Economic Impacts of ARRA
The Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) reports
quarterly on the estimated economic
impact of the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA). In its report for the third quarter of 2012,
it estimated that ARRA funded more than 135, 000 jobs (full-time
equivalents, or FTEs). It expects 90 percent of ARRA’s budget
impacts will be realized by the end of the year. It projects that ARRA will increase they
budget deficit
by $833 billion by 2019, up from its original estimate of $787 billion.
Cleanup Projects
Beginning with ARRA, DOE implemented a project
management approach that broke down projects into more manageable
pieces. GAO found that this practice may
have allowed the agency to classify projects in a way that may have allowed
them to avoid certain review processes.
In addition, inconsistencies in developing project scope, schedules and
targets, along with variability in documentation, makes it difficult to
accurately assess and compare project and program performance.
State and Local Management of ARRA
State
and local
governments had significant responsibilities in managing ARRA funds as
recipients. GAO reported findings related to
their review of state and local management.
Some of those findings include:
-The emphasis on obligating ARRA funds resulted
in delayed obligation of other funds.
-Recipient expertise effected the management of
ARRA funds. Particularly, state agencies
tended to have more success in managing their ARRA projects that local agencies
because of greater familiarity with federal requirements.
-Unclear guidance caused problems for various
projects.
-Internal controls of some recipients were not
adequate, at least at the start, for monitoring compliance with ARRA
requirements.
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