What is displayed on USAspending.gov
What is not displayed on USAspending.gov
Data Sources
Types of Awards
Timing
Data on the Map
Data Quality
Archival Data
The DATA Act
All the prime recipient transaction data on USAspending.gov is reported by the federal agencies making contract, grant, loan, and other financial assistance awards. Sub-recipient transaction data is reported by the prime recipients.
What data is displayed on USAspending.gov
- All prime recipient contract transactions more than $3,000.
- All grant, loan, and other financial assistance transactions of more than $25,000.
- First-tier sub-recipient contract, grant, and loan transactions of more than $25,000.
- Micro-purchases of less than $3,000 made with a federal credit card are collected by the General Services Administration and displayed monthly in a SmartPay spreadsheet. This same data may also be displayed on the charts, graphs, or summaries.
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What data is not displayed on USAspending.gov
- Federal salaries and compensation
- Individuals' names receiving direct assistance payments, such as benefits or entitlements
- Award information that could result in a security risk to the recipient
- Tax credit data
- Appropriation amounts
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Data Sources
- Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG) -- Prime contract transaction data may be submitted through agency contract financial system to FPDS-NG to be published on USAspending.gov. FPDS-NG is operated by the General Services Administration (GSA).
- Award Submission Portal (ASP) – Financial assistance transactions on awards of more than $25,000 are reported to the ASP by the agencies via file upload. The files are often created from the agencies grant systems. Data is then uploaded to USAspending.gov. The ASP is operated and managed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service).
- Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) -- Prime recipients are required to report awards to first-tier sub-recipients to FSRS for display on USAspending.gov. FSRS is operated and maintained by GSA.
- SmartPay – Data for micro-purchases using a federal credit card is collected by GSA and provided to Fiscal Services monthly in an Excel spreadsheet.
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Types of Awards
- Contracts – Federal awards that include the following types. For definitions, see the Glossary.
- Competitive or non-competitive
- Firm-fixed price
- Cost no fee
- Cost plus incentive
- Cost plus fixed fee
- Fixed price with economic price adjustment
- Grants – Federal awards that require an application process and include payments to non-federal entities for a defined purpose in which services are not rendered to the federal government. Also, includes indirect payments to individuals and insurance.
- Loans – Federal awards that the borrower will eventually pay back to the government. Guaranteed loans require the federal government to pay the bank and take over the loan if the borrower defaults.
- Other Financial Assistance – Includes direct payments to individuals (such as Medicare and food stamps), insurance payments (such as, unemployment benefits, flood insurance), and other types of assistance payments (such as, reimbursements for prescriptions for veterans).
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Timing
The data on USAspending.gov is updated daily. Agencies are required to submit data files within 30 days after making an award or after making a modification/transaction to an award, except for the Department of Defense which delays its submission by 90 days to protect operations. However, when specific records are displayed on USAspending.gov depends on when the agency submits files to the data source sites and the processing time required by that site. There could be a latency of one to three days before the files are processed and uploaded to USAspending.gov.
If an agency reports a modification/transaction to an award made in a previous fiscal year, the modification/transaction data is displayed in the fiscal year in which the modification/transaction was made, not in the fiscal year that the original award was made.
SmartPay data is updated monthly.
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Data on the Map
Transactions are geocoded based on the prime recipients' places of performance zip code+4 reported by the agencies. In many instances, multiple transactions are clustered to the center of a zip code.
Contract transactions may not represent the places of performance for the projects but the locations where supply items or services for projects were purchased or manufactured.
Grant awards may be displayed in state capitals or the center of counties because the funding was statewide or county-wide assistance.
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Data Quality
Transactions showing a $0 amount may occur because:
- The agency made a modification to an award but there was no additional funding.
- The award was rescinded by the agency after the report has been entered into the system. Instead of removing the report, the agency submits a corrected report showing the Award Amount as $0.
Negative Dollar Amounts may occur because:
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The agency reduced or rescinded a portion of the original award amount.
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There is a negative subsidy on a loan and the funds are being returned to the Treasury.
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Duplicate corrections reports have been submitted by the agency
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget are working to address long-term data quality concerns as an important part of the implementation of the
DATA Act, scheduled for delivery in 2017.
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Archival Data
The site displays data from October 1, 2008 to present. Data prior to September 30, 2008 can be downloaded from the
Download Center.
In May 2014, President Obama signed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) into law. Once implemented, the DATA Act will make Federal spending data more accessible, searchable, and reliable. It will not only make it easier to understand how the Federal Government spends money but also serve as a tool for better oversight, management decision-making, and innovation both inside and outside of government. The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are leading the government-wide implementation of the DATA Act. Find out more about the
DATA Act.
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