Terms of Use

Effective September 29, 2026

These terms apply to your use of SpendQuery (the website, its answers and its downloads). By using SpendQuery you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

What SpendQuery is

SpendQuery lets you ask questions in plain English about public spending records: US federal awards (USAspending.gov) and the federal datasets around them (SAM.gov registrations and contract notices, subawards, improper-payment estimates, lobbying and campaign-finance filings, SEC financials and others), plus state, county and city checkbooks. An AI model turns your question into a query, the query runs on a copy of those records, and the result is summarized for you. The Sources page lists every dataset, how often it is refreshed and its known limits.

Not affiliated with any government

SpendQuery is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by the US government, any state, county or city, or any agency whose data it uses. Names of agencies, governments and companies are used only to describe the records.

Information only; check before you rely on it

• Answers are generated automatically and can be wrong: the AI can misread a question, a name can match the wrong organization, and source data can be late, incomplete, revised or mislabeled by the publisher.
• Amounts mean different things in different sources (federal obligations are money committed; state and county figures are payments). The notes under “Why this number?” explain each answer's limits.
• Before you rely on a number for a decision, a publication, a filing or a legal matter, check it against the official source linked from the answer.
• Nothing on SpendQuery is financial, investment, legal, tax or procurement advice, or an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.
• Signals are not findings. Red flags, “waste” lists, possible lobbying and PAC matches, likely follow-on notices and similar labels are automated signals computed from public records. They are not findings that any person or organization did anything wrong; an exclusion, audit finding or improper-payment estimate means what the publishing agency says it means, and names can match the wrong organization.
• Summaries marked as written by AI (such as an opportunity brief's “what to know”) are generated from the records shown and can leave things out or state them wrongly.
• Links to organizations' websites are provided for convenience. They come from public registrations (SAM.gov) or were identified by search and may point to the wrong site; SpendQuery does not control or endorse third-party sites.

Your questions

Please don't type personal, confidential or sensitive information into the question box. Questions are sent to an AI model provider to be interpreted and are logged to run and improve the service (see the Privacy Policy).

Accounts, saved searches and alerts

You don't need an account to use SpendQuery. If you sign in, keep your sign-in secure; you are responsible for what is done with your account. Saved searches and alert e-mails are a convenience: a check can be late, miss an item or stop, so don't rely on an alert as your only way to learn of a deadline. You can turn alerts off or delete your data at any time on the Alerts page. Some features may be limited to a paid plan; any price and terms for a paid plan will be shown before you buy it.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• overload the service, get around its rate limits or scrape it at a volume that degrades it for others;
• try to access parts of the service that aren't public, or probe, break or bypass its security;
• use the service to break the law, or to harass, defame or mislead others (for example by presenting its answers as official figures, or its signals as proof of wrongdoing);
• use contact or company information from the service to send spam or messages that break anti-spam or telemarketing laws.

We may limit or block access that breaks these rules.

The data and your use of it

The underlying records are public government data. You may use, quote and share answers and CSV downloads, including commercially, as long as you don't suggest that SpendQuery or any government endorses your use, and you mention that the figures come from the named public source. The SpendQuery name, design and software remain ours.

Third-party content

News links, company websites and notices link to sites SpendQuery doesn't control. Their content, terms and privacy practices are their own.

No warranty

SpendQuery is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. The service may change, be interrupted or be discontinued at any time.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SpendQuery and the people who run it are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data or goodwill, arising from your use of the service or your reliance on its answers, even if advised of the possibility. Where liability can't be excluded, it is limited to one hundred US dollars (US$100).

Changes

We may update these terms. The effective date at the top changes when we do; continuing to use SpendQuery after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be heard in the state or federal courts located in California, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

Questions about these terms or your data: [email protected]. See also: Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Where the numbers come from