# Government Budget & Spending Notices Scraper (`datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper`) Actor

government awards and returns useful information such as Award ID, Recipient, Amount, Date, Description, and Award Link.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Data Pilot](https://apify.com/datapilot) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Real estate, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 scraped results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

💰 **Government Budget & Spending** Notices Scraper is a powerful Apify Actor designed to discover, track, and collect federal award data directly from USASpending.gov's own public API. This tool provides comprehensive **Government Budget & Spending** intelligence including award ID, recipient/title, award amount, start date, and a direct link to the official award record for any keyword. Whether you're building a public spending dashboard, tracking federal award trends, or conducting government transparency research, the Government Budget & Spending Notices Scraper delivers actionable **Government Budget & Spending** insights efficiently.

With grouped award-type querying, direct JSON API access, resilient error handling, and reliable Apify Dataset delivery, the Government Budget & Spending Notices Scraper ensures comprehensive **Government Budget & Spending** coverage across both contracts and grants/assistance award types. It focuses on key **Government Budget & Spending** signals including award amount, recipient, and award date, making it an essential tool for public spending research and transparency intelligence.

***

### 📋 Table of Contents

- [Features](#-features)
- [Data Source](#-data-source)
- [How It Works](#-how-it-works)
- [Input](#-input)
- [Output](#-output)
- [Technical Stack](#-technical-stack)
- [Data Fields](#-data-fields-explained)
- [Use Cases](#-use-cases)
- [Quick Start](#-quick-start)
- [Configuration](#-configuration)
- [Performance](#-performance)
- [Important Notes](#-important-notes)
- [License & Legal](#-license--legal)

***

### 🔥 Features

- **Direct API Access** – Queries USASpending.gov's official `spending_by_award` API directly for fast, structured **Government Budget & Spending** data.
- **Dual Award-Type Coverage** – Searches both contracts (types A–D) and grants/assistance (types 02–05) in a single run.
- **Keyword-Based Search** – Scans **Government Budget & Spending** records for any keyword across a configurable multi-year time period.
- **Amount-Sorted Results** – Returns results sorted by award amount, descending, so the largest awards surface first.
- **Direct Award Links** – Builds a clickable link to the official USASpending.gov award record for every result.
- **Residential Proxy Support** – Optional Apify proxy for reliable **Government Budget & Spending** API access.
- **Configurable Result Cap** – Control how many records are pulled per award-type group.
- **Real-Time Dataset Push** – Pushes all collected **Government Budget & Spending** records to Apify Dataset in a single batch.
- **Graceful Error Handling** – Logs HTTP, validation, and JSON parsing errors per group without stopping the whole run.

***

### 📊 Data Source

#### **USASpending.gov Public API**

- **Authority**: The official U.S. government spending transparency API (`api.usaspending.gov`)
- **Access Method**: Direct async HTTP POST requests via `httpx`
- **Coverage**: Any publicly listed **Government Budget & Spending** award — contracts and grants/assistance — matching the given keyword
- **Data**: Structured JSON award records covering fiscal years 2020–2026 by default
- **Access**: Public API, no API key required
- **Update Frequency**: Reflects USASpending.gov's current published award data at time of run

***

### ⚙️ How It Works

The Government Budget & Spending Notices Scraper accepts a search keyword and queries USASpending.gov's `spending_by_award` API twice — once for contract award types and once for grant/assistance award types — so both major categories of federal spending are covered. Each query requests the top results sorted by award amount in descending order, within a fixed 2020–2026 time window. The Actor parses each result into a clean record containing the award ID, a title (description or recipient name), amount, start date, and a direct link to the award's USASpending.gov page. Every successfully parsed **Government Budget & Spending** record is collected and pushed to the Apify Dataset in a single batch at the end of the run.

**Key Processing Steps:**

1. **Input Parsing** – Accept a search keyword, max results per group, and proxy setting
2. **Proxy Setup** – Configure Apify proxy for the HTTP client, if enabled
3. **Award-Type Group Loop** – Iterate through contracts and grants/assistance type groups
4. **API Request** – POST a search query to USASpending.gov's `spending_by_award` endpoint
5. **Error Handling** – Catch and log HTTP, validation, and JSON parsing errors per group
6. **Result Parsing** – Extract award ID, title, amount, date, and build the award link
7. **Group Aggregation** – Combine results from both award-type groups into one list
8. **Dataset Push** – Push all collected records from the run in a single batch

**Key Benefits:**

- Pull **Government Budget & Spending** award data for any keyword without manual searching
- Cover both contracts and grants/assistance in a single run
- Surface the largest federal awards first with amount-based sorting
- Feed public spending dashboards, journalism research, or transparency tools
- Automate recurring **Government Budget & Spending** checks as new awards are published

***

### 📥 Input

The Actor accepts the following input parameters:

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `keyword` | string | *(required)* | Search term to scan for matching **Government Budget & Spending** awards. |
| `max_results` | integer | `50` | Maximum number of records to request per award-type group. |
| `useApifyProxy` | boolean | `true` | Enable Apify proxy for the API requests. |

**Example Input:**

```json
{
  "keyword": "solar energy",
  "max_results": 50,
  "useApifyProxy": true
}
```

**Search a Single Keyword:**

```json
{
  "keyword": "rural broadband"
}
```

**Pull a Larger Batch:**

```json
{
  "keyword": "disaster relief",
  "max_results": 100
}
```

***

### 📤 Output

The Actor pushes **Government Budget & Spending** records with the following structure:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `doc_id` | string | The official Award ID from USASpending.gov |
| `title` | string | Award description, or recipient name if no description is available |
| `amount` | string/number | Total award amount as reported by USASpending.gov |
| `link` | string | Direct URL to the award's official USASpending.gov page |
| `date` | string | Award start date |

