# USAspending.gov Federal Awards Tracker (`straightforward_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker`) Actor

Track who won US federal government money — contracts and grants — with amounts, agencies, recipients and dates, from the official USAspending.gov API. No API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/straightforward\_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Dev D](https://apify.com/straightforward_hydra) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Other
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 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/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

## USAspending.gov Federal Awards Tracker 🇺🇸

**Track who won US federal government money — contracts and grants — with amounts, agencies and dates, straight from the official USAspending.gov API. No API key required.**

Every dollar the US federal government awards is published on **USAspending.gov**. This Actor searches those awards by keyword, recipient, agency, industry, state, amount and date range, and returns clean, structured records — who got the money, how much, from which agency, for what.

> This is the **complement to SAM.gov**: SAM lists *opportunities to bid on*; USAspending shows the *awards that were actually made*. Official open API — clean liability profile.

***

### What you can do with it

- 💰 **See who won** — track contract and grant awards to any company or sector.
- 🕵️ **Competitor intelligence** — which competitors are winning federal work, and how much.
- 🎯 **Sales targeting** — find well-funded recipients and the agencies that buy.
- 📊 **Market research** — spending by agency, industry (NAICS/PSC), state and time.
- 📈 **Trend analysis** — feed a dashboard of federal awards over time.

### Features

- ✅ **No API key** — works out of the box.
- ✅ **Contracts and grants** — pick the award category; fields adapt automatically.
- ✅ **Powerful filters** — keyword, recipient, agency, NAICS/PSC, state, amount range, dates.
- ✅ **Clean output** — recipient, amount, agency, sub-agency, type, dates, direct USAspending link.
- ✅ **Low-maintenance** — official REST API with automatic retries.

***

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| **Award category** | Contracts or Grants / financial assistance. |
| **Keywords** | Free-text over recipient + description. |
| **Recipient name** | e.g. `Lockheed Martin`. |
| **Awarding agency** | e.g. `Department of Defense`. |
| **NAICS / PSC codes** | Industry / product-service codes (contracts). |
| **Place of performance state** | e.g. `CA`, `TX`, `VA`. |
| **Min / Max award amount** | USD amount range. |
| **Lookback days** or **Date from/to** | Time window (by action date). |
| **Max results** | Cap the number of awards. |

#### Example — big DoD cybersecurity contracts, last 2 years

```json
{
  "awardCategory": "contracts",
  "keywords": "cybersecurity",
  "awardingAgency": "Department of Defense",
  "minAmount": 1000000,
  "daysBack": 730,
  "maxResults": 500
}
```

#### Example — grants a recipient received

```json
{
  "awardCategory": "grants",
  "recipientName": "Johns Hopkins University",
  "daysBack": 365
}
```

### Output

Each row is one award:

```json
{
  "award_id": "HT940216C0001",
  "recipient_name": "HUMANA GOVERNMENT BUSINESS INC",
  "award_amount": 51269205263.03,
  "awarding_agency": "Department of Defense",
  "awarding_sub_agency": "Defense Health Agency",
  "award_type": "DEFINITIVE CONTRACT",
  "start_date": "2016-08-01",
  "end_date": "2025-12-31",
  "description": "IGF::OT::IGF",
  "place_of_performance_state": "KY",
  "naics_code": "524114",
  "naics_description": "DIRECT HEALTH AND MEDICAL INSURANCE CARRIERS",
  "psc_code": "Q201",
  "psc_description": "MEDICAL- MANAGED HEALTHCARE",
  "assistance_listing": "",
  "recipient_id": "1068e466-707d-6b6f-367f-0255fab79b8c-C",
  "award_url": "https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_HT940216C0001"
}
```

### Run it on a schedule

Schedule the Actor to capture new awards in your sector, and connect a **Slack / email / webhook / Google Sheets** integration to route them into your CRM or intelligence dashboard.

### Notes & limitations

- Uses the official USAspending.gov open API — no key needed.
- Each search can page through the first ~10,000 awards (API cap); narrow with filters for larger populations.
- Contracts and grants expose slightly different fields (NAICS/PSC for contracts, Assistance Listing for grants).
- This is **factual public spending data**.

***

#### Keywords

USAspending scraper, federal spending, government contracts, federal awards, who won government contracts, contract awards, federal grants, government spending data, USAspending API, GovCon, competitor intelligence, agency spending, NAICS PSC, recipient awards, federal procurement, award amounts, government money, spending analysis, federal contract data, public spending.

# Actor input Schema

## `awardCategory` (type: `string`):

Contracts (procurement) or Grants (financial assistance). Each returns the fields relevant to that category.

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Free-text search across recipient and award description, e.g. "cybersecurity" or "solar". Leave empty for all.

## `recipientName` (type: `string`):

Filter to a specific recipient / awardee, e.g. "Lockheed Martin". Leave empty for all.

## `awardingAgency` (type: `string`):

Filter by top-tier awarding agency, e.g. "Department of Defense", "Department of Health and Human Services". Leave empty for all.

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

Filter contracts by NAICS industry code, e.g. 541512. Applies to Contracts only.

## `pscCodes` (type: `array`):

Filter contracts by Product/Service Code, e.g. D310. Applies to Contracts only.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two-letter US state code where the work is performed, e.g. CA, TX, VA. Leave empty for all.

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

Only awards worth at least this much, e.g. 1000000. Leave empty for no minimum.

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

Only awards worth at most this much. Leave empty for no maximum.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

How many days back (by award action date) to search. Ignored if you set explicit dates below.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Explicit start date, format YYYY-MM-DD. Overrides Lookback days.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Explicit end date, format YYYY-MM-DD. Overrides Lookback days.

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

Stop after this many awards. Leave empty for no limit (up to the API's ~10,000-record paging cap per search).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "awardCategory": "contracts",
  "keywords": "cybersecurity",
  "daysBack": 365,
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# 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("straightforward_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker").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("straightforward_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).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 straightforward_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=straightforward_hydra/usaspending-awards-tracker",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/QMnLxQLkoFYKYSZ3w/builds/0MutVqtQoPQCH6aOJ/openapi.json