Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov
and Other Data Sources
Updated September 15, 2020
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R44027

Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources

Summary
USAspending.gov, available at http://www.USAspending.gov, is a government source for data on
federal awards by state, congressional district (CD), county, city, and zip code. The awards data in
USAspending.gov are provided by federal agencies and represent contracts, grants, loans, and
other forms of financial assistance. USAspending.gov also provides tools for examining the
broader picture of federal spending obligations within the categories of budget function, agency,
and object class.
Using USAspending.gov to locate and compile accurate data on federal awards can be
challenging due, in part, to continuing data quality issues that have been identified by the U.S.
Government Accountability Office (GAO). Users of USAspending.gov need to be aware that
while search results may be useful for informing consideration of certain questions, these results
may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies.
USAspending.gov was created under P.L. 109-282, the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), and is being enhanced under requirements in P.L. 113-101,
the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act).
Other federal awards data sources reviewed in this report include the following:
 Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS);
 Census Federal Audit Clearinghouse;
 U.S. Budget: Aid to State and Local Governments;
 Census Federal Aid to States (FAS) and Consolidated Federal Funds
Report (CFFR); and
 Additional federal grant awards databases, including sources tracking medical,
scientific, and technical research.
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Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources

Introduction
USAspending.gov, available to the public at http://www.usaspending.gov, is a government source
for data on federal grants, contracts, loans, and other financial assistance. The website enables
searching of federal awards from FY2008 to the present by state, congressional district (CD),
county, city, and zip code. Grant awards include money the federal government commits for
projects in states, local jurisdictions, regions, territories, and tribal reservations, as well as
payments for eligible needs to help individuals and families. Contract awards refer to bids and
agreements the federal government makes for specific goods and services.
USAspending.gov also provides tools for examining the broader picture of federal spending
obligations within the categories of budget function, agency, and object class. Budget function
refers to the major purpose that the spending serves, such as Social Security, Medicare, and
national defense. Object class refers to the type of item or service purchased by the federal
government, such as grants, contracts, and personnel compensation and benefits.
For Congress, the ability to more accurately track these federal awards is necessary to better
inform oversight of federal spending. In recent years, Congress has passed laws to create and
improve systems used by government departments and agencies to report and input data on
federal awards for contracts, grants, and other financial assistance:
 P.L. 109-282, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
(FFATA), called for the creation of a database that became USAspending.gov.
The publicly available database replaced data collection and annual reports
issued for more than 30 years in the Census Bureau’s Federal Aid to States (FAS)
report and Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR).1
 P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA),
required federal agencies awarding stimulus funding and state and local
recipients of such funding to report spending back to the ARRA Recovery Board;
this reporting also became a part of USAspending.gov.
 P.L. 113-101, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA
Act), transferred responsibility for USAspending.gov from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to the Department of the Treasury and required
that expenditures data be added to the federal agency obligations data already
included in the USAspending.gov database. The DATA Act also required
Treasury and OMB to develop government-wide data standardization to facilitate
consolidating, automating, and simplifying reports on grant awards and contracts
and to improve USAspending.gov underreporting and inconsistencies.
Congress has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with multiple pieces of legislation providing
relief to individuals and families, state and local governments, businesses, and healthcare
providers.2 USAspending.gov provides several features through which users can explore COVID-
19 award data, including a COVID-19 profile page and specific search filters. The Pandemic
Response Accountability Committee (PRAC; https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/track-the-

