Federal contractors receiving awards (or modifications to existing awards) funded, in whole or in part, by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 must now report cumulatively each calendar quarter on the use of the funds.  The regulations implementing these new reporting requirements became effective on March 31, 2009 and are applicable to all solicitations issued and contracts awarded after that date.  However, because the Government's web-based "centralized reporting tool" took longer to develop than anticipated, the first reporting period, which shall cover the previous two quarters, shall begin October 1, 2009 and end on October 10, 2009.

In order to comply, Federal contractors must first register at FederalReporting.gov.  Through its centralized reporting tool, this website will serve as the government-wide data collection system for federal agencies and recipients of federal awards under the Recovery Act.  The website also promises to provide "a user-friendly mechanism for submitting required data."  

Once registered, contractors shall be able to provide information required by Section 1512(c) of the Recovery Act, as well as its implementing regulations at FAR Subpart 4.15 and FAR 52.204-11.  The contract clause at FAR 52.204-11 identifies ten separate data points, which include: (a) the dollar amount of contractor invoices; (b) the supplies delivered and services performed; (c) an assessment of the completion status of the work; (d) an estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained as a result of Recovery Act funds; (e) names and total compensation  of each of the five most highly compensated officers in the calendar year in which the contract is awarded, and; (f) specific information on first tier subcontractors.  Prime contractors may report on behalf of their subcontractors; thus, sub and prime contractors will need to work together to determine if the subcontractor must report individually.

These requirements apply to almost all government contracts, including contracts at or below the simplified acquisition threshold, commercial item contracts and commercially available off the shelf item ("COTS") contracts.  The reported information will be available to the public and shall be due no later than the 10th day after the end of each calendar quarter.  In the event of a failure to comply, Contracting Officers have been instructed to exercise "appropriate contractual remedies," and, also, make such failure a part of the contractor's past performance information under FAR Subpart 42.15. 

For more information on this and other Federal contracting issues you can contact Jonathan DeMella at 206.623.3427 or email: demella@oles.com