{
  "family": "spending-records",
  "checked": "2026-10-09",
  "scope": "Worked examples from public USAspending records. This is not a complete contractor, agency, national spending or subcontracting database.",
  "id": "fiscal-year-vs-lifetime-contract-spending",
  "title": "Calculate one fiscal year without counting a contract’s whole lifetime.",
  "description": "Reproduce FY2025 obligations for a NASA contract from dated transactions instead of treating the cumulative award amount as annual spending.",
  "category": "Fiscal-year calculation",
  "answer": "For an annual obligation total, sum signed transaction obligations whose action dates fall inside the chosen fiscal year. For NASA contract 80MSFC20C0034, 19 transactions dated October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025 sum to $221,721,145.05. The cumulative award obligation is $3,229,285,063.07. Those are different scopes.",
  "facts": [
    {
      "label": "Fiscal-year window used",
      "value": "October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025, inclusive",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Contract",
      "value": "80MSFC20C0034",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-/"
    },
    {
      "label": "FY2025 transaction rows",
      "value": "19, including zero-dollar modifications",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/"
    },
    {
      "label": "FY2025 net obligations, calculated",
      "value": "$221,721,145.05",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/"
    },
    {
      "label": "All retrieved transaction rows",
      "value": "84; endpoint reported no next page",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Cumulative award obligations",
      "value": "$3,229,285,063.07",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-/"
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Reproduce the calculation",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Request USAspending’s transactions endpoint with award_id CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-, page 1, limit 5000, sort action_date and order asc. The October 9 snapshot returned 84 rows and hasNext false. Retain rows with action_date from 2024-10-01 through 2025-09-30 inclusive.",
        "Sum federal_action_obligation as signed amounts, keeping cents. The 19 matching rows total $221,721,145.05. Summing all 84 rows reconciles to $3,229,285,063.07. These arithmetic results were calculated by America.co from the public records, not supplied as an official fiscal-year summary."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/",
        "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Do not mistake a result row for an annual payment",
      "paragraphs": [
        "An award can appear in a date-filtered search because activity occurred inside the window while its award-level amount still describes the accumulated award. Before summing a result column, check the endpoint, spending level and field definition. Annual transaction changes and cumulative award values should not share an unlabeled “spending” column.",
        "This calculation concerns obligations, not payments. It also concerns one contract, not all awards to SpaceX, NASA’s annual budget, or the entire Artemis program."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_transaction.md",
        "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Count changes, not just positive additions",
      "paragraphs": [
        "A zero-dollar modification remains a transaction even though it contributes nothing to the sum. Negative amounts, when present, must stay negative. Excluding reductions would inflate a net-obligation calculation.",
        "If a future retrieval has another page, follow pagination before presenting a complete total. Save the request, retrieval date, page metadata, window and calculated result so another reader can reproduce the number."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/transactions.md"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    "Select the exact award key and money measure.",
    "Download all transaction pages, retaining signed amounts and dates.",
    "Filter on action date using an explicit inclusive window.",
    "Sum obligations in integer cents, including negative and zero rows.",
    "Reconcile the all-time transaction sum to the award total and publish the request details."
  ],
  "caution": "The FY2025 number is an original calculation on one dated API snapshot. Later corrections may change it. It is not FY2025 cash paid, all contractor revenue or a program-wide total.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "USAspending transaction endpoint",
      "url": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "Transaction endpoint request contract",
      "url": "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/transactions.md",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "HLS cumulative award record",
      "url": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-/",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "Transaction search fields",
      "url": "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_transaction.md",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    {
      "label": "Search federal contracts and grants",
      "url": "/every-federal-dollar"
    },
    {
      "label": "America’s Public Resource Desk",
      "url": "/resources"
    },
    {
      "label": "Prepare a focused public-records request",
      "url": "/foia-request-builder"
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    [
      "Why does the award total exceed one year’s transactions?",
      "The award total covers accumulated activity across the award’s life. The annual calculation keeps only transaction actions inside a selected date window."
    ],
    [
      "Can I call this the amount paid in FY2025?",
      "No. This example sums obligation changes, not outlays."
    ]
  ],
  "award": {
    "id": "CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-",
    "fiscalYear": 2025,
    "startDate": "2024-10-01",
    "endDate": "2025-09-30",
    "actionRows": 19,
    "netObligations": 221721145.05,
    "cumulativeObligations": 3229285063.07,
    "method": "Sum signed federal_action_obligation in integer cents for inclusive action-date window",
    "transactionRequest": {
      "award_id": "CONT_AWD_80MSFC20C0034_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-",
      "page": 1,
      "limit": 5000,
      "sort": "action_date",
      "order": "asc"
    },
    "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/transactions/"
  },
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-09",
  "maintenance": "Dated snapshots, not a real-time feed. Recheck the government record before using a value or status.",
  "attribution": "America.co Public Resource Desk",
  "attributionUrl": "/editorial#desk",
  "metaTitle": "Fiscal-Year vs Lifetime Contract Spending | FY2025 Example",
  "route": "/spending-records/fiscal-year-vs-lifetime-contract-spending",
  "file": "spending-records/fiscal-year-vs-lifetime-contract-spending.html"
}