Government integrity is not the problem; it's the people approving the contracts.  In reference to Big $$ like the stimulus package, history should be our guide. We know there will always be attempts to undermine the Government from internal and external forces.  These forces take on all shapes and sizes. However, since we cannot eliminate these negative forces, we have to control them or force them to comply. The way to do this is to have controls in place.  1. Establish an oversight committee responsible for reviewing and approving all stimulus contracts. 2. Every contract should clearly focus on job creation with evidence to prove this fact.  3. Reporting expenditures and every dollar spent on recovery should be clearly itemized.  4. Agencies should allocate stimulus funds only for economic development initiatives, not nice-to-have types of projects. 5. The responsible party that the stimulus monies will be allocated for or benefitted should report back to the federal government along with the contractor's who received the award. The paperwork must match. 6.  Establish consistent reporting from all agencies receiving the dollars. 7.  Assign several responsible persons to act as contract liaison with Government agency and funding recipient. 8. Institute a consumer response special taskforce to investigate every complaint about mismanagement, contract disputes, fraud, bundling, favoritism, discrimination, and any other complaint that surface. 9. Connect all agencies via a collaborative portal opened to the public and all parties involved with spending stimulus dollars.  

This is more a political statement than an idea for recovery.org. I'm rating it low in the hopes that it drops down the list based on rating.

This is more of a statement rather than an idea

I agree with bettyc that this is more of an ideal then an idea (I hate that the comment system hides comments when I go to write mine so I can't quote exactly).

However, not to diminish the importance of this as a guiding principle. Perhaps that suggests that Recovery.gov should mandate principles (as it seems Obama has done for his administration) in addition to practices.

I've observed that you can identify your values (what's important) and perspectives (why the values are important) before you idntify your "vision" of perfection performance.

I've only seen one "dishonest" person working for government in my 34 years of working in and with government, and he went to Federal Prison very quickly - the management controls were in place and he was caught in the act. 

I have seen many situations where government people had incorrect information, or not enough information, and when they needed to make a decision, the outcome was not what they expected.  That is unsuccessful management, not mismanagement.