Frequently Asked Questions

General Information

Q. Why is this website being developed?

A. It is required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Transparency Act). (Back to Top)

Q. What is the purpose of the new legislation?

A. To provide the public with information about how their tax dollars are spent. Citizens have a right and a need to understand where tax dollars are spent. Collecting data about the various types of contracts, grants, loans, and other types of spending in our government will provide a broader picture of the Federal spending processes, and will help to meet the need of greater transparency. The ability to look at contracts, grants, loans, and other types of spending across many agencies, in greater detail, is a key ingredient to building public trust in government and credibility in the professionals who use these agreements. (Back to Top)

Q. What is a fiscal year (FY)?

A. The Federal government uses a defined 12 month period for its own accounting purposes as a financial or fiscal year. The Federal fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the following calendar year. For instance, fiscal year 2007 is 10/1/2006 - 9/30/2007. (Back to Top)

Q. Can I browse the data instead of searching?

A. Yes, the data can be browsed in several ways without using the search function. First, one can use the three tabs on the Summaries page, "By Agency", "By Prime Awardee", "By Location". Each of these views gives the user a unique perspective of the complete spending data with different browsing methods. The second way to browse the data is by using the "Trends" page. This is an effective way to see the changes in federal spending over time. By selecting the appropriate criteria, users can customize how they browse federal spending trends and can view the data in graphs or a list. Lastly, the user can download detailed data feeds through the data page. The feeds can come in Comma Separated Values (CSV), Tabular format (TAB), Extensible Markup Language (XML), or Atom Syndication format (ATOM). After downloading the preferred data type, users can utilize their own analysis tools to browse and display the data.(Back to Top)

Q. What information do I need to find a specific transaction?

A. There are several ways to search, isolate, or identify a specific transaction. The most reliable way is to conduct a search using the name of the contractor or recipient, together with any information you might have regarding date of the transaction, the awarding agency/program, or using any other searchable variable for which you have information. The most common search variables are available via the advanced search include:

Spending Type:
Recipient:
Recipient DUNS Number:
Parent Contractor DUNS Number:
Contract/Project Description:
Major Agency:
Federal Spending/Original Subsidy:
Fiscal Year:
Business Fund Indicator:
ZIP Code:

State:
Congressional District:
Country:
Program Source - Agency Code:
Program Source - Account Code:
Program Source - Description:
Contract - Competition Type:
Contract - NAICS Code:
Contract - Funding Agency:
Contract - Product and Service Code:

Contract - Legislative Mandates:
Contract - Type of Contract Used:
Contract - Procurement Instrument Identifier:
Contract - IDV Procurement Instrument Identifier:
Financial Assistance - CFDA Program:
Financial Assistance - Type of Assistance:
Financial Assistance - Type of Recipient:
Financial Assistance - Federal Award Identifier:
Loans and Guarantees - Face Value:

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Q. I cannot find a specific agency or government division (e.g., National Endowment for the Arts, Railroad Retirement Board, Tennessee Valley Authority). Are they missing from USAspending.gov?

A. No, smaller agencies and administrations within the federal government are combined in summary tables under the "All other agencies" category. In order to search for those offices and administrations, type the agency name in the search bar, and then after running the search, select the "Advanced Search" tab and select the "All other agencies" in the "Funding Agency" drop down list. You may then enter any additional search criteria and run the search. (Back to Top)

Q. Some of the congressional district search options list name(s) of representatives. Is that the current legislator or the representative who was in office when the money was appropriated?

A. When USAspending.gov lists one name associated with a congressional district, that person is the current office holder for that district. However, even when displaying the most current data on federal spending and the current office holder, the legislator was not necessarily in Congress when the money was appropriated or spent. Sometimes when multiple years are selected or when a new legislator is elected, USAspending.gov will list two or more names of legislators for a single congressional district, so long as each previous legislator has served for at least six months. Like with individual names, these names do not necessarily mean those legislators were in office when the money was appropriated or spent. They are given for reference purposes only. If your search is for a single fiscal year, the site will display along with the Congressional District the names of those legislators who held office in the district for at least 6 months during that fiscal year and the one before it. If your search is for all fiscal years, the site will display the names of all legislators who held office for at least six months for those respective fiscal years. (Back to Top)

Q. Can I select multiple congressional districts?

A. No. Currently, users cannot search on multiple congressional districts at the same time. Searches on individual congressional districts can be performed from the Advanced Search page under the Location heading, using the Congressional District drop down menu. (Back to Top)

