# USAspending Federal Awards: Contracts, Grants, Recipients (`gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search`) Actor

Search USAspending.gov federal awards by keyword, recipient, agency or date. Get contracts and grants with amounts, recipients, awarding agency and performance dates as JSON. Great for competitor research and sales prospecting.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search.md
- **Developed by:** [Gouda Studios](https://apify.com/gouda_studios) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 awards

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## USAspending Federal Awards Search: Contracts, Grants, Recipients

Search U.S. federal contract and grant awards from the official USAspending.gov API by keyword, recipient, agency, NAICS, state, date and amount. Award amount, recipient UEI, agency and links.

### For AI agents and developers

Agent-ready docs, pricing, an OpenAPI spec and example calls for this tool live on [Gouda Studios Agent Tools](https://gouda-studios-agent-tools.vercel.app/tools/usaspending-awards-search/). The full catalog is at [gouda-studios-agent-tools.vercel.app](https://gouda-studios-agent-tools.vercel.app) and [llms.txt](https://gouda-studios-agent-tools.vercel.app/llms.txt).

### Who uses it

- GovCon BD teams researching competitors' wins and incumbents
- Grant seekers and consultants checking who funds what
- AI agents answering "who won federal money for X" with sourced data

### Output (one row per award)

awardId, recipientName, recipientUei, awardAmount, totalOutlays, description, startDate, endDate, awardingAgency, awardingSubAgency, fundingAgency, awardType, naics, psc, assistanceListings, placeOfPerformanceState, lastModified, internalId, url

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.0015 per award row ($1.5 per 1,000)**. No platform usage is added on top, and you are never charged for rows you don't get. Set `maxResults` to cap your spend.

### For AI agents

- Call through the Apify API, the Apify MCP server (mcp.apify.com), or agentic payments (x402 / MPP prepaid token, Skyfire). No Apify account is required for agentic payments.
- Runs with **limited permissions** and no Standby. It only touches its own storages.
- Returns U.S. federal spending awards (contracts, IDVs, grants, loans) from the official USAspending.gov API, one JSON row per award, largest first. Example: {"keywords":\["cybersecurity"],"awardType":"contracts","startDate":"2026-01-01","maxResults":50}. Pricing: $0.0015 per award row.
- Every input is optional except what you need to define the search. Unknown names or IDs are logged and skipped; the run still succeeds.
- Output is a flat JSON dataset; read it with `GET /v2/datasets/{datasetId}/items?format=json`. `RUN_SUMMARY` in the key-value store gives the row count.

### Data source

Official USAspending.gov API v2 (U.S. Treasury), public and keyless.

### Disclaimer

Public government/regulatory data provided as-is. Not affiliated with the data publisher. Check the original record (link in each row) before relying on it.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Optional words to match in award descriptions, e.g. \["cybersecurity"].

## `recipientNames` (type: `array`):

Optional company or organization names (or UEIs), e.g. \["Booz Allen Hamilton"]. Find a competitor's federal wins.

## `awardingAgencies` (type: `array`):

Optional top-tier agency names exactly as USAspending lists them, e.g. \["Department of Defense","Department of Veterans Affairs"].

## `naicsCodes` (type: `array`):

Optional NAICS codes (contracts only), e.g. \["541512"].

## `states` (type: `array`):

Optional 2-letter state codes, e.g. \["VA","TX"].

## `awardType` (type: `string`):

contracts (default), idvs, grants, loans, direct_payments or other.

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to 90 days ago. USAspending data starts 2007-10-01.

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to today.

## `minAmount` (type: `integer`):

Optional lower bound on award amount.

## `maxAmount` (type: `integer`):

Optional upper bound on award amount.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

true = skip awards delivered by an earlier run with the same filters.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum rows (1-10000). You pay per row: 100 rows = $0.15.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "cybersecurity"
  ],
  "recipientNames": [],
  "awardingAgencies": [],
  "naicsCodes": [],
  "states": [],
  "awardType": "contracts",
  "onlyNew": false,
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "cybersecurity"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search").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 = { "keywords": ["cybersecurity"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search").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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "cybersecurity"
  ]
}' |
apify call gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gouda_studios/usaspending-awards-search"
        }
    }
}
```

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/6a6I0eAFvBAp2etR7/builds/HPywu4Keyvmh9yTgZ/openapi.json