Here’s an update on "green job" requirements created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Previously, I wrote

To my knowledge, there is no requirement or guarantee in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create a certain number of "green jobs."

While this is still the case, there are job creation reporting requirements that will likely be used to categorize the number of green jobs created by the ARRA.

Federal agencies must report more than 40 separate pieces of data regarding their stimulus spending to a central repository — and contractors are required to submit similarly detailed reports for all work funded in whole or in part by the stimulus legislation.

The deadlines are clear. What’s less clear is how to submit reports and arrive at certain calculations, such as the number of jobs created or saved by the stimulus-funded work.

The Office of Management and Budget should be coming out with reporting requirement guidelines for contractors soon.

If you are a contractor lucky enough to have successfully bid a stimulus project, pay close attention to future guidelines released by OMB. As we draw closer to the 2010 election cycle, you can bet that politicians who supported the ARRA will be looking to tout green jobs that were created.

Of course, the big question remains, will the ARRA result in a surge in green jobs? I’m not an economist but I can report I have noticed a surge in green startups the last two months. As we slowly emerge from the recession, and as green stimulus funds finally start to flow, look for huge opportunities and resulting success stories from startup green companies.

My money is on a lot of new green jobs being created.