Q. How can I download data or search results?

A. You can download data sets from the "Data" page and the "Trends" page. On the Data page, there are two tabs, one for Data Feeds and one for Agency Submissions. Usaspending.gov currently permits the downloading of data feeds in four formats, Comma Separated Values (CSV), Tab delimited format (TAB), Extensible Markup Language (XML), or Atom Syndication format (ATOM). CSV and TAB formats should easily be opened in various spreadsheet or database programs that users may wish to use for further analysis. Advanced users with programs that accept data formatted into XML can use this feature as well. To download data, simply navigate to the "Data Feeds" page, select the criteria that you would like to apply, and select the type of data feed. Agency submissions are intended to provide users with direct access to the raw data as submitted by the agencies. These can be downloaded as plain text files. On the "Trends" page, users can configure the data to show specific federal spending trends, and then export them if they are in "List View". (Back to Top)

Q. Can I download the standard tables (Top 100 Contractors, Overview by State, etc.)?

A. Yes. Many of the key tables/charts can be viewed via the "List View" ( listview icon ). These list views can then be exported via the export feature available in the upper right portion of each "List View" page. (Back to Top)

Q. Can I use the browser URL address for my search results? Are the search result web addresses permanent or temporary?

A. Yes. The web addresses of search results and standard tables can be forwarded and linked to for easy use by others. The addresses are very long because the address represents the exact search criteria used and the level of detail selected. The addresses for search results may or may not be "permanent" depending on the type of search executed and some addresses may even stop working as updates to the database change where the information is stored. The data on USAspending.gov is regularly refreshed as agencies submit new information. (Back to Top)

Q. What has been done to improve the reporting of Agency information?

A. In June 2009, OMB Memo M-09-19 was issued as the first step to improve the reporting of Agency information under the Transparency Act. The memo required that agencies submit data electronically to www.USAspending.gov, broadened the scope of Federal assistance reporting, and provided direction on improving quality and timeliness of this data. In December 2009, OMB issued the Open Government Directive directing senior agency officials take specific actions in areas including Federal spending transparency, to implement the principles of transparency, collaboration, and participation. In February 2010, OMB issued guidance to agencies requiring agencies to develop data quality plans for the information and data displayed on USAspending.gov, to address the issues of data quality and quantity. In April 2010, OMB issued guidance implementing the compensation and sub-award requirements of the Transparency Act. Recognizing the need for vigilance and a continued focus on data quality, the April 2010 guidance set forth new requirements for Federal agencies on metrics for the quality and completeness of spending data. Finally, in August 2010, OMB provided agencies with specific guidance and actions necessary to initiate the reporting and display of sub-award information by October 2010. (Back to Top)

Support

Q. How can I have my name/company/information removed from your website?

A. If your name/company/information is reported incorrectly, USAspending.gov will make every effort to fix errors. First, however, the error must be confirmed by the agency that reported it. (Back to Top)

Q. Is there any support available to USAspending.gov users?

A. The best method to report a problem or ask a question on USAspending.gov is to use our feedback form. The question or message will be forwarded to the best person to handle the matter, and they will respond as quickly as possible. For questions about the federal government, visit USA.gov or call 1 (800) FED INFO (1-800-333-4636) (8 am-8 pm ET Monday-Friday). (Back to Top)

Q. Is USAspending.gov accessible for people with disabilities?

A. USAspending.gov complies with all the checkpoints of the Section 508 Accessibility Guidelines, and has been verified using automated tools and expert reviews. Because USAspending.gov uses dynamically generated Web pages, it is not possible to test literally every page. However, each dynamically generated output style has been tested. (Back to Top)

Data Questions

Q. How are joint ventures and partial ownerships of facilities handled?

A. Sometimes contract and grant recipients are partially owned by more than one company. USAspending.gov treats these joint ventures as entirely separate entities with no connection to the original companies. Contracts or federal assistance for these partnerships are totaled and tracked as a group. Often, name searches will also produce listings of these joint ventures along with a listing of the standalone company. (Back to Top)

