The House has approved legislation to require contractors to file periodic reports on how much federal money they receive and how they spend it.

The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act, H.R. 2146, was approved by a unanimous voice vote on April 25. It now goes to the Senate.

“Today’s strong bipartisan showing is a major win for transparency and accountability,” said the chief sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The legislation also imposes strict new limits on agencies’ conference spending, in response to GSA’s lavish Las Vegas conference. (See story.)

The bill adopts provisions of the 2009 Recovery Act, which has been held up as a model of transparency. It would improve and expand the USAspending.gov website. Recipients of federal contracts, subcontracts, grants and loans over $100,000 would be required to file reports and agencies would have to report how they spent money internally. Sponsors say that will make it easier to detect fraud and abuse.

During House debate Rep. James Lankford, R-OK, said his constituents ask, “’How much did this cost?’ It’s difficult even for a member of Congress to answer. Outside groups should be able to research that.”

The DATA Act establishes a new Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board (FAST Board) to collect and publish all the information in searchable formats on a single website. Sponsors said that would reduce the burden on contractors and grantees, since they would have to file only one report.

“These changes would allow the public to have a full sense of how their tax dollars are being used,” the watchdog group OMB Watch said. “With ultimate recipient reporting, users can follow the money all the way down the chain.”