1 Congress subsequently defunded the Census office that issued these reports in FY2012, with FY2010 Federal Aid to
States (FAS) report and Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) being the last reports issued.
2 Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-123); Families First
Coronavirus Response Act (P.L. 116-127); Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act; P.L.
116-136); and Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (P.L. 116-139).
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money), a new federal entity created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
(CARES Act; P.L. 116-136), also presents COVID-19 funding data through a variety of visual
displays.3 For more information on accessing COVID-19 funding data through
USAspending.gov, PRAC, and other sources, see CRS Report R46491, Resources for Tracking
Federal COVID-19 Spending.
Finding accurate and complete data on federal funds received by states and congressional districts
continues to be challenging due to ongoing data quality issues originally identified by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) in June 2014.4 A recent GAO report released in July
2020 presents a review of reports by 51 Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs) on the quality of
their agencies’ spending data. Using a 20% or lower error rate benchmark established by the OIG
audit methodology guidance, 37 of 51 OIGs reported that their agencies’ data were of higher
quality, and 11 OIGs reported data quality that was of moderate or lower quality. Additionally, 47
OIGs reported that their agencies submitted data on time, but certain agencies’ submissions did
not always contain all the data that should have been submitted.5 Users of USAspending.gov
should be aware that although search results may be useful for informing consideration of certain
questions, these results may also be incomplete or contain inaccuracies.
USAspending.gov Background
Origins
FFATA required OMB to create a public database of all federal funds awarded to the final
recipient level. The DATA Act followed eight years later and required the Department of the
Treasury and OMB to develop government-wide data standardization to consolidate, automate,
and simplify reports on grant awards and contracts to improve underreporting and inconsistencies
as identified by GAO.6 These requirements in the DATA Act were intended to expand on the
transparency efforts originally mandated by FFATA, specifically by
 disclosing direct agency expenditures and linking federal contract, loan, and
grant spending information to federal agency programs;
 establishing government-wide data standards for financial data and providing
consistent, reliable, and searchable data that are displayed accurately;
 simplifying reporting, streamlining reporting requirements, and reducing
compliance costs, while improving transparency; and
 improving the quality of data submitted to USAspending.gov by holding
agencies accountable.7

3 For more information on PRAC, see CRS Insight IN11343, The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee:
Organization and Duties, by Ben Wilhelm.
4 The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) “estimates with 95 percent confidence that between 2 percent and
7 percent of the awards contained information that was fully consistent with agencies’ records for all 21 data elements
examined.” See GAO Highlights, Data Transparency: Oversight Needed to Address Underreporting and
Inconsistencies on Federal Award Website, GAO-14-476, June 2014, at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-476.
5 GAO-20-540, DATA Act: OIGs Reported That Quality of Agency-Submitted Data Varied, and Most Recommended
Improvements, July 9, 2020, at https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-540.
6 GAO-14-476 (2014).
7 USAspending.gov “About” page at https://www.usaspending.gov/#/about.
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In addition, no later than four years after enactment (by spring 2018), Treasury and OMB must
ensure that all information published on USAspending.gov conforms to government-wide data
standards. OMB is also required to issue guidance so that all agencies can follow government-
wide data standards when reporting on grantee and contractor awards.
Types and Timing of Data
The data in USAspending.gov are submitted by federal agencies and represent awards, including
grants, contracts, loans, and other financial assistance (e.g., Medicare benefits, food stamps,
unemployment benefits). USAspending.gov does not include data on actual spending by
recipients. Federal agencies are required to submit reports on awards transactions within 30 days
after transactions are implemented. There may be a longer lag-time with data from the
Department of Defense, generally 90 days.
Site Features
USAspending.gov enables congressional staff and the public to search back to FY2008 for prime
and subaward data by state, congressional district, and other jurisdictions. The site includes the
following features:
 Advanced Award Search of prime and subaward data back to FY2008 allows
filtering by award type, awarding agency, recipient, country, state, zip, county,
city, CD, and other criteria. To identify where money is being spent, search on
Place of Performance versus Recipient Location. Search results include awards
that are active during the selected fiscal year, regardless of when the award
initially started. Details on an individual award, including transaction history and
subawards, may be viewed by clicking on the Award ID. The results list
displayed can be downloaded at either the award or transaction level, along with
additional details about each award, into a spreadsheet. The advanced search is
continually being developed and improved, so new features may have become
available since the publication of this report.
 Spending Explorer enables “big picture” browsing of federal spending
obligations and offers interactive data visualization by budget function, agency,
and object class. With this tool, users can see the budget function breakdown by
categories, such as Social Security, Medicare, and national defense; obligated
amounts by agency; and obligations by object class categories, such as grants,
contracts, and personnel compensation and benefits.
 Profiles Tab includes the following subtabs:
 Agencies features data on each agency’s total budgetary resources, a dollar
amount that has been obligated (or committed to be spent) against those
budgetary resources, the breakdown of these obligations by object class, and
the federal accounts through which the obligations are administered.
 Federal Accounts features a list of nearly 2,000 federal accounts through
which users can track spending obligations. Data in this section are presented
visually through graphs and other infographics.
 States provides tables, interactive maps, and graphs showing a breakdown of
a total awarded amount to each state back to FY2008. Breakdowns include
totals by award type, county, and CD. Profiles also include top five rankings
in various categories, such as awarding agencies and recipients.
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 Recipients contains profiles of entities that have received federal awards in
the form of contracts, grants, loans, or other financial assistance back to
FY2008. Profiles include data on award trends over time and top five
rankings in various categories.
 Download Center allows bulk exporting of large, pregenerated award data sets
by agency, award type, and fiscal year through the Award Data Archive. The
custom download pages—Custom Award Data and Custom Account Data (which
covers all spending data, including nonaward spending)—also allow
downloading of large data sets but provide additional filtering options.
Issues with Tracking Awards
In addition to the data quality problems in USAspending.gov mentioned earlier,8 the following
issues should be taken into consideration.
Recipient Location Versus Place of Performance
As recipients of federal grant funding, state and local governments may provide services directly
to beneficiaries. Alternatively, a state may act as a pass-through, redisbursing federal grant
funding to localities using a formula or a competitive process9 through subgrants or subcontracts.
Both federal grant and procurement awards thus may have a where awarded vs. where spent
component that is not fully identified in grant or procurement records.
For example, most federal grant funding is awarded to states, which then subaward or subcontract
to eligible recipients elsewhere in the state (see Figure 1). So, a project’s place of performance
(where the award is spent) may therefore differ from the initial recipient location (where the
funding is awarded).

