently asked questions about the new law;
• Links to currently available information about Federal spending.
The official web site will be launched in January 2008, and it will provide the public with the ability to scrutinize how the Federal government is spending taxpayer dollars.
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