USASpending.gov Scraper

Extract US federal government spending data from USASpending.gov — the official transparency platform for tracking $6+ trillion in federal contracts, grants, loans, and financial assistance annually.

What This Actor Does

This actor accesses the official USASpending.gov public API to retrieve:

• Federal Awards — Search contracts, grants, loans, and other awards by keyword, agency, date range, or amount
• Agency Spending — List all federal agencies ranked by budgetary authority
• Award Details — Get complete details for a specific award by its unique ID
• State Spending — Total federal spending breakdown by US state
• Top Recipients — Identify the largest recipients of federal spending

No authentication required — USASpending.gov data is public.

Input Configuration

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	String (required)	What data to fetch. Options: awards, agencies, byAwardId, spendingByState, topRecipients
query	String	Keyword search for awards or recipients (e.g. infrastructure, cybersecurity)
awardType	String	Filter by award type: contracts, grants, loans, direct_payments, other_financial_assistance
fromDate	String	Start date filter (YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. 2023-01-01)
toDate	String	End date filter (YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. 2023-12-31)
agencyName	String	Filter awards by awarding agency name
minAmount	Integer	Minimum award amount in USD
maxAmount	Integer	Maximum award amount in USD
awardId	String	Unique award ID for byAwardId mode
maxItems	Integer	Maximum records to return (1–1,000, default 25)

Award Types

Type	Description
contracts	BPA calls, purchase orders, delivery orders, definitive contracts
grants	Block grants, formula grants, project grants, cooperative agreements
loans	Direct loans and guaranteed/insured loans
direct_payments	Formula-funded and unrestricted direct payments
other_financial_assistance	Insurance and other reimbursable assistance

Output Fields

Awards Mode

Field	Type	Description
awardId	String	Unique award identifier (e.g. CONT_AWD_N000...)
recipientName	String	Name of the recipient organization
awardType	String	Contract, grant, loan, etc.
startDate	String	Award start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
endDate	String	Award end date (YYYY-MM-DD)
awardAmount	Number	Total obligation in USD
awardingAgency	String	Federal agency that awarded the contract/grant
awardingSubAgency	String	Sub-agency or office
fundingAgency	String	Agency providing the funding
description	String	Award description/statement of work
usaspendingUrl	String	Link to the award on USASpending.gov

Agencies Mode

Field	Type	Description
agencyName	String	Full agency name
agencyAbbreviation	String	Agency abbreviation (e.g. DOD, NASA)
budgetaryResources	Number	Total budget authority in USD
percentOfTotal	Number	Percentage of total federal budget
obligations	Number	Total obligations in USD
usaspendingUrl	String	Agency page on USASpending.gov

State Spending Mode

Field	Type	Description
stateCode	String	Two-letter state code (e.g. CA, TX)
stateName	String	Full state name
totalSpending	Number	Total federal spending in the state (USD)
population	Integer	State population
perCapitaSpending	Number	Federal spending per capita (USD)

Example Use Cases

Find Infrastructure Contracts in 2023

{
  "mode": "awards",
  "query": "infrastructure",
  "awardType": "contracts",
  "fromDate": "2023-01-01",
  "toDate": "2023-12-31",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Get Top Federal Agencies by Budget

{
  "mode": "agencies",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Get Award Details by ID

{
  "mode": "byAwardId",
  "awardId": "CONT_AWD_NNM07AB03C_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-"
}

Federal Spending by State in 2023

{
  "mode": "spendingByState",
  "fromDate": "2023-01-01",
  "toDate": "2023-12-31",
  "awardType": "contracts"
}

Top Recipients for Defense Spending

{
  "mode": "topRecipients",
  "query": "defense",
  "maxItems": 10
}

Data Source

All data comes from the USASpending.gov API v2 — the official US government transparency portal mandated by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act). Data covers fiscal year 2000 to present.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is this data official and reliable? A: Yes. USASpending.gov is the official federal spending transparency website maintained by the US Department of the Treasury. Data is submitted directly by federal agencies.

Q: How current is the data? A: Most award data is updated weekly. The platform covers spending from FY2000 to the present.

Q: What is an Award ID? A: Each federal award has a unique identifier. Contract IDs typically look like CONT_AWD_N00014... and grants like ASST_NON_.... You can find award IDs by searching in awards mode first.

Q: How large are federal awards? A: Awards range from small purchases of a few hundred dollars to multi-billion dollar defense contracts. Use minAmount and maxAmount to filter by size.

Q: Can I filter by congressional district or city? A: The spendingByState mode breaks down by US state. For more granular geographic data, use awards mode and filter by agency or keyword.

Q: Is authentication required? A: No. The USASpending.gov API is fully public and requires no API key or authentication.

Q: What's the difference between awards and subawards? A: This actor returns prime awards (direct federal awards). Subawards (awards made by prime recipients to other organizations) are not included.