usaspending

name	usaspending
description	Public federal spending transparency API; lets agents retrieve award history, obligation data, and vendor spend benchmarks for budget and procurement research.
metadata	{"openclaw":{"requires":{"env":["USASPENDING_API_BASE_URL"]}}}

USASpending.gov

What it is

USASpending.gov is the official open-data source for U.S. federal spending, operated by the Department of the Treasury. It provides public access to contract awards, grants, loans, and sub-award data reported by federal agencies under the DATA Act and FFATA. Procurement and budget agents use it for market research, price benchmarking, and spending transparency reporting.

When to use this skill

• Researching prior government award history for a vendor or NAICS/PSC code during market research
• Benchmarking prices by looking at historical award amounts for similar product/service categories
• Generating budget transparency reports showing agency obligation and outlay data
• Cross-checking agency internal obligation data against public disclosure records
• Identifying competitive vs. sole-source award rates for a commodity area

Credentials

This skill authenticates using variables from the OpenClaw daemon env file ~/.openclaw/.env (template: .env.example). Required variables:

• USASPENDING_API_BASE_URL - base URL for the API (default: https://api.usaspending.gov)

Note: USASpending.gov is a public API and does not require an API key for standard usage. No secret credentials are needed.

Key operations

• POST /api/v2/search/spending_by_award/ — search awards by keyword, vendor, NAICS, PSC, agency, fiscal year, and award type
• GET /api/v2/awards/{award_id}/ — retrieve full details for a specific award by internal award ID or PIID
• POST /api/v2/references/recipients/ — look up recipient (vendor) details and award history by UEI or name
• POST /api/v2/agency/{toptier_code}/budget_function/ — get agency spending by budget function and fiscal year
• GET /api/v2/references/naics/ — retrieve NAICS code hierarchy for category filtering
• POST /api/v2/download/awards/ — request a bulk download of award data matching filter criteria

Notes

• No authentication is required; the API is fully public and rate-limited by IP.
• Default rate limit: 100 requests/minute per IP; bulk download requests count separately.
• Data in USASpending reflects reported obligations; there is typically a 30-90 day lag in sub-award reporting.
• Always note the fiscal year scope when presenting spending figures; partial-year comparisons can be misleading.