Q. How are contract and assistance transactions assigned to fiscal years?

A. For contracts, the fiscal year used on USAspending.gov is the fiscal year in which the contract action was signed. For assistance, the fiscal year used on USAspending.gov is determined from the Obligation/Action Date field, except when a correction to a record or a late record is reported, in which case the Fiscal Year and Quarter Correction field is used to determine the fiscal year. For federal assistance, the award date refers to the date the funds were obligated. For awards that are funded at a future date, the award date is the date signed by the government. This award date is supposed to be the date used to assign the fiscal year by the government. However, again, USAspending.gov does not examine the award date to check this process. (Back to Top)

Q. Can I find contracts and federal assistance that extend over multiple years?

A. Yes. USAspending.gov tracks transactions rather than individual contracts or grants, and, therefore, the website will permit users to determine if a transaction is related to a multi-year award or not. If you have the procurement ID or the federal award identified you can use the search function to pull all actions associated with these identifiers. With this you can track all the modifications/changes made over multiple years. (Back to Top)

Q. To which year are multi-year grants or contracts assigned?

A. While multi-year contracts and grants exist, the USAspending.gov data tracks transactions rather than totals for individual contracts or grants. One contract or grant can have many transactions related to it, representing additional disbursements, extensions, or modifications. Transactions all have a specific date upon which they took place and are assigned to the appropriate fiscal year based on that date, even if they were part of a multi-year contract or grant that started years earlier. (Back to Top)

Q. How can I report a factual error in USAspending.gov?

A. To report data problems, use the " Report Data Issues" link located on the upper right-hand portion of the data views throughout the site. Your message or question, along with the address of the report you were viewing, will be sent to the best person to handle the matter. You can also contact the designated Senior Accountable Official for the respective agency. (Back to Top)

Q. Why is my name or company listed on USAspending.gov if I never received any federal contracts/grants/loans?

A. The most likely answer is that there was an error in the data that the Government or your Prime Awardee has reported to USASpending.gov. We will review USAspending.gov with the original Government or Prime Awardee record upon request, but so long as the information matches the Government or Prime Awardee source, we cannot change any information in USASpending.gov. If the Government or Prime Awardee changes its data, we will update USAspending.gov based on the most recent data that is reported in the system. (Back to Top)

Q. What is the difference between the contracting agency field and the funding agency field in USAspending.gov?

A. Occasionally, the federal government will issue a contract through one office or agency, but a different office or agency will provide the funding for that contract. In these cases, the office or agency that issues the contract will be listed as the "contracting agency," while the one that provides the funding will be listed as the "funding agency". (Back to Top)

Q. Why do the amounts in USAspending.gov keep changing, including for fiscal years that have already been closed?

A. Providing accurate and timely information requires regular updates to posted data, to reflect newly available information and revisions to previous awards. As the government enters into a contract, grant or loan, the full cost of that obligation is often recorded immediately along with other important dollar values when applicable (e.g., FPDS contains the contract ceiling amount, the contract value at time of award, and the amount of funds being placed on the contract at that moment. Loan records give the face value and the subsidy amount.) Modifications may change the amount of an obligation recorded in a prior period and which has already been reflected on USAspending.gov. These modifications can continue to occur for many years after the fiscal year in which the contract, grant, or loan obligation has ended.

In addition to the date of the last data load displayed on the left navigation pane of every window, and a detailed status of data timeliness and data quality by agency on the Data Quality tab, many more efforts are underway to make data changes more apparent to users.

Additionally, changes in information provided by prime awardees on subawards may result in changes to the information displayed on USAspending. (Back to Top)

Q. Why do the numbers in a report not match with similar information obtained from the source systems feeding this site?

A. There are a number of challenges in reconciling reports from these systems, mostly as a result of differences in the timing of updates. We will soon publish information which will help users understand how these differences impact them.

In addition, some agencies are exempted from reporting into some systems, such as FPDS, but must report into USAspending.gov. This causes difficulties in reconciliation. We will soon publish information on USAspending.gov giving users a single reference for what information is available through which source.

