AEC Hub · Industry Research

Federal Spending & Industry Intelligence: Free AEC Data Sources

A guide to free government APIs tracking IIJA infrastructure money, federal contract awards, and AEC industry benchmarks, all accessible without an API key.

$580B

IIJA Authorized

Federal APIs

Cost to Access

aechub.org · Published March 2026

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Why This Matters

$580B flowing through open APIs

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized $580 billion for roads, bridges, water, broadband, and transit. As of Q4 2024, agencies have obligated $275 billion, 47% of the total. Every dollar of that is tracked in public APIs with no key required. The AEC industry has barely touched these data sources.

How to use this guide

Every source listed here is free and publicly accessible. We have included the exact URLs, data formats (API, CSV), update frequency, and a product idea for each one. This report covers two tiers: Tier 4 (Federal Infrastructure Spending) and Tier 6 (Thought Leadership & Industry Intelligence).

Tier 4: Federal Infrastructure Spending

3 sources, direct access to where IIJA and federal AEC dollars are flowing

USAspending.gov

U.S. Department of the Treasury

FreeAPICSV

All federal contract awards filterable by NAICS code (236xx construction, 237xx heavy/civil, 238xx specialty trades, 541310 architecture, 541330 engineering). As of Q4 2024, agencies have obligated $275B (47%) of $580B IIJA funding. No API key required. Open source.

Update: MonthlyFormat: REST API (no key), CSVDifficulty: Easy

api.usaspending.gov

Build: Infrastructure Spending Map, where IIJA money is flowing by state and sector. Top federal AEC contractors. Upcoming opportunities.

SAM.gov Contractor Registry

General Services Administration

FreeAPI

Entity registration data for all government contractors, NAICS codes, business size, set-aside eligibility, capability narratives. Entity Extract API supports bulk downloads up to 1M records. Essential for competitive intelligence in government AEC work.

Update: ContinuousFormat: JSON API (free key)Difficulty: Easy

open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api

Build: Federal contractor directory filtered by AEC NAICS codes, set-aside eligibility, and state.

OpenFEMA, Disaster & Mitigation Data

Federal Emergency Management Agency

FreeAPICSV

Disaster declarations, hazard mitigation grants (HMGP, BRIC, FMA), public assistance infrastructure repair grants, and flood insurance data. No API key required. Maps disaster-driven construction opportunities and resilience funding.

Update: OngoingFormat: REST (no key), CSVDifficulty: Very Easy

fema.gov/about/openfema/api

Build: Disaster-driven construction opportunity tracker by state, showing active FEMA grants and repair funding.

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