8 For examples of the data quality problems GAO has identified in USAspending.gov, see the GAO website at
http://www.gao.gov, particularly the search term USAspending.gov and the header Data Transparency.
9 See CRS Report R42769, Federal Grants-in-Aid Administration: A Primer, by Natalie Keegan.
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Figure 1. Examples of Federal Spending Streams
Recipients at Multiple Levels

Sources: Jerry Brito, George Washington University, 2009; and the Congressional Research Service, 2016.
In addition, a funding award may pass through multiple different jurisdictions (in different CDs)
before reaching the final place of performance. For example
 Federal grants may go first to the state (the state capital, in one CD), then be
distributed to a city or county government (in one or more additional CDs),
which then may pass the funds to an organization that spends the money in other
CDs. A CD in which a state capital is located may appear to receive more federal
funds than other CDs in the state, but searching USAspending.gov data by place
of performance rather than recipient location would identify data by the project
location.
 Procurement awards may be given to a corporation headquartered in one state
(and one CD), but the company may spend the money manufacturing the
purchased product at one or more of its manufacturing facilities in one or more
additional states (and CDs).
Congressional District Data
The USAspending.gov advanced award search enables filtering by state and congressional
district. When searching for CD data, note the following:
 For CD data, search USAspending.gov by place of performance rather than
recipient location to identify awards by project location (see “Recipient Location
Versus Place of Performance ,” above).
 Use caution when comparing CD data over time. During decennial redistricting,
CD borders and numbers may change, but past data are not revised to account for
redistricting. For example, comparing data from the 115th or 114th Congress with
earlier data must take into account new district borders created by the 2010
decennial redistricting. Other geographic search options, such as by zip code or
county, could be used to track funds within a CD, although borders may not
exactly align.
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 CDs that include state capitals will appear to receive more federal funds because
states are prime recipients of federal block and formula grants. State
Administering Agencies (SAAs) then pass through or subaward federal funding
for projects throughout the state.
Other Data Sources
Federal Procurement Data System
The General Services Administration (GSA) maintains the Federal Procurement Data System–
Next Generation (FPDS–NG) at https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/index.php/en/, which contains
statistical information on federal contracts. The FPDS–NG
 serves as the source of USAspending.gov contracts data;
 makes available Federal Procurement Reports from FY2000 forward on its
website;
 includes data on contracts of more than $25,000 and summary data of
procurements less than $25,000; and
 provides selected search capabilities by state (including aggregate county
statistics), contractor name, and product or service category.
For more refined searching, such as by CD, the FPDS Help Desk can guide congressional staff
and the public through filtering for data needed (called ad hoc reports).
Federal Audit Clearinghouse
States, local governments, and nonprofits (including universities) spending $750,000 or more10 in
federal grants during a fiscal year are required to submit an audit detailing expenditures. Data
from the audits are posted on the Census Bureau’s Federal Audit Clearinghouse site, at
https://harvester.census.gov/facweb/Default.aspx. No printed documents are produced.
 Because the audit data are for the fiscal year of the filing agency or organization
(which may differ from the federal fiscal year), they are not comparable with data
from any other federal source.
 Searches may be conducted by organization or institution, Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance (CFDA) program number, and geographic location (by city
or state but not by congressional district). See search options at
https://harvester.census.gov/facdissem/Main.aspx.
U.S. Budget: Aid to State and Local Governments
The Analytical Perspectives volume of the President’s budget covers various topics, including
“Aid to State and Local Governments” (Chapter 14 in the FY2021 report).11 Federal grants-in-aid

