Accountability first, then infrastructure spending follows, White House says

The first task was passing President Joe Biden’s massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, his signature accomplishment of his first two years in office.

Now comes an equally arduous challenge: making sure that money is spent as it was intended without the waste and inefficiency that sometimes marks spending by the federal government.

To combat waste and fraud, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a 14-page guidance memo to oversee the spending. According to OMB Director Shalanda Young, federal agencies must designate a senior official to be accountable for infrastructure spending implementation and to lead regular reviews of how that infrastructure money is spent.

Those agencies should work with their inspector generals (IGs) as they build out their infrastructure spending. In addition, it is recommended they hold joint review meetings with IGs and OMB on significant spending programs, according to Young.

Agencies should use “enterprise risk management practices ... to identify and mitigate risks associated with achieving program results,” according to the guidance memo.

The federal government plans to hire about 8,000 people to implement the infrastructure law. These jobs include “human resources, contracting officers, grants managers and data scientists,” according to the memo.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said Department of Transportation (DOT) “is ready to bring on thousands of new employees.” The DOT oversees about $200 billion in competitive and discretionary grant programs.

The White House wants agencies to “transparently describe the criteria for investment decisions; set and track measurable goals, performance indicators and milestones; and use data to measure and evaluate progress,” according to a fact sheet on the infrastructure spending law.

“The initial guidance will ensure that there is minimal fraud, waste and abuse in the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and projects are delivered on time and on budget by delivering results with accountability, effectiveness and transparency; collaborating with inspectors general and the oversight community; and providing technical and financial assistance for communities,” said a fact sheet from the White House.

The major change is the role of inspectors general. In the past, they often were called in to examine the way funds had been spent by various federal agencies. This time, they are in the planning and active oversight of current spending, a marked difference from the way Trump administration officials routinely clashed with agency IGs, administration officials said.

“Strong oversight is, you know, how we’re going to deliver for the American people on time and on budget, and making sure the investments get to where they are supposed to go,” President Biden said recently.

Biden has some experience in executive oversight of large federal programs. In 2009 in his role as vice president under Barack Obama, he was tasked with overseeing federal stimulus funds to help the nation emerge from the 2008 financial crisis.

Landrieu said he foresees the $1.2 trillion outlasting the first term of the Biden presidency.

“If you’re really rebuilding the entire country, you can imagine this is not a one-year program,” Mitch Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor and current White House infrastructure coordinator, told the Washington Post.

“It’s going to really give us an incredible opportunity to build bigger, faster, better and stronger,” Landrieu added.

“If future presidents and future congresses are wise, they will continue to invest in that which is left over because $1.2 trillion is a stratospheric amount of money, but we have more to do over time,” he said.