DATA Act — Federal Spending Transparency & USAspending.gov
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act, P.L. 113-101) requires the federal government to publish standardized, machine-readable data on all federal spending — making it possible for the first time for any American to track how the government spends approximately $6.5 trillion per year in a single, searchable website: USAspending.gov. Before the DATA Act, federal spending data was scattered across dozens of incompatible systems — you could find contract data in FPDS-NG, grant data in FAADS, and budget data in MAX, but there was no unified picture connecting Congressional appropriations to agency obligations to actual payments to recipients. The DATA Act mandated a governmentwide data standard — a common dictionary linking budget accounts, awards, and recipients — and required every federal agency to report spending data to the Department of the Treasury in that standard format. The result is the most comprehensive open dataset of government spending in the world, covering contracts, grants, loans, direct payments, and other financial assistance from all federal agencies.
Current Law (2026)
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Governing law | P.L. 113-101 (DATA Act, 2014); builds on FFATA (P.L. 109-282, 2006) |
| Primary website | USAspending.gov |
| Operating agencies | Treasury (data hosting/display); OMB (data standards); agencies (data submission) |
| Total federal spending tracked | ~$6.5 trillion annually |
| Data standard | 57 standardized data elements linking budget, award, and recipient information |
| Reporting frequency | Agencies submit spending data quarterly |
| Audit requirement | IGs must review agency data quality every 2 years |
| Coverage | All federal agencies including CFO Act agencies and smaller entities |
| Original authorization | 2014; permanent data standard and reporting requirements |
Legal Authority
- P.L. 113-101 § 3 — Government-wide financial data standards (requires OMB and Treasury to establish government-wide data standards for federal spending information — standardized data elements that connect appropriations, obligations, and outlays to specific awards and recipients)
- P.L. 113-101 § 4 — Data transparency (requires each federal agency to report financial data using the government-wide standard; data must be published on a single public website in a searchable, downloadable, machine-readable format)
- P.L. 113-101 § 6 — Inspector General reviews (agency Inspectors General must review a sample of agency spending data every 2 years and report on completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy)
- P.L. 109-282 — Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA) (the DATA Act's predecessor — required creation of a public website tracking federal awards; the DATA Act expanded and deepened this requirement)
How It Works
The DATA Act's core achievement is a government-wide data standard — a common vocabulary of 57 data elements that link three previously disconnected data streams: budget data (appropriations accounts, sub-accounts, program activities), award data (contracts, grants, loans, and other financial assistance), and recipient data (who received the money, where they're located, and for what purpose). Before this standard, each federal system used different definitions, formats, and identifiers, making it impossible to trace a dollar from Congressional appropriation to final recipient. Now the Department of the Treasury operates USAspending.gov as the single public portal for all federal spending data — searchable by agency, program, recipient, location, keyword, or NAICS code, with bulk downloads in CSV/JSON and a public API. In fiscal year 2025, the site tracked over $6.5 trillion in federal spending across hundreds of thousands of awards.
Every federal agency must submit standardized spending data to Treasury quarterly using the DATA Act Information Model Schema (DAIMS). This requires linking agency financial management systems to Treasury's reporting pipeline — a significant IT challenge that many agencies initially struggled with. Agency Inspectors General conduct biennial reviews of data completeness, accuracy, and timeliness, and publish reports publicly. Early IG findings identified significant quality gaps; coverage has improved but remains uneven. Before the DATA Act, tracking federal spending required FOIA requests and manual cross-referencing of multiple databases. Now a journalist, researcher, or citizen can search USAspending.gov and find within minutes what a specific company received in federal contracts, what a grant program spent in a given state, or how an agency allocated its budget — transparency that GAO uses to analyze program effectiveness and that complements efforts to reduce improper payments across federal programs.
How It Affects You
If you're a citizen or taxpayer curious about where federal money goes: USAspending.gov is free, public, and searchable without creating an account. Type your state, your congressional district, a company name, a federal agency, or a program keyword and within seconds you'll see contracts, grants, loans, and direct payments. You can filter by fiscal year, award type, and amount. The site's "Spending Explorer" tool breaks down the $6.5 trillion federal budget by agency and program; the "State and Local Spending" view shows how much federal money flows to your state. Practical searches: look up your local hospital's Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements, your city's federal transportation or housing grants, your employer's government contracts, or the PPP loan your neighborhood restaurant received. The data has a quarter lag — the most current reporting is typically 3 months behind the fiscal calendar. Data quality varies by agency: IG reviews have found that some agencies' data is incomplete or inaccurate, so treat the figures as the best available public record, not necessarily a perfect audit trail.
