In response to a request from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Board), we performed a review of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) guidance to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) recipients to post signs, logos, and emblems intended to publicly identify the expenditure of Recovery Act or "stimulus" funds. The Board was asked by Congressman Darrell Issa, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to determine the scope and impact of the Obama Administration's guidance to recipients on what he stated was politicized stimulus advertising. The Board in turn asked us to respond to a series of inquiries regarding such advertising as it pertained to HUD's Recovery Act programs. Congressman Issa characterized HUD's stimulus advertising as the most overtly political guidance that "provided recipients a suggested sign template informing the public that projects have been funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Barack Obama, President."

Our objective was to determine whether HUD required or encouraged its Recovery Act recipients to post signs to publicly identify projects that were funded with stimulus funds. We concluded that for two programs, HUD initially included provisions in the grant agreements requiring posting of signs. HUD subsequently issued agency-wide guidance that "encouraged" Recovery Act recipients to post signs.