Contracts can have multiple “contract actions”: This is how agencies spend money for a specific purpose, adjust the amount committed or change the contract in a way that doesn’t affect the amount. That last scenario is usually indicated by a $0 action. If there is a contract action for a negative amount, it generally means the contract was adjusted or canceled.
This data comes from the Federal Procurement Data System, which includes all contracts worth $10,000 or more. We look at all contracts that are tagged with the procurement code for COVID-19 or otherwise started in 2020 and contain “COVID-19” in the description. Department of Defense contracting data is subject to a 90-day delay before it appears in the data.
