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A lot of this data can also be browsed by mere mortals at http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/ http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov
by skram 10y ago
A lot of this data can also be browsed by mere mortals at http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/ http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/ . More information is available at https://openbeta.usaspending.gov/ https://openbeta.usaspending.gov/ too.
- wslh 10y agoI checked but is there any reason why the totals are pretty low? for example looking for Microsoft I found a total of 33M http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/All%20Years/explore/0/vendorname_standardized/MICROSOFT/0/maj_agency_cat_standardized http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/A...
- skram 10y agoProbably because of the way government contracting works with (value added) resellers. One such is "Carahsoft" (see http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/All%20Years/explore/0/vendorname_standardized/CARAHSOFT+TECHNOLOGY/0/maj_agency_cat_standardized http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/A...). If you dig into the details of the transactions you'll see that many are for technology companies' software and services. One example link that includes Salesforce, HP, VMWare, Symantec, etc.: http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/All%20Years/explore/0-/vendorname_standardized/CARAHSOFT+TECHNOLOGY/0-/maj_agency_cat_standardized/4700:+GENERAL+SERVICES+ADMINISTRATION/0-/fundingrequestingagencyid_standardized/4750:+OFFICE+OF+THE+CHIEF+INFORMATION+OFFICER/0-barChart/productorservicecode/7030:+ADP+SOFTWARE/1/productorservicecode http://openbeta-contracts-explorer.usaspending.gov/#!/year/A...
- bennylope 10y agoAnd for those companies providing services (i.e. people doing work, rather than just SaaS) there's a lot of subcontracting that doesn't show up in this data.
- danso 10y agoI don't know much about this new explorer tool, but it's based off of USASpending.gov which is a bit fickle...which is to be expected given the messiness of the data involved (companies have varied names, subsidiaries etc., among other real-life complexities). But you can do an "advanced search" by registered company name, and this is what comes up for "Microsoft" -- probably doesn't include all of its subsidiaries that don't have "Microsoft" in the name: ~$1.4 billion in awarded contracts https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?sub=y&ST=C,G,L,O&FY=2016,2015,2014,2013,2012,2011,2010,2009,2008&A=0&SS=USA&RN=microsoft https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?sub=y&... edit: Oh I know the reason for the discrepancy...the homepage of the beta app says it's only partial data: > Added more years of contract data to now include 2011 - 2015
- bennylope 10y agoYou really have to have a groomed database to get reasonably accurate data. At a former employer (federal market research) we maintained a separate database of contractors mapping the relationship between companies based on DUNS number, which enabled rolling up totals for subsidiaries. Of course that doesn't account for JVs or subcontracting.
- anton_tarasenko 10y agoTwo reasons: 1. Agencies often buy from distributors and integrators, not publishers. In this case, original manufacturers may appear in the variable `descriptionofcontractrequirement`. 2. Spelling may differ. Variable `dunsnumber` is be a better indicator for uniqueness.
- us0r 10y agoAnd DUNS number is also pretty useless as it is based on location (not organization). A search on sam.gov for "lockheed" results in 207 records (all probably the same company).
- Spooky23 10y agoGovernment requires competition for purchases. So vendors like Dell, SHI, CDW, Carahsoft, etc are all wholesalers who compete over the pennies for fulfillment to sell Microsoft (and most other) software.
- anton_tarasenko 10y agoYep, and http://government-contractors.insidegov.com/ http://government-contractors.insidegov.com/ is pretty easy to use.