About the data

This website leverages publicly accessible assistance listings (AL) data from SAM.gov and financial data from USAspending.gov, linked to assistance listings through the AL number. The functions and subfunctions used to categorize the programs can be found in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings Functional Index. Agencies submit data for their programs directly to these sources.

Data used to build this website is available for download, and was last pulled on the following dates:

• SAM.gov assistance listings: February 2, 2024
• SAM.gov assistance listing categories & sub-categories: 2022 Annual Publication of Assistance Listings
• USASpending.gov transaction data: January 8, 2024

Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of Federal programs that provide Federal financial assistance such as grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards. Every assistance award must be aligned to an assistance listing, and every assistance listing must be authorized by congressional statute. 2 CFR 200.203 identifies the Federal Assistance Listings (ALs) as "the single, authoritative, governmentwide comprehensive source of Federal financial assistance program information produced by the executive branch of the Federal Government."

Assistance Listings are created and maintained by the administering agency on SAM.gov and must be updated annually.

Agencies identify the form in which the Federal government provides assistance to the award recipient, including contracts, grants, loans, insurance, and direct payment. An assistance listing may provide different types of assistance.

Data source: SAM.gov

For the purposes of this inventory, categories and sub-categories are the functions and sub-functions that can be found in the Functional Index in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings on SAM.gov (catalog editions available for download at SAM.gov). When creating Assistance Listings for each of their programs, agencies are offered the opportunity to select one or many functions and sub-functions that best align with the program from a pre-defined list.

Data source: SAM.gov (note that the function and sub-function(s) are not displayed on the assistance listing. They can be found only in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings.)

Agencies identify entities that are eligible to apply for each program when creating the assistance listing. The main purpose of this is to inform potential applicants of the programs for which they can apply. Information on award recipients can be found at USAspending.gov.

Additional specifics about eligible applicants for each program can be found on the program's assistance listing on SAM.gov

Data source: SAM.gov

Agencies specify who may receive the ultimate benefits from the program. Programs that provide direct assistance from a Federal agency will generally have the same applicant and beneficiary. In cases where assistance is provided through State and local governments, the applicants and beneficiaries may be different since the assistance is transmitted to private sector beneficiaries who do not have to request or apply for the benefits.

Additional specifics about eligible beneficiaries for each program can be found on the program's assistance listing on SAM.gov.

Data source: SAM.gov

Functions and sub-functions can be found in the Functional Index in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings on SAM.gov.

When creating Assistance Listings for each of their programs, agencies are offered the opportunity to select one or many functions and sub-functions that best align with the program from a pre-defined list.

In selecting from the list of "functions" and "sub-functions" agencies are not offered guidance on their meaning. As a result, the number and context of "functions" and "sub-functions" assigned to a program may vary by program.

Data source: SAM.gov (note that the function and sub-function(s) are not displayed on the assistance listing. They can be found only in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings.)

When awarding funding, the U.S. government enters a binding agreement called an obligation. The government promises to spend the money, either immediately or in the future. An agency incurs an obligation, for example, when it places an order, signs a contract, awards a grant, purchases a service, or takes other actions that require it to make a payment. Additional detail is provided in OMB Circular A-11.

Obligation information sourced from SAM.gov is provided by the administering agency for each assistance listing via the table below.

		Obligation Value Enter whole dollar amount.
Assistance Type / Salaries and Expenses	This is a Recovery and Reinvestment Act Obligation		Past Fiscal Year (20YY) Actual	Current Fiscal Year (20YY) Estimate	Budget Fiscal Year (20YY) Estimate
	Y or N		$	$	$
		If obligation value cannot be entered, choose a reason	Not separately identifiable Not available (must be updated by the end of the year)	Not separately identifiable Not available (must be updated by the end of the year)	Not separately identifiable Not available (must be updated by the end of the year)

Each year, agencies report actual obligations for the past fiscal year and estimated obligations for the current and budget fiscal years.

Obligation information sourced from USAspending.gov is provided by agencies in accordance with the 2014 DATA Act, which requires reporting on a quarterly and/or monthly basis. For the purposes of this inventory, program obligations from USAspending.gov are calculated by taking the total of obligations aligned to the assistance listing at the transaction level for the fiscal year.

Note that the obligations information reported on SAM.gov may not match what is reported on USASpending.gov. Below is a non-exhaustive set of explanations that may explain differences between these data sources:

1. Due to the timing of reporting in the two systems, data from one system may be more up-to-date than the other.
2. USASpending.gov total obligations include all transactions that occur within a fiscal year, including de-obligations for awards made in prior fiscal years. SAM.gov data may or may not include these de-obligations.
3. There are different ways to account for obligations made through loans or insurance. Agencies were not instructed on how to account for these obligations on SAM.gov, and may have chosen a different method than what is reported on USASpending.gov.

For the purposes of this inventory, a program is an individual assistance listing, as submitted by agencies to SAM.gov.