gov.usaspending-awards

Search federal awards (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments) from USAspending.gov. Largest amount first within the date window. Each record includes award ID, recipient name, dollar amount, award type, awarding agency + sub-agency, start + end dates, description, and a permalink to the usaspending.gov detail page. Filter by recipient name, awarding agency name, recipient state, award type group, and date range. Backed by USAspending.gov's spending_by_award API; public-domain US government records.

price
$0.0024 USDC per call
method
GET/api/gov/usaspending-awards
payment
x402 v2 · USDC on Base (EIP-3009) or Solana (SPL transfer)
auth
None. Sign the payment, retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE.

Overview

The usaspending awards API is a pay-per-call gov endpoint built for AI agents and autonomous software. Search federal awards (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments) from USAspending.gov.

There is no signup and no API key. An agent (or any HTTP client) hits the endpoint, receives an x402 "402 Payment Required" challenge, signs a sub-cent USDC payment on Base or Solana, and retries — the data comes back on the paid request. That makes it a drop-in usaspending awards data source for an agent tool-use loop, an MCP host, or a backend that needs gov data on demand without onboarding to yet another vendor portal.

Use cases

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
recipientstringRecipient (vendor/grantee) name substring. Examples: "Microsoft", "Lockheed Martin", "Stanford University".
min 2 chars · max 120 chars
agencystringAwarding top-tier agency name. Examples: "Department of Defense", "National Institutes of Health", "Department of Energy".
min 2 chars · max 120 chars
recipientStatestring2-letter US state of the recipient (e.g., "CA", "VA").
min 2 chars · max 2 chars · match ^[A-Za-z]{2}$
awardTypestringAward type group. contracts = A/B/C/D; grants = 02/03/04/05; loans = 07/08; direct_payments = 06/10; other = 11. Default contracts.
one of: contracts | grants | loans | direct_payments | other
sincestringEarliest action date (YYYY-MM-DD). Default = 5 years ago.
match ^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$
untilstringLatest action date (YYYY-MM-DD). Default = today.
match ^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$
limitintegerRecords per page (1-100). Default 25.
min 1 · max 100
pageintegerPage number (1-based). Default 1.
min 1 · max 1000

Code samples

cURLbash
# 1. Probe with no auth → 402 envelope with PaymentRequirements
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/gov/usaspending-awards?recipient=xx&agency=xx&recipientState=xx&awardType=contracts&since=2024-01-01&until=2024-01-01&limit=25&page=1'

# 2. Sign + retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE:
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/gov/usaspending-awards?recipient=xx&agency=xx&recipientState=xx&awardType=contracts&since=2024-01-01&until=2024-01-01&limit=25&page=1' \
  -H 'PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <base64-json-payload>'

# Or use the canonical runner (handles probe → sign → retry):
#   EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x... node --env-file=.env.local \
#     --experimental-strip-types scripts/x402-pay.ts \
#     'https://2s.io/api/gov/usaspending-awards?recipient=xx&agency=xx&recipientState=xx&awardType=contracts&since=2024-01-01&until=2024-01-01&limit=25&page=1'
TypeScript / Node — @2sio/sdktypescript
import { TwoS } from '@2sio/sdk'

const client = new TwoS({
  privateKey: process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`,
})

const result = await client.gov.usaspendingAwards({
  "recipient": "xx",
  "agency": "xx",
  "recipientState": "xx",
  "awardType": "contracts",
  "since": "2024-01-01",
  "until": "2024-01-01",
  "limit": 25,
  "page": 1
})

console.log('endpoint:', result.endpoint)
console.log('cost:', result.costUsd, 'USDC')
console.log('tx:', result.settlement?.txHash)
console.log('data:', result.data)
Python — 2siopython
import os
from twosio import TwoS

client = TwoS(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])

result = client.gov.usaspending_awards(recipient="xx", agency="xx", recipientState="xx", awardType="contracts", since="2024-01-01", until="2024-01-01", limit=25, page=1)

print("endpoint:", result.endpoint)
print("cost:", result.cost_usd, "USDC")
print("tx:", (result.settlement or {}).get("tx_hash"))
print("data:", result.data)
MCP — Claude Desktop / AgentKit / any MCP hostjson
// 1. Add @2sio/mcp to your MCP host config (Claude Desktop example below).
//    EVM_PRIVATE_KEY funds x402 payments per call.

// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "2sio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@2sio/mcp"],
      "env": { "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x..." }
    }
  }
}

// 2. Once the server is running, agents call this tool via standard MCP:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "gov.usaspending-awards",
    "arguments": {
      "recipient": "xx",
      "agency": "xx",
      "recipientState": "xx",
      "awardType": "contracts",
      "since": "2024-01-01",
      "until": "2024-01-01",
      "limit": 25,
      "page": 1
    }
  }
}

Response

FieldTypeDescription
okboolean
one of: true
itemsarray
totalintegerTotal matching rows upstream; null when unknown.
sourceobject
metaobject
Example response datajson
{
  "ok": true,
  "items": [
    {
      "awardId": "example",
      "recipientName": "example",
      "amount": 1,
      "awardType": "example",
      "awardingAgency": "example",
      "awardingSubAgency": "example",
      "startDate": "example",
      "endDate": "example",
      "description": "example",
      "usaspendingUrl": "https://example.com"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "source": {
    "provider": "example",
    "url": "example",
    "license": "example"
  },
  "meta": {
    "query": {
      "recipient": "example",
      "agency": "example",
      "recipientState": "example",
      "awardType": "example",
      "since": "example",
      "until": "example",
      "limit": 1,
      "page": 1
    },
    "hasNext": false
  }
}

FAQ

Do I need an API key to use the usaspending awards API?
No. gov.usaspending-awards is x402-native — there is no signup and no API key. Your client makes the call, receives a 402 with payment requirements, signs a USDC payment, and retries. Funds come from a wallet you control.
How much does the usaspending awards API cost?
$0.0024 USDC per call, charged per request. There are no monthly fees, seats, or minimums — you pay only for the calls you make.
Can I try the usaspending awards API for free first?
Yes. Add ?trial=1 (or the header X-2s-Trial: 1) to get a free real call per endpoint per hour, so you can verify the response shape before wiring payment.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
USDC on Base (via EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization) or Solana (SPL transfer), using the open x402 payment protocol.
How do I call gov.usaspending-awards from an AI agent or MCP host?
Use @2sio/sdk (TypeScript), 2sio (Python), or the @2sio/mcp server for any MCP host — each handles the probe → sign → retry loop for you. See the code samples on this page.

Discovery

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