USAspending.gov · Award obligations of all agencies, by type of award, monthly, billions of dollars
How much does the federal government commit each month to contracts, grants, loans and other awards?
The month ended : of the 5 lines, the change over a year was largest for Direct payments, up 36.4%, and smallest for Indefinite delivery vehicles, down 91.0%.
Federal award obligations of all agencies, by type of award, all awards and each type, each month
- All awards717.0137.2 to 1205.2
- Contracts73.921.3 to 148.5
- Indefinite delivery vehicles0.30.2 to 3.2
- Grants250.24.4 to 298.1
- Loans-0.7-1.8 to 458.1
- Direct payments390.883.5 to 504.0
- Other awards2.4-0.3 to 29.1
Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale of its own, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
Observed .
Right now
Over a year to July 2026, of the 5 lines on this page the change was largest for Direct payments, up 36.4%, and smallest for Indefinite delivery vehicles, down 91.0%.
Of these lines, 4 rose, 1 fell and 0 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).
By lineOver a year, ours
Federal award obligations of all agencies, by type of award, change over a year, by line
Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.
Observed .
Federal award obligations of all agencies, by type of award, change over a year in each month
| Line | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All awards | +0.5 | +2.2 | +10.6 | −36.2 | +29.1 | −1.3 | +13.5 | +30.0 | +11.0 | −10.5 | +43.6 | +20.0 |
| Contracts | +5.3 | +13.7 | −56.3 | +13.1 | +26.0 | +1.0 | +25.0 | +99.0 | +51.0 | +23.0 | +23.6 | +2.9 |
| Indefinite delivery vehicles | −28.7 | +57.6 | −42.5 | −10.1 | +207.4 | +16.4 | +136.7 | +65.9 | −33.1 | +3.4 | +667.2 | −91.0 |
| Grants | −40.6 | −27.7 | −5.8 | −53.4 | −20.3 | −7.4 | +208.8 | +62.9 | +10.9 | +34.3 | +7.4 | +5.9 |
| Loans | – | – | – | −442.6 | – | −134.1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Direct payments | +9.8 | +13.4 | +40.1 | −41.0 | +44.8 | +5.2 | +6.8 | +9.7 | +3.7 | −19.2 | +55.2 | +36.4 |
| Other awards | −55.5 | −75.6 | −76.9 | −48.8 | −69.1 | −64.2 | −21.5 | −78.1 | −53.5 | +7.1 | +79.0 | – |
Each chip is one month's change from the same month a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 91.0 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month with no figure.
Observed .
Understanding federal awards by type
Where it stands today
The largest change over a year was Direct payments, up 36.4%, in July 2026.
What do the lines of this page measure?
These are the awards that all federal agencies committed to each month, in total and by type: contracts, indefinite delivery vehicles (contracts that set the terms for later orders), grants, loans, direct payments and other awards. The Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service publishes the figures on USAspending.gov, by the month of the award action. USAspending calls the amounts obligations.
Read more
What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve months. The same awards by agency are on the federal award obligations by agency page.
The numbers behind the chart
What is the latest value of each line?7 lines, in the sections of the page
| Line | Section | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All awards | All awards and each type | $717.0 billion | +20.0% | 2 | |
| Contracts | All awards and each type | $73.9 billion | +2.9% | 4 | |
| Indefinite delivery vehicles | All awards and each type | $0.3 billion | −91.0% | 5 | |
| Grants | All awards and each type | $250.2 billion | +5.9% | 3 | |
| Loans | All awards and each type | $−0.7 billion | n/a | n/a | |
| Direct payments | All awards and each type | $390.8 billion | +36.4% | 1 | |
| Other awards | All awards and each type | $2.4 billion | n/a | n/a |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- An obligation is a promise to pay, not a payment. Direct payments are counted as USAspending reports them; they include payments to people under benefit programs. Loans are counted by their cost to the government, and the cost can be negative.
- The types add up to the total of the page. The Department of Defense, whose awards include those of the Army Corps of Engineers, files its awards about 90 days after the action. So that every month is whole, the page stops at the last month that ended at least 90 days before USAspending's latest data date.
- A month can be below zero when more money is cancelled than is awarded. The change over a year compares a month with the same month a year earlier and is ours, worked out from the stored values; a line with no award or a negative total a year earlier has no change.
- Spending that is not an award, such as the pay of the agencies' own staff, is not in these figures.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
USAspending.gov, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Award obligations of all agencies, by type of award, monthly, billions of dollars, through July 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How much does the federal government commit each month to contracts, grants, loans and other awards?", https://500metrics.com/federal-awards-by-type.
Can the data be downloaded?federal-awards-by-type.csv
Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 847 rows, to , 51,716 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
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