What USAspending does

USAspending.gov is the official open data source of federal spending information in the United States, operated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Established under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) and expanded by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014, the platform provides publicly accessible and searchable data on what the federal government spends each year, covering procurement contracts, financial assistance (grants and loans), subawards, and specialized COVID-19 and infrastructure spending across all federal agencies.

The platform is built as a web-based data aggregation system that ingests financial data from Treasury's Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS) and federal agency source systems, then enriches award records with SAM.gov entity data and Dun & Bradstreet company information. Its four core functional areas — Search Award Data, Explore the Data, Download the Data, and Find Resources — support use cases ranging from individual award lookups to bulk dataset extraction and interactive spending analysis by budget function, agency, and geography. Data quality and limitations are documented through sitewide data source disclosures covering issues such as subaward data quality, DOD procurement reporting delays, and NAICS classification conventions.

The platform operates on a non-commercial model with no pricing, subscriptions, or fees; it is funded entirely through federal appropriations under Treasury's statutory transparency mandate. Its user base spans the general public, media and investigative journalists, government oversight bodies (congressional staff, watchdog organizations, policy researchers), and downstream data consumers. Distribution is exclusively direct via the usaspending.gov .gov domain, supplemented by an email release notes newsletter, a OneVoice CRM community engagement portal, and educational featured content. The platform is not a commercial entity and has no investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity.

Name

USAspending

Legal name

USAspending.gov (U.S. Government)

Website

https://usaspending.gov

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

USAspending.gov is the official U.S. government open data platform for federal spending, operated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service under Treasury. It provides free public access to searchable data on federal contracts, grants, loans, and subawards as mandated by the DATA Act.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Spending Transparency

NAICS

Public Finance Activities (921130), Administration of Economic Programs (926), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

E-Procurement & Spend Analytics (BPAIAEAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Intergovernmental Affairs & Federal Grants Administration (BPAIAAAC), Government & Public Sector Disbursements (Tax Refunds, Benefits) (FSAMAKAJ)

Keywords

• Federal spending data
• Government transparency portal
• Public spending database
• Federal award search
• Government data platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Government-Funded Public Service: USAspending.gov is a U.S. government transparency initiative funded by public tax revenue. There is no commercial revenue generation. The platform operates under statutory mandate from the DATA Act (Digital Accountability and Transparency Act) to provide publicly accessible federal spending information at no cost to users.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

USAspending.gov provides publicly accessible and searchable data on U.S. federal government spending, enabling users to search award data (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments), explore spending trends through interactive visualizations by budget function and agency, download raw datasets (GTAS File A-F), and access a glossary of federal spending terminology. The platform covers all federal spending including procurement contracts, financial assistance, subawards, and specialized tracking for COVID-19 and infrastructure spending.

Product overview

USAspending.gov is a single unified government portal providing publicly accessible and searchable data on what the federal government spends each year. The platform offers four main functional areas: Search Award Data (for finding specific awards), Explore the Data (for interactive analysis), Download the Data (for accessing raw datasets), and Find Resources (for documentation and guidance). These integrated functions work together as a cohesive platform to support federal spending transparency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• USAspending.gov Federal Spending Data Platform A unified government portal providing publicly accessible and searchable data on what the U.S. federal government spends each year. Users can search award data (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments), explore spending trends through interactive visualizations by budget function and agency, download raw datasets, and access resources about federal expenditures. It serves citizens, journalists, researchers, and government oversight organizations seeking transparency into federal spending.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• U.S. Department of the TreasurycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Department of the Treasury oversees USAspending.gov through the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Treasury provides policy guidance, statutory authority under the DATA Act, and coordinates with OMB on federal spending transparency requirements.
• Office of Management and Budget (OMB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOMB issues implementing guidance for the DATA Act including memoranda M-17-04, M-18-16, M-21-20, M-22-02, and M-22-12 that establish federal spending reporting requirements and data standards that feed into USAspending.gov.
• All Federal AgenciescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAll U.S. federal agencies are required by the DATA Act to report spending data including obligations, awards, awardee attributes, and subaward information. Agencies submit data through established federal reporting systems.
• Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)coreTechnology or IntegrationD&B entity information is used within USAspending.gov for awardee company data. The platform includes a 'D&B Information' page documenting the limitation on permissible use of Dun & Bradstreet data as required for federal spending transparency.
• SAM.gov (System for Award Management)coreTechnology or IntegrationData from SAM.gov, the federal System for Award Management, is used to validate and enrich entity information for contractors and grant recipients displayed on USAspending.gov.
• Treasury's Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS)coreTechnology or IntegrationGTAS provides the core financial data including File A (Account Balances), File B (Account Breakdown by Program Activity & Object Class), and File C (Account Breakdown by Award) that form the foundation of spending data on USAspending.gov.
• Bureau of the Fiscal ServicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, operates and maintains USAspending.gov as part of its mission to promote transparency in government spending.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Data.gov: Data.gov is the U.S. federal government's open data portal, hosting datasets across many domains including federal spending. It competes for the same general-purpose government transparency audience and indexes many of the same underlying data assets as USAspending.
• Grants.gov: Grants.gov is the central federal portal for finding and applying for federal grant funding. It is directly comparable to USAspending's financial assistance reporting functionality, and the two platforms are frequently used together by grant seekers, recipients, and oversight bodies.
• Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS-NG): FPDS-NG (now integrated with SAM.gov) is the historical federal procurement reporting system that preceded USAspending for contract data. It is directly comparable as a federal contract transparency tool, and its contract data feeds into USAspending's File D1 procurement records.

Emerging players

• GovSpend: GovSpend is a private sector government contracts intelligence platform that builds atop public procurement data including USAspending feeds to offer enhanced search, alerts, and analytics to contractors. It competes for a portion of USAspending's audience while using USAspending as an upstream data source.
• USAspendingtracker (Federal Funds Information for States): USAspendingTracker is a Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS) tool focused specifically on state-by-state allocation of federal funds. It is comparable to USAspending's geographic exploration features and serves a related state-government and policy researcher audience.
• OpenTheBooks: OpenTheBooks is a private nonprofit that aggregates federal, state, and local spending data, building atop USAspending and other sources to produce user-friendly visualizations and investigative findings. It competes with USAspending for journalists and watchdog audiences while relying on USAspending's raw data as a key input.

Others

• ProPublica: ProPublica is an investigative journalism outlet that extensively uses federal spending data, including USAspending, to produce accountability reporting on government spending. It is a power user rather than direct competitor, but shapes audience expectations and is comparable in serving the transparency journalism use case.

Broad incumbents

• FiscalData.treasury.gov: Fiscal Data is a sister Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service site that publishes U.S. federal financial data including debt, revenue, and spending. It is directly linked from USAspending's footer and shares institutional parentage with USAspending, serving an overlapping audience interested in federal finance transparency.
• GovInfo.gov: GovInfo, operated by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, provides free public access to federal government publications including budget documents, agency reports, and appropriations. It overlaps with USAspending in providing transparency into federal government operations and is used by similar researcher and journalist audiences.
• SAM.gov (System for Award Management): SAM.gov is the federal System for Award Management that holds entity registration and contract opportunity data and feeds awardee information into USAspending. It overlaps on federal award transparency and serves similar government, contractor, and oversight audiences.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usaspending

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about USAspending