The Office of Management and Budget is launching USASpending.gov [1] a relaunch of www.FederalSpending.gov [2] to providecitizens with easy access to government contract, grant, and other award data.

News stories:

• OMB Offers an Easy Way to Follow the Money [3], by Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post, (December 13, 2007; Page A33)
• OMB beats deadline to unveil federal spending database [4], by Jason Miller, FCW (December 12, 2007)

"The database’s initial functionality will include the ability to search contracts and grants but not other types of spending data such as loans, said Robert Shea, OMB’s associate director of administration and government performance." (FCW)

The database will have an API (application programmming interface) so that programmers will be able to users to write software to access the data directly, and a wiki where users will be able to suggest changes and add information.