In the meantime, when comparing reports please make sure that the time frame for transactions, type of transactions and the type of processing performed by the system is consistent when comparing summary reports across systems. A detailed summary of the standardization and categorization performed during data load on this site is presented in the "Learn" page. (Back to Top)

Q. What does Contract Description of "Unavailable" mean when detailed level of information is displayed for a contract?

A. Contract description of "Unavailable" indicates that the description has been temporarily masked because Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as the Social Security Number about an individual was included in this field. Agency submitting the data is currently in the process of removing the PII information and the description will then be made available without the PII information. (Back to Top)

Q. Why does USAspending.gov not use DUNS or parent DUNS relationship for Federal Assistance Awards?

A. The vast majority of federal assistance recipients are component state agencies for a particular State or Territory. USAspending will display the recipient name as reported by the Federal agencies, rather than using the DUNS relationships. However, USAspending is working to develop a mechanism to handle State entities so the parent DUNS relationship won't result in just States and Territories being listed for federal assistance recipients. Displaying the State or Territory as the federal assistance recipient would be redundant because USAspending already has functionality to specifically display Recipient base of operations and Place of Performance locations at the State level. (Back to Top)

Q. When there is a data mismatch, what is being displayed?

A. There are various areas where the data collection process has multiple options for agencies to provide similar information (For example, for location information for States, agencies can provide FIPS codes, State Names, Zip codes, or Postal Abbreviations). This is necessary to accommodate the various different systems agencies have for collecting and reporting this information to USAspending. All information collected by USAspending will be available in the "Complete Details" pages for each transaction. However to avoid double counting, USAspending ignores some of the mismatched information when producing visualization and aggregate spending amounts. Below are sample prioritizations for when we receive mismatched information. The order below is how we determine which data to prioritize over other data when there is a mismatch:

State for Locations:

State FIPS code
Zip codes
State Name

Congressional Districts for Locations:

Congressional District Code
Zip + 4

CFDA Names

CFDA Title provided
CFDA Title derived via CFDA number found on CFDA.gov

Program Source Names

Program Source Title provided
Budget Account Title derived via TAS number found on OMB’s SF-133

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Q.Why are the amounts different on Recovery.gov than are shown on USASpending.gov?

A. USASpending.gov displays award amounts for all federal contracts, grants, loans, and spending. Recovery.gov only shows award amounts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For Recovery Act awards, Recovery.gov displays agency data sourced from USASpending.gov. Additionally, Recovery.gov also shows ARRA funds paid out by the federal agencies and ARRA expenditures by recipients, which are not displayed on USASpending.gov. (Back to Top)

Q. What spending information is missing from USAspending?

A. Per M-09-19, by the end of FY 2010 all spending should be reported to USAspending. M-09-19 requests that agencies report all federal spending and provide an aggregate mechanism for reporting benefits to individuals and amounts less than $25,000.

The following information is currently not required to be in USAspending. Once we have addressed the existing data completeness issues (specified in M-09-19), we intend to work with agencies to include these in USAspending (this list is mostly derived from the CFFR defined list of items that don't use the FAADs process for reporting):

Salary and Wages data for Federal employees
Federal retirement and disability benefits (including Military and Veteran benefits)
Various tax credits
Interest on National Debt
Contracts excluded by the FAR (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2003/octqtr/48cfr1.104.htm)
Contracts for various agencies not required to follow the FAR (USPS, FAA, BPA, TVA, etc.)
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)
Pension payments by PBGC
Federal forfeiture funds and duties
Various Loan and Insurance programs
Utilities
Leases
Inter-government transfers
Various trainings (not acquired via contracts/grants)
Non-appropriated fund expenditures
Travel not covered by SmartPay

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Q. What does "Multiple Recipients" represent?

A. The FFATA legislation allows agencies to exclude transactions less than $25,000 (Section 2.b.2.B). However, in the spirit of transparency, OMB issued M-09-19, which requests that agencies include all spending in their reports to USAspending, including these smaller transactions. To protect privacy of individuals and to reduce the agency burden, OMB requested that these transactions to be submitted via aggregates. Because these aggregation reports account for multiple recipients, agencies were provided the option to include "Multiple Recipients" for recipient names. (Back to Top)

Q. What do "-" and "- -" represent?

These values are used to represent data that is reported by agencies as blank, or as a value that is not found in standard lookup tables that are used for validation purposes (e.g. a Congressional District that no longer exists or never existed). This may happen for States, Congressional Districts, Federal Award Identification Number (FAIN), Type of Contract, Products or Services Sold, Assistance Types, Recipient Types, CFDA Programs and Program Source. This indicator is only used for summary reports.(Back to Top)

Q. How is the quality of procurement data maintained?

The quality of procurement data is measured based on Completeness/timeliness and Accuracy. To maintain the completeness/timeliness and accuracy, the federal agencies :

Conduct annual data verification and validation of agency procurement data in FPDS.
Verify that they have the policies, procedures, and internal controls to address qualitative and contractor provided procurement data.

