New Law Paves the Way for Public Posting of FAPIIS

Last Thursday, POGO was lamenting the Department of Defense’s cursory denial of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking data contained in the government’s new contractor performance and responsibility database, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS).

The Pentagon shot down our FOIA, but with a stroke of a pen President Obama effectively shot down the Pentagon. The same day POGO posted our disappointing FOIA news, the President signed into law the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010, which contained a provision sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) that requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to post all FAPIIS information, except past performance reviews, on a publicly available website. POGO and 14 other organizations came out in support of this provision in June.

So far, there is no word on how, when or where FAPIIS will be made public. In fact, hardly anyone seems aware that Sanders’ provision became law.