The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006, full text of the Transparency Act , requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) establish a single searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost, which includes for each Federal award:

1. the name of the entity receiving the award;
2. the amount of the award;
3. information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
4. the location of the entity receiving the award; and
5. a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.

USAspending.gov was first launched in December 2007 to fulfill these requirements. Prime award information shown on the website is provided by Federal Agencies through four main source systems (see Sources of Data). USAspending.gov receives and displays data pertaining to obligations (amounts awarded for federally sponsored projects during a given budget period), not outlays or expenditures (actual cash disbursements made against each project). Read the latest OMB-issued memoranda M-09-19, “Guidance on Data Submission under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act” as it provides guidance to agencies on how to report information to USAspending.gov.

USAspending.gov has been recently updated in October 2010 to display of first-tier sub-award data (subcontracts and subgrants). Sub-award information shown on the website is provided by FSRS (see Sources of Data). The latest guidance documents pertaining to sub-award reporting can be found under News.