Recovery Act's Data Reports Improving, States Say

States are becoming increasingly comfortable with the process for reporting data related to the Recovery Act, although it remains imperfect, according to an oversight report.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said this spring's quarterly reporting period for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act saw better data quality and that states reported the necessary information in "a relatively smooth fashion." "Overall, we're finding that the process is beginning, in a sense, to settle down and smooth out; that is, both federal agencies and, more importantly, recipients are getting far more comfortable, far more understanding of the requirements and the responsibilities to report under," said Chris Mihm, the GAO's managing director of strategic issues, in a podcast Wednesday. "So we're seeing less nonreporting recipients, better data that's in the system -- notwithstanding that there are still some issues, some significant issues, that need to be addressed in terms of inconsistencies in the data and data quality."