USAspending API scraper — federal contract data export

Turn USAspending.gov's complex federal-award search into one normalized, analysis-ready row per federal procurement contract. This is a new Actor, not an official USAspending or U.S. Government product.

Use it when a GovCon, research, or procurement team needs a filterable federal contract data export without rebuilding USAspending's POST filters and pagination.

What is different from the free API

USAspending's free API requires POST filters, paginated result merging, capitalized field conventions, award-type codes, and data-model interpretation. This Actor applies those mechanics and returns a stable, one-row-per-award table. Optional BYOK AI adds a factual one-line description and exactly three tags, always tied to descriptionRaw.

Output

Every dataset item has awardId, recipientName, recipientUEI, awardingAgency, subAgency, awardAmount, currency, startDate, endDate, naicsCode, naicsDescription, placeOfPerformance, descriptionRaw, descriptionSummary, categoryTags, sourceUrl, and fetchedAt.

descriptionSummary and categoryTags are objects with value, sourceField: "descriptionRaw", and status. If no key is supplied, or the official record has no description, their values are null—never inferred. sourceUrl links to the official USAspending award-detail API record.

Input example

{
  "startDate": "2025-01-01",
  "endDate": "2025-12-31",
  "naicsCodes": ["541512"],
  "minAwardAmount": 100000,
  "awardingAgency": "Department of Defense",
  "maxItems": 100
}

The default award types are procurement contracts (A, B, C, D). startDate cannot be before 2007-10-01 under the USAspending search endpoint.

AI is optional BYOK

Enter an OpenAI-compatible key only when you want the two AI fields. It is used for this run, is not written to the dataset, and only sees the first ten available descriptionRaw values. Without a key, normal award rows still return and AI fields stay null.

Honest boundaries

• Uses only the official public USAspending API; it does not scrape webpages, use proxies, rotate IPs, spoof user agents, or bypass CAPTCHA.
• API field availability varies by award. Missing official source fields remain null.
• Results are historical award records, not current open solicitations. SAM.gov opportunities are intentionally not included because their official API requires each operator's own account API key.
• Validate data before bidding, outreach, or legal/commercial decisions.

Pricing

Pay per event: apify-default-dataset-item at $0.005 per normalized award row ($5.00 per 1,000 results). Apify platform usage and any buyer-selected AI provider charges are separate.

Actual-run output receipt

An [own test] on 2026-08-01 requested 100 awards and produced 100 normalized output rows in 6 seconds. No AI key was supplied, so descriptionSummary and categoryTags were null as documented.

Frequently asked questions

How do I export federal contract data from USAspending?

Set an award period and optional NAICS, agency, keyword, and award-value filters. The Actor retrieves official USAspending award records and returns one normalized row per award.

Is this a USAspending API scraper or an official government product?

It uses the public USAspending.gov API, but it is an independent Actor and not an official U.S. Government product.

Can I use this for GovCon competitor research?

It can filter historical federal award records by the supplied fields. It does not identify open solicitations or replace validation before a bid, outreach, or commercial decision.

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