Federal agencies are striving towards maintaining and increasing the quality of procurement data by following various methods. For more details please read here. (Back to Top)

Sub-award Questions

Q. What is the Transparency Act?

A. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA or Transparency Act - P.L.109-282, as amended by section 6202(a) of P.L. 110-252) requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to maintain a single, searchable website that contains information on all Federal spending awards. That site is at www.USAspending.gov. (Back to Top)

Q. What is required to be reported as part of the Transparency Act?

Transparency Act prescribes specific pieces of information to be reported:

The following data about subawards greater than $25K

a. Name of entity receiving award

b. Amount of award

c. Funding agency

d. NAICS code for contracts / CFDA program number for grants

e. Program source

f. Award title descriptive of the purpose of the funding action

g. Location of the entity (including congressional district)

h. Place of performance (including congressional district)

i. Unique identifier of the entity and its parent; and

j. Total compensation and names of top five executives (same thresholds as for primes)

The Total Compensation and Names of the top five executives if:

a. More than 80% of annual gross revenues are from the Federal government, and those revenues are greater than $25M annually and

b. Compensation information is not already available through reporting to the SEC.

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Q. What is a sub-award?

A. The Office of Management & Budget issued guidance identifying the requirement to report first-tier subawards on April 6, 2010 and that guidance may be found at the OMB Open Government site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/open. That guidance defines a sub-award as generally referring to a monetary award made as a result of a Federal award to a grant recipient or contractor to a sub-recipient or sub-contractor respectively. (Back to Top)

Q. When will sub-award reporting be available in USAspending.gov?

A. On April 6, 2010, the Deputy Director for Management at OMB issued the Memorandum for Senior Accountable Officials over the Quality of Federal Spending Information, which requires all agencies to implement the requirement to collect sub-award data by October 1, 2010 for USAspending.gov.

The Memorandum contains further details on the implementation of sub-recipient reporting requirements (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/open_gov/OpenGovernmentDirective_04062010.pdf ).
On July 8, 2010, an interim FAR Rule with request for comments was published that contains information on the FFATA reporting requirements for Federal contracts. Comments were due by September 7, 2010.
The Office of Management & Budget issued guidance regarding: Open Government Directive - Federal Spending Transparency and Subaward and Compensation Data Reporting containing specific instructions on the subaward reporting on August 27, 2010. The guidance can also be found at the OMB Open Government site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/open.
Contracts sub-award data will be available on USAspending.gov beginning October 1, 2010 and grants sub-award data will be available on USAspending.gov beginning December 1, 2010.

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Q. Why is sub-award information being collected?

A. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Transparency Act) requires OMB to "ensure the existence and operation of a single searchable website" for Federal awards. The Transparency Act's definition of "Federal awards" included not only prime awards for grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and contracts, but also included sub-grants and sub-contracts. The guidance issued today will begin the process by which we will be able to further implement the Transparency Act and enhance the transparency of federal spending. (Back to Top)

Q. What Federal contracts and grants are subject to the Transparency Act subaward and executive compensation reporting requirements?

New contracts over $20 million, effective immediately; new contracts with a prime contract value greater than $550,000 as of October 1, 2010, and new contracts with prime contract value of $25,000 or over as of March 1, 2011; and
New grants $25,000 and over as of October 1, 2010. The grants subaward reporting functionality will be available via www.fsrs.gov on October 29, 2010.
Reporting of Sub-contracts of Federal contracts and sub-grants of Federal grants where these sub-contracts and sub-grants are $25,000 and over.

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Q. What types of awards are subject to sub-award reporting?

A. Sub-award reporting will apply only to sub-grants (grants also include cooperative agreements) and sub-contracts for the first-tier sub-awards. It will not include awards made by a first-tier sub-recipient or sub-contractor to a lower tier sub-recipient or sub-contractor. (Back to Top)

Q. Who will be required to report executive compensation and subaward information associated with these Federal contracts and grants?

A. A prime grant awardees will be required to report its sub-grants and a prime contract awardee will be required to report its sub-contracts. (Back to Top)

Q. Federal agencies already report prime awardee information to www.USAspending.gov. Are there new reporting requirements for Federal agencies under FFATA?

