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Recovery.org Tracks 10,000th American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 14:42 CDT

State-by-State Tracking of Projects at a Glance with New Interactive Map

New Community Features Allow Users to Vote on Importance of Projects

SEATTLE, May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Recovery.org, the website "capable of tracking federal, state and local Recovery Act spending in real time," has tracked the 10,000th project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and has launched a dynamic state-by-state map to allow the public to track the spending at a glance and to drill down to the local level.

The new national, state and county maps are color-coded to correspond to the amount of recovery spending taking place in every county in the nation, and the mouse-over feature lists the number of current projects and total dollar amount of recovery spending.

Recovery.org is being offered to the public for free by Onvia (Nasdaq: ONVI), a Seattle-based technology firm that uses a complex taxonomy to track government spending events at more than 89,000 federal, state and local government agencies. Because of its unique tracking system, developed over the last 10 years, Onvia can identify, collect, and compile in a standardized format Advance Notices, Bids, RFPs, Amendments and Awards from tens of thousands of agencies in a comprehensive, timely and accurate way.

According to Onvia's/Recovery.org's data, Florida leads the nation both in number of projects and in total stimulus funding thus far, with 963 events on-line. Texas, California, Washington state, and New York round out the top 5 states in total dollars.

The top 10 states in number of events (as of May 26, 2009):

Florida 963 Michigan 772 Texas 682 Pennsylvania 679 Maryland 608 California 544 Washington 469 Ohio 462 Illinois 414 Tennessee 410

"This is a win-win-win for the public sector, the private sector and for taxpayers," said Onvia CEO Mike Pickett. "The public gains immediate knowledge of where the recovery money is being spent. As importantly, job creation and economic recovery will be expedited because every business in the country now can see where the contracting opportunities exist, and how to submit a proposal. More transparency will lead to more bidders and better value for taxpayers."

Since Recovery.org was launched in late March, the site has enabled the public to track the recovery spending by federal, state and local government agencies at a granular level. Projects are posted as they are announced and in real-time. The site has seen a dramatic increase in traffic from small businesses, the general public, and federal, state and local governments wondering where the recovery funds are being spent.

The goal of the site continues to be giving small and medium businesses, the media, and ordinary citizens greater access to information and bringing unprecedented transparency and accountability to recovery spending.

The site recently launched new features that include:

• At a glance, see the number of projects and funding by geography
• Drill down to a specific, state, county, city
• Comment and vote on projects if they are worthwhile or wasteful
• Filter projects by project type (Amendment, Award, Bid/RFP, Presolicitation)
• Sort projects by cost or solicitation date
• Business registration for free automatic notification of upcoming ARRA projects

On May 5, Onvia's CIO Eric Gillespie testified before Congress at a House Science and Technology Committee subcommittee hearing about the federal government's efforts to track stimulus spending. Mr. Gillespie's testimony is available on the committee's website: http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/file/Commdocs/hearings/2009/Oversight/5may/Gillespie_Testimony.pdf

Interested parties can also follow @RecoveryOrg on Twitter to get the latest news on Recovery spending, transparency and accountability.

About Onvia: Onvia is the leading provider of Business-to-Government solutions in the United States, covering the broadest set of industries and products at every level of government. For more than twelve years, Onvia has delivered unparalleled coverage of government purchasing activity from Federal, State, Local and Education agencies for clients in the industries targeted by the economic recovery package.

SOURCE Onvia, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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