Sunlight Foundation

WASHINGTON, DC – Earlier this year, the Sunlight Foundation made a grant of just over $234,000 for a period of three years to the nonprofit organization, OMB Watch, to develop a database that will be nearly identical to the database that would be mandated under a bill introduced by Senators Tom Coburn and Barack Obama. This is just a fraction of the $15 million cost estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.

This legislation – the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act -- has been the subject of a firestorm for the last couple of weeks, as it was under a “secret hold” that was revealed to be initiated by Senator Ted Stevens.

According to Congressional Budget Office, construction of a database that would track all government grants and contracts would cost $9 million in the first two years, and $2 million each year thereafter, through 2011. Cost not withstanding, such a database can and should be implemented by the government, and does not need Congressional approval, said Sunlight.

“If the nonprofit sector can do the work for less than $250,000, and that includes setting up the initial database in less than six months, surely the Congressional Budget Office estimate is inflated,” said Sunlight Executive Director Ellen Miller. “While the OMB Watch work is vitally important, particularly in the absence of a government database, the government should be able to do a much better job, providing improved public access. The bottom line is that this kind of information about government spending and should be done by the government right away, without a rubber stamp by Congress.”

The OMB Watch database will be available to the public by October 1.

"This is clearly a project that the government can't afford NOT to do. The government has the ability to do things the nonprofit sector cannot do such as vastly improve the quality of the data," said Gary Bass, the Executive Director of OMB Watch.

The Sunlight Foundation has made a series of grants to various organizations for the purposes of using new technology to further the goal of openness in Congress. Other projects include a grant of nearly $100,000 to the Center for Media and Democracy for the creation of Congresspedia, $325,000 to the Center for Responsive Politics for development of databases on 527s, lobbyists, and financial disclosure reports, and $10,000 to the Project on Government Oversight for blogging and reporting on the “revolving door” between the government and private sector.

Founded in January, 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents. Sunlight puts information and tools in citizens’ hands so they can learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing. Our ultimate goal of full transparency by Congress, its Members and staff will help reduce corruption, ensure greater accountability, and foster public trust in this vital institution of democracy.
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