A. No. There are no new Federal agency reporting requirements, beyond those already required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-09-19. However, any new awards submitted on or after October 1, 2010 via FAADS+ will be subject to CFDA and DUNS validation. Therefore, Federal agencies are strongly encouraged to ensure the accuracy and data quality of the award information they report. (Back to Top)

Q. How will these prime awardees report this information?

Prime awardees will report using the FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS). The tool will pre-populate, to the maximum extent possible, recipient information from existing Federal agency databases, such as the Central Contractor Registration System (CCR) to reduce the burden associated with this new Transparency Act reporting. All Federal contractors and prime grant recipients are required to register in CCR.
User guides, FAQs, and an on-line demonstration are currently available at the FSRS website (www.fsrs.gov) for the contract subaward reporting capability. Grant subaward reporting user guides, FAQs, and an on-line demonstration will be incorporated into FSRS on October 29, 2010.
OMB is planning to issue additional guidance to agencies to provide more instructions for financial assistance reporting requirements.

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Q. How much time does a prime awardee have to report executive compensation or subaward information?

A. The prime recipient will have until the end of the month plus one additional month after an award or subaward is obligated to fulfill the reporting requirement. For example, if a subaward was made on October 15, 2010, the prime recipient has until November 30, 2010 to report the subaward information. (Back to Top)

Q. For American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-funded Federal contracts and/or grants covered under this Transparency Act subaward reporting requirement, will reporting be required to both FederalReporting.gov and FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS)?

For ARRA-funded Federal contracts that are subject to Transparency Act reporting, the prime recipient will be required to report the ARRA-funded Federal contracts to both FederalReporting.gov and FSRS if the contract so requires.
For ARRA-funded Federal grants that are subject to Transparency Act reporting, the prime recipient will not be required to report the ARRA-funded Federal grants to both FederalReporting.gov and FSRS. ARRA-funded grants will continue to be reported to FedReporting.gov only and non-ARRA funded grants will be reported to FSRS only.

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Q. When will Transparency Act be implemented?

The Office of Management and budget has issued guidance related to Open Government and Transparency to include an April 6, 2010 memo requiring reporting of first-tier subawards.
On July 8, 2010, an interim FAR Rule with request for comments was published that contains information on the Transparency Act reporting requirements for Federal contracts.
On August 27, 2010, OMB provided agencies with specific guidance and actions necessary to initiate the reporting and display of sub-award information beginning October 2010.

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Q. What guidance or other documents implement these Transparency Act reporting requirements?

The Office of Management & Budget issued guidance related to Open Government and Transparency to include an April 6, 2010 memo requiring the reporting of first-tier sub-awards. The guidance may be found at the OMB Open Government site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/open.
The Office of Management & Budget issued guidance containing specific instructions on the subaward reporting on August 27, 2010. The guidance may be found at the OMB Open Government site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/open.
On July 8, 2010, an interim FAR Rule with request for comments was published that contains information on the Transparency Act reporting requirements for Federal contracts.
PRA information collections regarding subaward and executive compensation reporting requirements for prime grant awardees and CCR registration for prime grant awardees were published on July 23, 2010.
On September 14, 2010, the Office of Management and Budget issued standard award terms and conditions for Federal grants, to include the subaward and executive compensation reporting, and Central Contractor Registry registration requirements.

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Q. Where will this Transparency Act data be displayed to the public?

A. Data will be displayed to the public via www.USAspending.gov beginning in FY11. (Back to Top)

Q. How are you going to track agencies progress on improving data quality?

A. OMB will work with agencies to establish a baseline of the quality of the information currently submitted to USAspending.gov. Once a baseline has been established, OMB will track agencies. improvements in the quality of its information through a dashboard that will be available to the public by the end of fiscal year 2010. (Back to Top)

Q. When will recipients be expected to begin reporting in FSRS?

A. Contract sub-award reporting capability is currently available at the FSRS website (http://www.fsrs.gov). Grant sub-award reporting will be incorporated into FSRS on October 29, 2010. (Back to Top)

Q. How should auditors test compliance pursuant to Part 3L, Reporting, steps 10 and 11 (pp. 3-L-16), of the March 2011 Single Audit Compliance Supplement regarding non-FAR subaward reporting under Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA or the Transparency Act)?

