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Federal Reporting

General Information

Recipients of federal funds under the Recovery Act, including direct federal contracts, grants and loans, are required by Section 1512 of the Act to report quarterly on how they used the money.

The first quarterly reports reflect data for the period Feb. 17 – Sept. 30, 2009, including funds received by recipients for the period, funds expended, project descriptions and locations, and jobs created or saved.

Reports for the first reporting period were collected by the federal government through FederalReporting.gov, a Web site created specifically to collect the data. The state of Tennessee submitted 310 reports for funds awarded to or through state agencies.

Additional reports were filed for funds that do not flow through state government by the recipients of those funds. Organizations, such as local governments and not-for profit agencies, that received funds directly from the federal government are responsible for their own reporting.

The data for the first reporting period was published on Recovery.gov on Oct. 30, 2009. This includes data reported by the state of Tennessee and data reported by other organizations located within the state that received federal funds directly. The next reporting period begins Jan. 1, 2010, for funds received through Dec. 31, 2009.

View Tennessee Data

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What should I do if I suspect discrimination is occurring in a Recovery Act-funded program?
A: Recovery Act-funded programs or activities must comply with all nondiscrimination and equal opportunity statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders that apply to the distribution and use of federal funds. Consequently, Recovery Act funded programs or activities must be free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, and where applicable, sex, religion, age and family status.
The federal agency that provides Recovery Act funding to state and local entities is responsible for ensuring compliance with the civil rights laws applicable to the federal agency’s grant program. If you know which federal agency is providing the Recovery Act funds, you may contact the agency directly using the links below to file a discrimination complaint or obtain more information about the agency’s civil rights enforcement program.
If you are not sure which agency funds the program, you may file a discrimination complaint with the Coordination and Review Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division at: www.justice.gov/crt/cor/complaint.php or call the Title VI hotline (888-848-5306/TDD 202-307-2678) for additional information.
If you are interested in more detailed information about the scope of civil rights statutes that apply to all Recovery Act-funded programs, click here http://www.justice.gov/recovery/rec-implementing.html
Agriculture http://www.ascr.usda.gov/
Commerce http://www.osec.doc.gov/ocr/
Education http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html
Energy http://www.diversity.doe.gov/
Environmental Protection Agency http://epa.gov/civilrights/
Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/
Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0371.shtm
Housing and Urban Development http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/aboutfheo/aboutfheo.cfm
Interior http://www.diversity.doe.gov/
Office of Justice Programs http://ojp.usdoj.gov/about/ocr/complaint.htm
Labor http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/
NASA http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codee/index.html
National Endowment of the Arts http://nea.gov/about/civil.htmlhttp://nsf.gov/od/oeo/
National Science Foundation http://nsf.gov/od/oeo
Transportation http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/
Treasury http://www.treas.gov/offices/management/hr/oeod/
If you would like more information about Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1974, or the American with Disabilities Act, please visit the website for the Disabilities Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, at: http://www.justice.gov/crt/drs/drshome.php
Q: What changes were made by the federal government in the jobs calculation since the first reporting period?
A: The federal Office of Management and Budget issued new guidance PDF for jobs calculation in Recovery Act reporting on Dec. 18, 2009. The new guidance is being used in reporting jobs activity created by Recovery Act dollars for the period Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2009 that will be published on the federal Web site www.Recovery.gov on Jan. 30, 2010.
In issuing the updated guidance, OMB states the simplified formula will allow recipients to more easily and objectively report on jobs funded by Recovery Act dollars. The changes include:
  1. No longer are recipients estimating jobs; they are counting funded jobs.
  2. Job activity is now reported based on the numbers of hours worked and paid for with Recovery Act dollars.
  3. The hours are translated into full-time job figures by dividing the number of hours worked by hours in a full-time schedule.
  4. Hours not paid for with Recovery Act dollars do not count.
  5. Jobs funded partially with Recovery Act funds will only be counted based on the proportion funded by the Recovery Act.
Additionally, jobs will be reported separately for each quarter rather than cumulatively over the life of the Recovery Act. In other words, jobs numbers will not be added together across quarters. Under the new OMB guidance, jobs "created and retained" are to be reported as quarterly full-time equivalents:
Total hours worked for the reporting quarter
(Divided by) Total hours of work in a full-time schedule per quarter
Full-time equivalent (FTE) is a way to measure a worker's involvement in a project. For example, an FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker while an FTE of 0.5 signals the worker is only half-time. Under this reporting approach, the Recovery Act jobs calculation is based on one quarter (reporting period) of work. If 10 employees worked full-time for the entire quarter, they would be reported as 10 quarterly FTEs.
Q: How does this differ from the job estimates from the October 2009 report?
A: In the October 2009 reporting, recipients were asked to report employment activity that would not have occurred without the enactment of the Recovery Act. This estimating process proved burdensome for ARRA recipients to report and challenging for auditors and others to validate.
Q: How should October 2009 reports be compared with January 2010 reports given the change in the reporting methodology?
A: The changes made for January 2010 reporting mean the October 2009 and January 2010 data cannot be easily compared. The two formulas measure different impacts, thus comparing one number to the other is not meaningful and results in an "apples and oranges" comparison.
Quarterly reports issued by the Council of Economic Advisors provide a more comprehensive report of the job impact of the Recovery Act – including both direct and indirect jobs.
In future quarters, while each quarter’s report will stand on its own, it will be possible to compare the data under the new methodology to the January 2010 baseline view. This will allow citizens to assess, as money is spent, how the overall impact on job activity changes.