10 For fiscal years prior to December 26, 2014, the threshold was $500,000 (https://harvester.census.gov/facweb/
FAQs.aspx).
11 OMB, “Chapter 14: Aid to State and Local Governments,” Analytical Perspectives: Budget of the U.S. Government,
Fiscal Year 2021, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/analytical-perspectives/. Note that Chapter 14 is variously
numbered in earlier budgets.
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to state and local governments, U.S. territories, and American Indian tribal governments are
intended to support government operations or the provision of services to the public. Grants are
most often awarded as direct cash assistance, but federal grants-in-aid also can include payments
for grants-in-kind—nonmonetary aid such as commodities purchased for the National School
Lunch Program. Federal revenues shared with state and local governments also are considered
grants-in-aid.12
The FY2021 budget proposes $810 billion in outlays for aid to state and local governments, an
increase of 2.4 percent from FY2020.13 Individual program tables with state-by-state obligation
data for grants-in-aid programs to state and local governments may be found on the OMB
website. Tables 14-3 through 14-40 show state-by-state obligations for 35 federal grants-in-aid
programs.14
Federal grants generally fall into one of two broad categories—categorical grants or block grants,
depending on the requirements of the grant program. In addition, grants may be characterized by
how the funding is awarded, such as by formula, by project, or by matching state and local funds.
As recipients of federal grant funding, state and local governments may provide services directly
to beneficiaries or states may act as a pass-through, disbursing grant funding to localities using a
formula or a competitive process.15 As discussed above, this pass-through, or subawarding, at the
state level makes tracking federally originated funds to the final recipient a challenge.
Federal Aid to States and the Consolidated Federal Funds Report
These Census Bureau reports, published from FY1983 to FY2010 and available at
https://www.census.gov/govs/pubs/title.html, were the federal government’s primary documents
summarizing the geographic distribution of federal monies to states and counties, whether grants,
contracts, or appropriations. The FY2010 Federal Aid to States (FAS) and Consolidated Federal
Funds Report (CFFR) were the last reports issued due to the termination of the Census Bureau’s
Federal Financial Statistics program. Federal obligations data continue to be posted
on USAspending.gov, now the official source collecting federal awards data.
 FAS covered federal government expenditures to state and local governments and
presented figures to the state level by program area and agency.
 CFFR included payments to state and local governments as well as to
nongovernmental recipients. Dollar amounts reported represented either actual
expenditures or obligations (see CFFR introduction and source notes for each
table or graph).
 CFFR provided data to the state and county level for grants, salaries and wages,
procurement contracts, direct payments for individuals, other direct payments,
direct loans, guaranteed or insured loans, and insurance.
 Although CFFR indicated congressional districts (one or more) for each county,
it did not give separate data by CD.