A. In the event that applicable subawards were not properly reported by a recipient pursuant to FFATA, auditors should evaluate compliance with these requirements based on whether a recipient demonstrated a "good faith" effort to comply. Demonstration of a "good faith" effort by a recipient should be evidenced by proper documentation such as: emails or phone logs of communication between a recipient and the awarding agency or the General Services Administration; or computer screen shots that illustrate recipient attempts to upload information into the FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS). Auditors are not required to report audit findings when there is evidence a recipient demonstrated a "good faith" effort. However, auditors are still required to report audit findings for non-compliance with the FFATA reporting requirements that are not supported by a recipient's demonstrated "good faith" effort. Completed audits which reported audit findings or modifications of opinion based solely on Part 3L, steps 10 and 11 do not need to be amended.

The auditor is not required to consider audit findings or modifications of audit opinions based solely on Part 3L, steps 10 and 11 when performing the risk based approach under OMB Circular A-133 if the auditor can determine that the recipient previously demonstrated a "good faith" effort to comply. For example, a material non-compliance, material weakness in internal control over compliance, or a modified opinion based solely on Part 3L, steps 10 and 11 in a previously issued audit report would not preclude a program from being low risk or an entity from qualifying as a low risk auditee in the two subsequent year audits if the auditor determines the recipient demonstrated a "good faith" effort.

This modified audit guidance is being provided due to the newness of the FFATA reporting requirements and implementation challenges that recipients have had with the new FFATA reporting process. However, it is important for recipients to note that they are still required to comply with FFATA requirements and the requirements will continue to be subject to audit in FY 2012. Auditors performing 2011 single audits are strongly encouraged to remind those charged with governance of the recipient of the entity's responsibilities under FFATA.(Back to Top)

Support

Q. How can I have my name/company/information removed from your website?

Q. Is there any support available to USAspending.gov users?

Q. Is USAspending.gov accessible for people with disabilities?

Policy Guidance for Safety/Security Concerns

Q. I am a prime recipient entity that received a federal financial assistance award (for the purposes of these FAQs, Federal financial assistance does not include procurement activities). [1] The safety and security of the employees of my entity may be threatened if identifying information about my entity is displayed publicly on USAspending.gov. Does my entity meet the exemption requirements for the awarding federal agency to not report entity-identifying award information about my entity on USAspending.gov?

A. The awarding federal agency may exempt your entity under 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) from reporting entity identifying award information into USAspending.gov if such compliance will jeopardize the personal safety of the employees of your entity. In these situations, your entity must work with the awarding federal agency responsible for determining if the conditions support an exemption. If the exemption is granted, the awarding federal agency will take the necessary steps to report the award without reporting your entity's identifying information. Contact your awarding federal agency with any questions about this guidance. (Back to Top)

Q. I am a prime recipient entity that received a grant or cooperative agreement. If my entity is exempt from having its award identifying information displayed on USAspending.gov, is my entity also exempt from reporting its subawards?

A. Yes. If the awarding agency exempts your entity under the conditions in 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) because of "classified information or national security or jeopardizing the personal safety" and/or under 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(ii) because its "project or program is performed outside the United States valued at less than $25,000,"then your entity is also exempt from the requirements to report its subawards. Contact your awarding federal agency with any questions about this guidance. (Back to Top)

Q. Can my entity, a prime recipient that received a grant or cooperative agreement, determine that my subawardee meets the exemption conditions in 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) and/or 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(ii) and not report them in USAspending.gov?

A. Maybe. Your awarding federal agency may authorize you, as a prime recipient entity, to make this determination, i.e., that your subaward recipient meets the conditions as specified in 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) and/or 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(ii). In situations where you are granted this authority, you must comply with agency requirements to ensure the data quality on USAspending.gov. Contact your awarding federal agency with any questions about this guidance. (Back to Top)

Q. As a prime award recipient entity that received a grant or cooperative agreement, our information has been displayed in USAspending.gov for past awards. We believe that our new award activities meet the exemption conditions specified 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) and/or 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(ii). For the purposes of these new awards, can our entity be exempt from reporting entity identifying award information into USAspending.gov?

A. Maybe. Your awarding federal agency may exempt you, as prime award recipient entity, from reporting identifying award information into USAspending.gov if the entity's new activities meet the conditions as specified in 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(i) and/or 2 CFR § 25.110(d)(2)(ii). In these situations, your entity should work with the awarding federal agency to see if an exemption applies. Contact your awarding federal agency with any questions about this guidance. (Back to Top)

[1] Federal financial assistance subject to the Transparency Act is defined in 2 CFR § 170.320 and includes grants and cooperatives agreements along with other types of financial assistance. For the purposes of these FAQs, Federal financial assistance does not include procurement activities.