Web site culls data on federal spending

Ever wonder which company holds the biggest federal contracts in Missouri? How about in the 8th Congressional District?

Or maybe information about who receives federal grants, how much and for what purpose would be helpful.

That data, and more, can now be found on the Internet at a site called FedSpending.org, a project of OMB Watch, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to government accountability. The organization takes its name from the Office of Management and Budget, the agency responsible for annually crafting the federal budget.

A similar official government site is under construction, mandated by a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

The Web site is funded by the Sunlight Foundation, said Sean Moulton, director of information policy for OMB Watch. All of the information presented there is public, and much of it is accessible through government Web sites. Although the U.S. Census Bureau and the federal government procurement data system make much of the information available, he said, "neither one was accessible in any meaningful way."

For example, he said, the Census Bureau site provides information in huge files, making the data hard to collect into meaningful patterns. And the procurement database, he said, does not link affiliated companies, such as General Electric Corp. and General Electric Inc. and GE, in a single place to show the total amount received for services.

The point, Moulton said, is to provide information, not make judgments. "We don't have a standing position or agenda here on the contractor and assistance spending that is going on," he said. "We are very objective about it."

But some observations and conclusions, he said, are hard to avoid. "One is the incredible concentration of spending on the contract side."

The top 20 contractors, he said, receive 30 percent of all federal purchase spending. The top 100 provide half of federal purchases, he said.

"The concern becomes that these contract companies are starting to do so much that we are becoming dependent on these companies," he said.

The site breaks the spending down into contract awards and grants. Contract awards are for the purchase of goods or services. Grants include everything where the government does not receive anything of value in return, Moulton said, and includes everything from Medicaid and Social Security to disaster assistance and student grants.

And the answers to the question of who gets the most out of the federal government in Missouri and in the 8th Congressional District are easily found.

• Missouri's largest contractor was Boeing Co. in federal fiscal year 2005, the last year with complete data. Boeing, which makes fighter planes in St. Louis, received $4.9 billion.
• In the 8th Congressional District, which includes Southeast Missouri, the biggest contractor is Royal Hold NV, a company that provides food to the U.S. Department of Defense. The company received $16.7 million to provide dairy food and eggs to the Defense Logistics Agency.
• The largest recipient of federal grants and assistance in fiscal 2005 in the 8th District are individuals, who received $4.5 billion of the $4.7 billion spent in the district. The top five programs providing the assistance are Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare Hospital Insurance, the National Flood Insurance Program and Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance.
• The largest single recipient of federal assistance in fiscal 2005 in the 8th District was the Missouri and Arkansas Electric Power Cooperative in Poplar Bluff, which received a $39.5 million loan guarantee. The smallest single recipient was the Twin Rivers School District in Butler County, which received $5,646 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service under the Community Facilities Loans and Grants program.

The 8th District ranked 53rd out of 303 ranked districts for assistance and grants in 2005. The district, which is represented by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, was 386th out of 446 ranked districts for contracts. The first listing does not include all districts, while the second listing includes districts with nonvoting observers, such as Washington, D.C.

Emerson said she hasn't seen the Web site but said it serves a good purpose by exposing government spending to public scrutiny. The district's high ranking on grant and assistance programs is a function of low incomes in the district, she said.

"We are a poor district, and consequently there are a lot of people who qualify for a lot of federal programs," she said. "That is why we rank high."

For example, she said, the 8th District has the largest number of senior citizens in Missouri who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. Flood insurance payments are high in the district because much of it is low-lying, former swamp areas that are still prone to flooding during heavy rains. "Just look at Dutchtown and the whole situation over there," she said. "It only makes sense to me."

It isn't clear whether the new government site, which will be called www.fedspending.gov, will also rank congressional districts. The site will be available by January.

The rankings aren't as important as the information, Emerson said. "The bottom line is that it is very important to have transparency in government. It is important for constituents to have information."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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