{
  "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": "recipient-location-vs-place-of-performance",
  "title": "Where federal money is awarded is not always where the work happens.",
  "description": "Compare recipient location with reported place of performance using a NASA crew-transportation award before making a local spending claim.",
  "category": "Geography",
  "answer": "Choose the geography that answers your question. The CCtCap order NNK17MA01T reports a SpaceX recipient location in Los Angeles County, California, and a primary place of performance in Brevard County, Florida. Counting the award solely by recipient location would answer a different question from counting its reported work location.",
  "facts": [
    {
      "label": "Award order",
      "value": "NNK17MA01T",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Recipient city and county",
      "value": "Hawthorne, Los Angeles County, California",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Reported performance county",
      "value": "Brevard County, Florida",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Reported performance city field",
      "value": "ORLANDO",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Cumulative obligations for this order",
      "value": "$3,549,243,793.00",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Agency",
      "value": "National Aeronautics and Space Administration",
      "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Two legitimate counts, two different questions",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Recipient location is the reported legal business location; primary place of performance identifies the principal location of the award’s work. The official dataset carries both fields. Neither field should be silently substituted for the other in a map or a claim about a county.",
        "A county-level recipient view can tell you which recipients are based there. A performance view can orient you to reported work there. Neither automatically proves how much residents earned, how many jobs were created, or where every supplier operated."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://www.usaspending.gov/data/Federal-Spending-Guide.pdf",
        "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "The crew-transportation example",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The record identifies Space Exploration Technologies Corp. as the prime recipient, with UEI C6M7C2FLKER5. The order is linked to parent contract NNK14MA74C and describes Commercial Crew Transportation Capability work. Its reported recipient county is Los Angeles; its reported performance county is Brevard.",
        "The API also reports performance city ORLANDO and ZIP 32899. We preserve those reported fields rather than inventing a street address or “correcting” the record from a map. This page compares the county fields; it does not independently geocode or verify every location."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Build a reproducible local spending comparison",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Keep the date range, award types, money measure and spending level identical. Change only the geography scope from recipient location to place of performance. Save both outputs with their scope labels. USAspending’s geography API exposes these two scope choices directly.",
        "Do not add the recipient-location and performance-location amounts together. They are alternate ways to categorize related records, not separate pots of government spending."
      ],
      "sourceUrls": [
        "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_geography.md"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    "Decide whether you mean recipients based in a place or work reported in a place.",
    "Keep the award type, date window and money measure fixed.",
    "Run the same query under each location scope.",
    "Save county or state identifiers, not just display names.",
    "Explain which scope your headline uses and what it cannot establish."
  ],
  "caution": "Reported location fields do not describe every worksite or beneficiary. This example is a county-field comparison, not a map of all SpaceX facilities or a local economic-impact calculation.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "CCtCap order: location and money fields",
      "url": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "USAspending geography endpoint contract",
      "url": "https://github.com/fedspendingtransparency/usaspending-api/blob/master/usaspending_api/api_contracts/contracts/v2/search/spending_by_geography.md",
      "asOf": "2026-10-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "Analyst’s Guide: geography definitions",
      "url": "https://www.usaspending.gov/data/Federal-Spending-Guide.pdf",
      "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": [
    [
      "Should I use recipient location or place of performance?",
      "Use recipient location for where the reported recipient is based. Use place of performance for the principal reported location of the award’s work. State your choice."
    ],
    [
      "Does a local award amount measure local jobs?",
      "No. A jobs or economic-impact claim needs additional evidence beyond these location and obligation fields."
    ]
  ],
  "award": {
    "id": "CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000",
    "piid": "NNK17MA01T",
    "recipientCounty": "Los Angeles",
    "recipientState": "CA",
    "performanceCounty": "Brevard",
    "performanceState": "FL",
    "reportedPerformanceCity": "ORLANDO",
    "sourceUrl": "https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000/",
    "publicUrl": "https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_NNK17MA01T_8000_NNK14MA74C_8000"
  },
  "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": "Recipient Location vs Place of Performance | Federal Spending",
  "route": "/spending-records/recipient-location-vs-place-of-performance",
  "file": "spending-records/recipient-location-vs-place-of-performance.html"
}