At around 9pm last Friday, July 31, the General Services Administration, on behalf of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, released the contract for Recovery.gov's redesign. The contract with Smartronix, a Maryland-based firm, initially stirred some criticism for its large price tag, $18 million over several years. This caused some groups, such as OMB Watch, to call for the publication of the contract (see our letter to the Recovery Board here).

While we here at OMB Watch have dedicated a great deal of time and effort to Recovery.gov, it's important to remember that the states themselves have Recovery Act websites. And it's just as important that these state websites are fully functioning, useful sites. Thankfully, Good Jobs First, an organization that is also part of the Coalition for An Accountable Recovery, just put out a great report today on this very subject, although it found that most state Recovery Act websites are in need of improvements.

Are you a recipient of a portion of the $787 billion in Recovery Act funding? Still confused about how you're supposed to report on your use of this money? Never fear, the Office of Management and Budget has the situation under control with a new series of webinars, all of which are focused on the new recipient reporting model.

Despite the rest of the world learning about it on Wednesday, last Friday the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RAT Board) posted a press release announcing the General Services Administration's awarding of the contract to redesign Recovery.gov. Notwithstanding its late appearance, the post is definitely a good thing, since it is the first time Recovery.gov has even acknowledged that the current site is effectively Recovery.gov 1.0. Before this, the redesign has never even been mentioned on the site.