12 Ibid., p. 201.
13 Ibid., p. 201.
14 See Supplemental Materials as Spreadsheets, Tables 14-3 through 14-40, 2021 Budget State-by-State Tables,
Analytical Perspectives, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/analytical-perspectives/.
15 See CRS Report R42769, Federal Grants-in-Aid Administration: A Primer, by Natalie Keegan.
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Selected Agency Grant Awards Databases and Information
USAspending.gov collects brief data on all federal grants and contracts awarded. However, some
agencies, in particular those awarding research grants, also continue to post information on their
own websites.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
 Current Research Information System
https://cris.nifa.usda.gov/
Ongoing agricultural, food science, human nutrition, and forestry research,
education and extension activities, with a focus on the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture (NIFA) grant programs. Projects are conducted or sponsored by
USDA research agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, land-grant
universities, other cooperating state institutions, and participants in NIFA-
administered grant programs, including Small Business Innovation Research and
the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
Department of Education (ED)
 Institute of Education Sciences, Funded Research Grants and Contracts
http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/index.asp
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
 Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS)
http://taggs.hhs.gov/AdvancedSearch.cfm
Database of awards from HHS and its subsidiaries.
 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools
RePORTER
http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm
Includes projects funded by the NIH, Administration for Children and Families,
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs.
 National Library of Medicine (NLM)
https://hsrproject.nlm.nih.gov/
Database of ongoing health services research and public health projects, whether
government, corporate, or private.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Public Assistance Grant
Awards Activity
2013-2016: https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/30731
2017-2019: https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/128200
Daily activity of Public Assistance Grant Awards, including FEMA region, state,
disaster declaration number, event description, mission assigned agency,
assistance requested, obligated federal dollars, and date of obligation.
Department of Justice (DOJ)
 Office of Justice Programs (OJP), OJP Grant Award Data
http://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/OJPAwardData.htm
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Department of Labor (DOL)
 Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Grants Awarded
http://www.doleta.gov/grants/grants_awarded.cfm
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 Grant Awards Database
https://yosemite.epa.gov/oarm/igms_egf.nsf/HomePage?ReadForm
Contains a summary record for all nonconstruction EPA grants awarded in the
last 10 years plus grants that were awarded before that time that are still open.
 EPA Active Contracts Listing
https://www.epa.gov/contracts/epa-active-contracts-listing
Lists of all currently active EPA Contracts. The listing is available by Contract
Number and by Vendor Name.
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
 IMLS Awarded Grants
http://www.imls.gov/recipients/grantsearch.aspx
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
 Grant Search
https://apps.nea.gov/grantsearch/
NEA grants awarded since 1998.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
 Funded Projects
https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx
National Science Foundation (NSF)
 NSF Awards
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Includes data from 1989 to the present.
 Research.gov is a partnership of federal research-oriented grant-making agencies
led by the NSF
http://www.research.gov/research-portal/appmanager/base/desktop?_nfpb=true&
_eventName=viewQuickSearchFormEvent_so_rsr&wtlink=
RSR_Search_homepage.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
 SBIR and STTR Awards
https://www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/award/all
The SBIR/STTR program’s mission is to stimulate technology innovation by
strengthening the role of innovative small business in federal research and
development. Currently, 11 federal agencies participate in the program: the
Departments of Agriculture, Commerce (National Institute of Standards and
Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration),
Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
and Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Science Foundation.
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Transportation Research Board (TRB)
 Research in Progress
http://rip.trb.org/
View projects by subject, individuals, or organizations.
Further Reading
Data Foundation and Deloitte, “DATA Act 2022: Changing Technology, Changing Culture,”
report, May 2017, at http://www.datafoundation.org/data-act-2022/.
U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, “Federal Agency Compliance with the DATA Act,” report, July 2018, at
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/staff-report_-federal-agency-compliance-with-the-data-
act.
Urban Institute, “Follow the Money: How to Track Federal Funding to Local Governments,”
research report, February 26, 2018, at https://www.urban.org/research/publication/follow-money-
how-track-federal-funding-local-governments.

Author Information

Jennifer Teefy

Senior Research Librarian

Disclaimer
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Congressional Research Service
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