**Example Government Budget & Spending Record:**

```json
{
  "doc_id": "SPE30020D1234",
  "title": "Rural Broadband Infrastructure Expansion Grant",
  "amount": "18500000",
  "link": "https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_1234567_9700_...",
  "date": "2026-03-12"
}
```

***

### 🧰 Technical Stack

- **HTTP Client:** `httpx` (async) for fast, direct requests to USASpending.gov's API
- **Concurrency:** `asyncio` for non-blocking, multi-group querying
- **Data Format:** JSON request/response handling for the `spending_by_award` endpoint
- **Proxy:** Apify Proxy (optional), wired into the `httpx.AsyncClient`
- **Logging:** Apify Actor logging system
- **Platform:** Apify Actor serverless environment

***

### 📊 Data Fields Explained

#### **Award Identity**

- **doc\_id**: The official Award ID assigned by USASpending.gov
- **title**: The award's description, falling back to the recipient name when no description exists

#### **Financial Details**

- **amount**: The total dollar value of the **Government Budget & Spending** award
- **date**: The award's start date

#### **Access**

- **link**: Direct link to view the full award record on the official USASpending.gov website

***

### 🎯 Use Cases

- **Public Spending Research** – Track how federal money is being awarded for a given keyword or industry
- **Journalism & Transparency** – Source primary award data for government spending stories
- **Competitor Tracking** – Monitor which organizations are winning **Government Budget & Spending** awards in a sector
- **Nonprofit & Grant Research** – Identify recent grant activity related to a specific cause or region
- **Academic Research** – Study federal spending patterns at scale
- **Market Research** – Gauge government investment trends across industries and time periods

***

### 🚀 Quick Start

#### **1. Prepare Input**

Go to Apify Console and enter:

```json
{
  "keyword": "solar energy"
}
```

#### **2. Run the Actor**

Click **Start**. The Actor will:

- Query USASpending.gov for matching contract awards
- Query USASpending.gov for matching grant/assistance awards
- Parse and combine results from both groups
- Push all results to the Dataset

#### **3. Monitor Progress**

Console shows:

```
[USASpending] Searching 'solar energy' in contracts...
 -> 42 record(s) from contracts.
[USASpending] Searching 'solar energy' in grants_and_assistance...
 -> 18 record(s) from grants_and_assistance.
Done! Successfully saved 60 record(s) to Apify Dataset.
```

#### **4. View & Download Results**

- **Results Tab**: All **Government Budget & Spending** records
- **Export**: JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML
- **Filter**: By amount or award date
- **API Access**: Available via the Apify API

***

### ⚙️ Configuration

Single keyword search:

```json
{
  "keyword": "rural broadband"
}
```

Larger batch pull:

```json
{
  "keyword": "disaster relief",
  "max_results": 100
}
```

Run without proxy:

```json
{
  "keyword": "solar energy",
  "useApifyProxy": false
}
```

***

### 📈 Performance

#### **Processing Speed**

- Two API requests per run — one for contracts, one for grants/assistance
- No browser rendering required, so requests complete quickly
- Response time depends primarily on USASpending.gov's own API latency

#### **Resource Usage**

- Memory: Low, since only lightweight JSON requests are made
- Network: Two POST requests per run, regardless of keyword result volume
- Proxy: One shared Apify proxy connection across both requests, if enabled

***

### ⚠️ Important Notes

#### **Legal & Compliance**

- **Fair Use**: Uses USASpending.gov's official public API as intended
- **Public Data Only**: Retrieves only publicly published **Government Budget & Spending** award data
- **Legal**: Not legal advice — consult qualified professionals before using this data for compliance-sensitive decisions

#### **Data Quality**

- **Freshness**: Reflects USASpending.gov's currently published data at time of run
- **Completeness**: Fixed to a 2020–2026 time window by default; results depend on what has been reported to USASpending.gov
- **Accuracy**: Sourced directly from the official U.S. government spending transparency API
- **Verification**: Cross-check high-stakes figures against the live USASpending.gov website

#### **Best Practices**

- Use specific keywords to keep result sets relevant and manageable
- Increase `max_results` if you need deeper coverage per award-type group
- Re-run periodically to catch newly published awards
- Expect occasional `422` validation errors to be logged and skipped rather than stopping the run
- Combine with agency- or NAICS-specific research tools for a fuller **Government Budget & Spending** picture

***

### 📄 License & Legal

**Terms of Use:**

- Use for legitimate research, journalism, and transparency purposes
- Respect USASpending.gov's Terms of Use
- Use **Government Budget & Spending** data responsibly and in compliance with applicable laws

**Disclaimer:**
Government Budget & Spending Notices Scraper is provided as-is for research and analytics purposes. Users are responsible for compliance with USASpending.gov's terms and all applicable laws. This is not legal advice.

***

### ⚖️ Government Budget & Spending Excellence

This Actor is optimized for **Government Budget & Spending** research with:

- ✅ Direct, official API access — no scraping fragility
- ✅ Dual coverage of contracts and grants/assistance
- ✅ Amount-sorted results for fast prioritization
- ✅ Resilient per-group error handling
- ✅ Real-time Dataset push
- ✅ Production-ready code

# Actor input Schema

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Topic, Agency, or Recipient name (e.g. 'OpenAI')

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

Number of items to fetch per award group

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Enable Apify Proxy for API requests

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keyword": "OpenAI",
  "max_results": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `crawlResults` (type: `string`):

No description

## `spendingTable` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datapilot/government-budget-spending-notices-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/izLXPvv6WJKhQiouo/builds/Vizbsjp7MgNKRr7Ew/openapi.json