Report Recovery Act Spending—Or Else Federal agencies must take punitive action against recipients of Recovery Act funds who don’t comply with the law’s reporting requirements. The economic stimulus law requires contract and grant recipients to file quarterly reports on the money they received and how they spent it. In a May 5 memo, Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said agencies must contact all first-time contract and grant recipients by phone, with a follow-up letter, to make sure they are aware of the rules. Agencies must also contact companies that have failed to report in the past. If companies do not comply, Orszag said the agency must “pursue sanctions and remedies.” Companies that don’t comply could be stripped of their Recovery Act contracts and suspended or debarred from all contracting. The OMB memo follows President Obama’s directive last month that agencies do more to ensure compliance with reporting requirements. (SAA, 4/16) White House figures showed that noncompliance was not widespread; in April only 1,000 of 65,000 recipients had failed to file reports, although officials said many of the reports were incomplete. Orszag wrote, “The vast majority of recipients have complied with the reporting obligations; however, where a recipient has failed to meet these obligations, agencies will be held accountable for taking appropriate actions to enforce the reporting requirements.”