With its new update to the Foreign Assistance Dashboard (www.foreignassistance.gov),  the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is releasing financial data and information in more detail than ever before. For the first time, members of the public can download and search data showing which vendors received Agency funding and how much they spent in a given time period.

Additionally, the data is offered in the worldwide International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard, ensuring common readability and interoperability with reports from other aid funding sources. Making data available in an easily usable format is part of the U.S. Government’s commitment to transparency, and the addition of this data is a significant step in fulfilling the U.S. Government’s IATI Implementation Plan.

The data is sourced from USAID financial systems, in line with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) specifications, for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2013. It will be updated quarterly, and reported to the Dashboard approximately 45 days after the end of each quarter.  

The goal of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard, which is hosted by the Department of State, is to make all U.S. Government foreign assistance investments available in an accessible and easy-to-understand format. With 50,000 records across 30 data fields, including vendor name, title of award, and more, this is a significant step toward making aid information more transparent.

The Department of State and USAID have collaborated on the Dashboard since its launch in December 2010. USAID’s first set of data  included the consolidated Department of State and USAID budget and appropriation data from fiscal years 2006-2011, as available in the Congressional Budget Justification. In June 2012, USAID released additional data, displaying obligations and disbursements by operating unit and sector for fiscal years 2009-2011. Last December, these data was updated for fiscal year 2012 and allowed USAID data for download in XML format. We have now expanded on this data with this latest release.

To download the data set, visit www.foreignassistance.gov, which also contains extensive documentation and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Comments, questions, or suggestions can be submitted through the Contact Us form on the site.