Economic Recovery Home > 1512 Reporting

FHWA Data Validation Concept of Operations
ARRA 1512 Reporting

October 8, 2009

Background

Based on OMB Guidance M-09-21 issued on June 22, 2009, OMB established the reporting website FederalReporting.gov to collect data on the use of ARRA funds that will be publicly available for the purpose of government transparency. All final data will be available to the public on www.Recovery.com. According to OMB Guidance M-09-21, FHWA is responsible for:

• Providing advice and programmatic assistance to the recipients of ARRA funds for implementing data quality.
• Performing limited data quality reviews intended to identify material omissions and significant reporting errors, and notifying the recipients of the need to make appropriate and timely changes.
• Applying the definitions of material omission and significant reporting error in given programs areas or across programs.
• Identifying and remediating systemic or chronic reporting problems.

The FHWA will fulfill these responsibilities to support the recipient's data quality by:

• Implementing an automated data quality review tool to detect common reporting errors, such as those listed in Section 4.3 of OMB Guidance M-09-21.

Data Entry Process

Recipients (States) are required to register on the www.FederalReporting.gov website and provide data on a quarterly basis. Registration for the website began on August 17, 2009. The quarterly reporting cycle ended on September 30, 2009, and the website is open for data collection October 1-10, 2009. The data will be entered in one of 3 formats whose templates and descriptions are available on the website. Additional guidance and downloads, including the OMB Recipient Reporting Data Model v3.0, for recipient data entry for the quarter ending September 30, 2009, are available on the www.FederalReporting.gov. The data in the 1512 report is cumulative. Once the final data have been confirmed and/or corrected by the sponsor (recipient) by October 29, 2009, any further corrections will be made in the next reporting cycle. The detailed steps for this process are as follows:

1. State prepares 1512 report (October 1 - 10)
   1. Using RADS, output as XML file
   
   
   2. Using State system as either an XML or Excel file
      Note: A number of States have asked if it is acceptable to submit a single file that covers all their ARRA projects. During a recent conference call, OMB indicated that a single file is not acceptable and that they are expecting detailed information for each project. Over a month ago, States and Divisions were provided with the crosswalk that we are using in RADS to produce each 1512 XML file. The crosswalk is on the ARRA Share Point site. Please send an e-mail to ARRA.Questions@dot.gov if you would like a copy e-mailed to you.
2. State uploads file to FederalReporting.gov website (October 1 - 10)
   1. One file at a time; or
   2. As a batch upload
      Note: If the State has not already done so, they can request permission to batch upload their 1512 reports by sending an e-mail to: BatchAccount@ratb.gov.

Agency Validation and Outlier Identifier Processes

1. Beginning October 11th, FHWA will be able to view and review each 1512 report in Recovery.gov
   1. We recommend that each Division verifies that their State has submitted reports, and reviews the data for obvious errors
   2. The Office of Highway Policy Information ARRA Team (HPPI-AT) already has several people with access to the website and will be monitoring the States' progress
2. As soon as a State has submitted their 1512 reports, the HPPI-AT will download the reports and load them into RADS Note: The process for downloading the data and the format of the data is still unknown. We have requested a batch download process similar to the process that the States can use for uploading their reports. Worst-case scenario, we will have to download each individual file.
3. The HPPI-AT will produce regular reports to help determine which 1512 reports have data that needs to be verified
   1. A summary report will show the number of reports in each State that fall into the following four categories:
      1. Verified (data matches State provided data in RADS)
      2. Not verified but acceptable (date is reasonably close to what the State has provided in RADS)
      3. Not verified and not acceptable (data doesn't match what the State has provided in RADS)
      4. Modified by the State
   2. A list by project will show the difference for each data item between the 1512 report and what has been submitted by the States in RADS
      Note: The difference between the data will likely be shown as a percentage.
4. Both lists will be distributed as a single document to the Divisions to verify any data that the HPPI-AT has not been able to verify and deemed unacceptable.
5. Following the data verification, the State will either need to resubmit their 1512 report, or revise their data in RADS. This will initially need to be done by October 20th, although the States will have a second opportunity to revise their data following FHWA's initial review and verification (October 11 - 20).
6. For States that submit revised 1512 reports, steps 2 - 4 will be repeated.

Data Verification Rules

Data verification, as outlined in OMB Guidance M-09-21, is the responsibility of recipients and the Federal agencies. Below are some examples provided by OMB of how recipients and Federal agencies can ensure the ARRA data quality, completeness, and accuracy.

• Establish control totals (e.g., total number of projects subject to reporting, total dollars allocated to projects) and verify that reported information matches the established control totals;
• Create an estimated distribution of expected data along a "normal&qout; distribution curve and identify outliers;
• Establish a data review protocol or automated process that identifies incongruous results (e.g., total amount spent on a project or activity is equal to or greater than the previous reporting); and
• Establish procedures and/cross-validation of data to identify and/or eliminate potential "double counting" due to delegation of reporting responsibility to sub-recipient.

To comply with OMB Guidance M-09-21, FHWA has implemented two types of data verification on the data submitted by the States in RADS. The first are automated rules in RADS, which are performed at the time the data are uploaded or entered into RADS. The second is currently being developed and once implemented will be performed manually through the aid of a regular report that will be distributed internally within FHWA. Both sets of data verification rules are provided in the following tables:

Automated Data Verification Tests in RADS

The regular data verification report will highlight any projects or awards that fail one or more of the following verification rules:

1512 Validation Rules

Initial data validation will include verifying fields that are populated, formatted correctly, and there are no significant errors in the data.