If you're a journalist, academic researcher, or policy analyst: The DATA Act created the most comprehensive open dataset of government spending in the world — and the bulk data download is free. USAspending.gov offers bulk downloads of all award data (contracts, grants, loans) in CSV format by fiscal year and agency, plus a RESTful API for real-time queries. The underlying data model links 57 standardized data elements connecting appropriations accounts, award transactions, and recipient identifiers — making it possible to trace a dollar from Congressional appropriation to ultimate recipient. For investigative journalism: cross-reference FPDS-NG contract data with corporate ownership records to identify related-party transactions, subcontract chains, or concentration issues. For policy research: merge USAspending data with CBO budget projections and GAO audit findings to quantify implementation gaps. The OMB MAX Information System and Federal Program Inventory provide supplemental data on program-level spending. Limitation: tax expenditures (estimated at $1.8 trillion annually), regulatory costs, and spending through the tax code are not captured — the DATA Act covers only direct outlays.
If you're a government contractor, grant applicant, or recipient of federal financial assistance: Your past and current awards are publicly visible on USAspending.gov — your company name, award amounts, locations of performance, and contracting agency. This is a feature, not just a liability: a strong USAspending profile demonstrating past performance on similar contracts is a competitive advantage in new competitions. Before bidding on federal work, search USAspending to benchmark what competitors have won in your NAICS code and target agency — award amounts, period of performance, and contracting vehicle types. For grant applicants: check what organizations received funding under the same Assistance Listing (CFDA) number to understand typical award sizes and geographic distribution. For compliance: the DATA Act's requirements flow downstream — as a prime recipient of federal grants or contracts over certain thresholds, you may have subaward reporting obligations under 2 CFR Part 170 (FFATA), requiring you to report subawards over $30,000 in SAM.gov. Failure to report can affect your eligibility for future awards.
If you're a federal agency official, CFO, or Inspector General: DATA Act compliance is a quarterly operational obligation under P.L. 113-101 § 4 — your agency must submit standardized spending data to Treasury using the government-wide data standard (DAIMS) within 45 days of each fiscal quarter close. The data pipeline requires linking your financial management system to Treasury's Broker, tagging each transaction with the correct award ID, appropriations account, program activity code, and object class. Early DATA Act compliance reviews by IGs found linkage rates as low as 50-60% at some agencies; sustained investment in ERP modernization and data governance has improved this, but IG review reports — published publicly every two years under § 6 — remain the accountability mechanism. For IGs: your sample-based reviews of data completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy are the primary public signal of your agency's transparency posture. The CFO Act framework and DATA Act together define the financial accountability architecture for the 24 largest federal agencies.
State Variations
The DATA Act applies to federal spending only:
- Several states have created their own spending transparency portals modeled on USAspending.gov
- State-level spending transparency varies significantly — some states publish comprehensive data; others provide minimal information
- Federal spending data on USAspending.gov includes federal grants to state and local governments — providing transparency into how federal dollars flow to and through states
- No state equivalent matches the DATA Act's comprehensive data standard approach
Implementing Regulations
- 2 CFR Part 170 — OMB reporting subaward and executive compensation information (FFATA/DATA Act implementation — recipient reporting, SAM registration, USAspending.gov data standards)
- OMB M-17-04 — Additional guidance for DATA Act implementation (agency data quality plans, linkage of financial and award data, quarterly submission requirements)
- Treasury DATA Act Information Model Schema (DAIMS) — Technical standard defining data elements, formats, and validation rules for federal spending data reported to USAspending.gov
Pending Legislation
No standalone DATA Act reform bills have been introduced in the 119th Congress. Federal spending transparency provisions appear in broader government operations legislation — see the Single Audit Act, the E-Government Act, and the congressional budget process that produces the appropriations the DATA Act tracks.
Recent Developments
The DATA Act's data standard has been updated several times to improve quality and expand coverage. Treasury has enhanced USAspending.gov with better search tools, API capabilities, and visualizations. The pandemic spending transparency effort (tracking $5+ trillion in COVID-19 spending through PandemicOversight.gov) demonstrated both the value and limitations of the DATA Act framework — the speed of pandemic spending initially outpaced data quality controls. GAO has recommended expanding the DATA Act's coverage to include tax expenditures and regulatory costs — areas of government impact not currently tracked. The Government Data Act (proposed) would further standardize and expand federal data transparency beyond spending to include performance, regulatory, and program data.