How to check whether a funded public project was delivered
An award announcement answers a funding question. A completed bridge, a functioning service or a measured benefit answers a delivery question. Checking the connection requires a chain of records.
USAspending distinguishes a commitment to pay—an obligation—from money paid out—an outlay. Its agency guidance also notes that payments in a year can relate to earlier commitments. A payment total divided by the same year’s new obligations is therefore not automatically a project’s completion percentage.
Build five linked records
| Record | What to save | What it cannot prove alone |
|---|---|---|
| Authority/program | Law section, program identifier, responsible agency and eligible purpose | A particular award was issued |
| Award/commitment | Award ID, recipient ID, amendments, amount type and period | Money was paid or work finished |
| Payment | Outlay record, reporting period, cumulative/period basis and link to award | Physical delivery or quality |
| Delivered output | Acceptance record, operating report, inspection or other dated evidence | The desired social effect occurred |
| Outcome | Defined metric, baseline, comparison, population and measurement date | The project alone caused the change |
Use identifiers, not a shared keyword
Two records mentioning “clean school buses” may describe different awards. Save the agency’s award and recipient identifiers. Record the basis of every connection: an explicit official cross-reference is stronger than a name, place and date match. A plausible match should stay a candidate until confirmed.
Also record each amount’s meaning. Do not add a prime-award amount to a subaward as though both were new federal spending. Separate cumulative totals from individual transactions, and account for amendments or reductions before building a timeline.
Try the evidence worksheet
This checklist describes what evidence you have collected. It is not a performance score, a fraud detector or a substitute for reading the records. Missing boxes stay “not established.”
No stages marked as collected.
Save worksheet JSONInputs stay in this browser tab. The download is local; this page does not send your entries to a server.
Say exactly what remains unknown
Consider an illustrative project with an announced $10 million award, $4 million in reported payments and no located acceptance report. The supported statement is that the award and payment records exist while delivery remains unverified in the reviewed evidence. The remaining $6 million is not, by that arithmetic alone, lost money.
“No record found” also needs a search boundary: which systems were checked, on what date, for which identifiers and period? A missing record may be unpublished, late, outside the chosen system or linked under another identifier. Those possibilities need investigation, not an automatic accusation.
Make a useful next request
Ask the administering agency for the acceptance or performance record tied to the specific award ID and reporting period. Ask what milestone triggers payment and whether the amount is an advance, reimbursement or final payment. A narrow request is easier to answer than “Where did the money go?”
The reusable contribution is the evidence structure: source URL, record ID, reporting period, value/unit, linkage basis and unresolved gap. Download a blank evidence template or explore the ImpactLine law-to-delivery workspace. The workspace and this worksheet organize evidence; they do not establish an official audit finding.
Automated data processing and AI-assisted explanatory writing are disclosed. Follow the primary sources to verify each measure. A spending total or missing record does not establish fraud.