1512 Data Validation Rules

OMB Field		FHWA RADS Field or Source	Validation Rule
Funding Agency Code		‘6925’	Equals
Funding Agency Name		FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
Awarding Agency Code		‘6925’	Equals
Awarding Agency Name		FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
Program Source TAS		69-0504	Equals
Award Number		Federal_Project_Number	Equals
Order Number
Recipient DUNS Number		State DUNS Number	Equals
Parent DUNS Number
Recipient Type
CFDA Number		20.205	Equals
Government Contracting Office Code
Government Contracting Office Name
Recipient Legal Name
Recipient DBA Name
Recipient Address 1
Recipient Address 2
Recipient Address 3
Recipient City
Recipient State
Recipient Zip Code
Recipient Country
Recipient Congressional District		Cong_District	Equals
Recipient Account Number
Final Report		Y if Work_Complete_Date is within Quarter	Equals
Award Type		GRANT	Equals
Award Date		Authorization Date	Equals
Award Description		Program Category Code lookup	Equals
Project Name		Project_Name	Equals
Project Description		Project_Description	Equals
Project Status		Calculation from Percent_Complete	Equals
Activity Code		NAICS_Code	Equals
Activity Description
Number of Jobs		Total_Employees, Total_Hours	± 1%
Description of Jobs Created		Job_Creation	Equals
Amount of Award		Total_Federal_Funds	± 1%
Total Federal Amount ARRA Funds Received		ARRA_Federal_Funds	± 1%
Total Federal Amount ARRA Expenditure		ARRA_Expend_Amount	± 1%
Total Federal ARRA Infrastructure Expenditure		ARRA_Expend_Amount	± 1%
Infrastructure Purpose Rationale		Project_Rationale	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Name		Infra_Contact_Name	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Street Address 1		Infra_Contact_Street_Address 1	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Street Address 2		Infra_Contact_Street_Address 2	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Street Address 3		Infra_Contact_Street_Address 3	Equals
Infrastructure Contact City		Infra_Contact_City	Equals
Infrastructure Contact State		Infra_Contact_State	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Zip Code		Infra_Contact_Zip	Equals
Infrastructure Email		Infra_Contact_Email	Equals
Infrastructure Contact Phone		Infra_Contact_Phone	Equals
Infrastructure Contact EXT		Infra_Contact_EXT	Equals
Primary Place of Performance street Address 1
Primary Place of Performance street Address 2
Primary Place of Performance street Address 3
Primary Place of Performance State		POP_State	Equals
Primary Place of Performance Country		USA	Equals
Primary Place of Performance Zip Code		POP_Zipcode	Equals
Primary Place of Performance City		POP_City	Equals
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District		POP_Cong_District	Equals
Prime Recipient Indication of Reporting Applicability		Report_Highly_Paid	Equals
Prime Recipient Highly Compensated Officers		Highly_Paid_Name	Equals
Prime Recipient Highly Compensasion		Highly_Paid_Amount	Equals
Total Number of Subawards to individuals		0	Equals
Total Amount of Subawards to individuals		0	Equals
Total Number of Payments to Vendors Less than 25000/award		Number_Payment_Vendors	Equals
Total Amount of Payments to vendors Less than 25000/award		Amount_Payment_Vendors	Equals
Total number of subawards less than 25000/award		0	Equals
Total amount of subawards less than 25000/award		0	Equals
Sub recipient DUNS Number		DUNS_Number	Equals
SubAwards Number		State_Contract_Number	Equals
Sub Recipient Legal Name
Susb Recipient DBA Name
Sub Recipient Address 1
Sub Recipient Address 2
Sub Recipient Address 3
Sub Recipient City
Sub Recpient State
Sub Recipient Zip
Sub Recipient Country		USA	Equals
Sub Recpient Congressional District		Cong_District	Equals
Sub Recipient Type
Amount of Subaward		ARRA_Award_Amount	± 1%
Total Subaward Funds Dispursed		Payment_Disperse	± 1%
Subaward Date		Award Date	Equals
Sub Recipient Primary Place of Performance Street Address 1
Sub Recipient Primary Place of Performance Street Address 2
Sub Recipient Primary Place of Performance Street Address 3
Sub Recipient Place of Performance State		POP_State	Equals
Sub Recipient Primary Place of Performance Country		USA	Equals
Sub Recipient Place of Performance Zip		POP_Zipcode	Equals
Sub Recipient Place of Performance City		POP_City	Equals
Sub recipient Place of Performance Congressional District		POP_Cong_District	Equals
Sub Recipient Indication of Reporting Applicability		Report_Highly_Paid	Equals
Sub Recipient Highly Compensted Name		Highly_Paid_Name	Equals
Sub Recipient Highly compensation		Highly_Paid_Amount	Equals
Award Number PrimeRecipient Vendor		Federal_Project_Number	Equals
Subaward  Number Subrecipient Vendor		State_Project_Number	Equals
Vendor Duns Number		DUNS_Number	Equals
Vendor HQ Zip Code		Vendor_Zip	Equals
Vendor Name		Vendor_Name	Equals
Product Service Description		Service_Description	Equals
Payment Amount		Payment_Disperse/Vendor_Payment	± 1%

Table Legend

The following process schedule outlines the tasks, responsibly parties, and projected dates for the 1512 reporting period, data review, and omission and significant error investigations.

FHWA Data Validation Concept of Operations Process Modifications

FHWA acknowledges that the 1512 data validation will be an evolving process. Changes could be made in the future to improve the timeliness and accuracy of recipient data reporting. Data validation rules could be modified to facilitate the accomplishment of the FHWA responsibilities outlined in OMB Guidance M-09-21.