Rockefeller Institute of Government
The Rockefeller Institute of Government produces an annual report titled Giving or Getting?:
New York’s Balance of Payments with the Federal Government available at https://rockinst.org/
issue-area/balance-of-payments-2022/. The report focuses on New York but includes federal
spending data for all states. It attempts to show the balance of payments by state, or the amount of
revenue paid to the federal government from each state’s residents and economy minus federal
spending in the state. Federal spending data include direct payments for individuals (e.g., Social
Security and Medicare), grants, contracts, and wages and salaries of federal workers.
Federal Funds Information for States
Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS), https://ffis.org/, is a subscription-only service that
tracks federal grant funding in states.
Data are provided at the summary level as well as by type
of grant and specific program. Many state governments subscribe to FFIS. Information is limited
for nonsubscribers.
Federal Aid to States and the Consolidated Federal Funds Report
These Census Bureau reports, published from FY1983 to FY2010 and available at
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/time-series/cffr.All.html, were the federal
government’s primary documents summarizing the geographic distribution of federal monies to
Fiscal Year 2023, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/analytical-perspectives/. Note that Chapter 14 is
variously numbered in earlier budgets.
12 Ibid., p. 205.
13 Ibid., p. 205.
14 See Supplemental Materials as Spreadsheets, Tables 14-3 through 14-61. 2023 Budget Program State-by-State
Tables, Analytical Perspectives, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/analytical-perspectives/.
15 See CRS Report R42769, Federal Grants-in-Aid Administration: A Primer, by Natalie Keegan.
Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
Congressional Research Service 8
states and counties, whether grants, contracts, or appropriations. The FY2010 Federal Aid to
States (FAS) and Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) were the last reports issued due to
the termination of the Census Bureau’s Federal Financial Statistics program. Federal obligations
data continue to be posted on USAspending.gov, now the official source collecting federal awards
data.
FAS covered federal government expenditures to state and local governments and
presented figures to the state level by program area and agency.
CFFR included payments to state and local governments as well as to
nongovernmental recipients. Dollar amounts reported represented either actual
expenditures or obligations (see CFFR introduction and source notes for each
table or graph).
CFFR provided data to the state and county level for grants, salaries and wages,
procurement contracts, direct payments for individuals, other direct payments,
direct loans, guaranteed or insured loans, and insurance.
Although CFFR indicated congressional districts (one or more) for each county,
it did not give separate data by CD.
Selected Agency Grant Awards Databases and Information
USAspending.gov collects brief data on all federal grants and contracts awarded. However, some
agencies, in particular those awarding research grants, also continue to post information on their
own websites.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Current Research Information System
https://cris.nifa.usda.gov/
Ongoing agricultural, food science, human nutrition, and forestry research,
education and extension activities, with a focus on the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture (NIFA) grant programs. Projects are conducted or sponsored by
USDA research agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, land-grant
universities, other cooperating state institutions, and participants in NIFAadministered grant programs, including Small Business Innovation Research and
the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
Department of Education (ED)
Institute of Education Sciences, Funded Research Grants and Contracts
http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/index.asp
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS)
http://taggs.hhs.gov/AdvancedSearch.cfm
Database of awards from HHS and its subsidiaries.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools
RePORTER
http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm
Includes projects funded by the NIH, Administration for Children and Families,
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and
Tracking Federal Awards:
USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
Congressional Research Service 9
Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs.
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
https://hsrproject.nlm.nih.gov/
Database of ongoing health services research and public health projects, whether
government, corporate, or private.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Public Assistance Grant
Awards Activity
Reports covering 2013 to the present are available at https://www.fema.gov/
about/openfema/data-sets/fema-daily-public-assistance-grant-awards-activity.
Includes FEMA region, state, applicant name, damage category, and federal share
obligated.
Department of Justice (DOJ)
Office of Justice Programs (OJP), OJP Grant Award Data
http://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/OJPAwardData.htm
Department of Labor (DOL)
Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Grants Awarded
http://www.doleta.gov/grants/grants_awarded.cfm
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
IMLS Awarded Grants
http://www.imls.gov/recipients/grantsearch.aspx
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Grant Search
https://apps.nea.gov/grantsearch/
NEA grants awarded since 1998.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Funded Projects
https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx
National Science Foundation (NSF)
NSF Awards
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Includes data from 1989 to the present.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
SBIR and STTR Awards
https://www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/award/all
The SBIR/STTR program’s mission is to stimulate technology innovation by
strengthening the role of innovative small business in federal research and
development. Currently, 11 federal agencies participate in the program: the
Departments of Agriculture, Commerce (National Institute of Standards and
Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration),
Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,
Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
Congressional Research Service 10
and Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Science Foundation.
Transportation Research Board (TRB)
Research in Progress
http://rip.trb.org/
View projects by subject, individuals, or organizations.
Further Reading
National Academy of Public Administration, “DATA Act Implementation: The First GovernmentWide Agile Project,” April 30, 2020, at https://napawash.org/grand-challenges-blog/data-actimplementation-the-first-government-wide-agile-project.
U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs,
“Federal Agency Compliance with the DATA Act,” report, July 2018, at
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/staff-report_-federal-agency-compliance-with-the-dataact.
Urban Institute, “Follow the Money: How to Track Federal Funding to Local Governments,”
research report, February 26, 2018, at https://www.urban.org/research/publication/follow-moneyhow-track-federal-funding-local-governments.
Data Foundation and Deloitte, “DATA Act 2022: Changing Technology, Changing Culture,”
report, May 2017, at http://www.datafoundation.org/data-act-2022/.
