Much of what the U.S. government does comes down to money — namely, how money gets spent through federal contracts, grants and other awards. One place where you can track the details of this type of spending is USAspending.gov (a relaunch of FederalSpending.gov). This resource was just updated with new data on Feb. 4.
Here’s how the site describes itself:
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single searchable Web site, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award:
- The name of the entity receiving the award
- The amount of the award
- Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc
- The location of the entity receiving the award
- A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award
On the site, you can drill down into these areas, revealing a wealth of information and insight into how and where large chunks of federal dollars are being spent. For instance, here’s a quick rundown of the major federal contracts performed in Colorado, or the details of contract transactions from the National Institutes of Health. Spending time with this service can let you achieve a far deeper level of detail in your reporting.
