As I explain in my report for NBR's "Signs of Stimulus" Memorial Day special, the www.recovery.gov website the Obama administration established for tracking the stimulus money isn't quite ready for prime time. There are totals for the amounts allocated and information about the agencies that have paid out money, but there's little detail about how the money is being spent. It doesn't look like it will get much better until October, when the federal agencies are required to make their full reports.

And even then, there probably will not be the ability to track "every dollar spent." For now, there's another informative site, www.recovery.org, that can be used to get a better sense of where the money is going. The site is run by a Seattle-based company, Onvia. The firm's site is more user-friendly, featuring the most recent projects and the most expensive. It gives more information about what the projects are. And it's free to use.

When I first blogged about the recovery.gov effort, there was some suggestion that tracking detailed information is a waste of time. The trick is finding the balance between having enough information to be useful, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. Done right, this could be a powerful tool to hold government accountable.