How It Works
BlazingStar Analytics:
Four Data Sources.
One Complete Picture
What actually happened. Obligations, outlays, balances.
Where the money landed. Contracts, grants, recipients.
Why Doesn't This Tool Already Exist?
Great question! Federal budget data is public. Using it is another story.
It's scattered.
Appropriations on congress.gov. Apportionments on MAX.gov. Execution data in SF-133 reports. Awards on USAspending.gov. Four systems that don't talk to each other.
It's delayed.
By the time you find the data, clean it, and reconcile it, the fiscal year is half over.
It's raw.
No context, no comparisons, no history. Just numbers in a spreadsheet, if you're lucky.
It's gatekept.
Not intentionally—but effectively. If you don't already know where to look and how to interpret it, you're locked out.
What BlazingStar Actually Does
Concrete capabilities, not buzzwords. Built by a former appropriations committee staffer and OMB official. We built this tool for ourselves and are excited to share it with you.
The Chain of Custody
Follow the money from the bill that appropriated it, through the apportionment that released it, to the SF-133 that tracked it, to the awards it funded, where agencies report that link. One account, four views. Start at the beginning or the end. We link it together to meet you where you're at.
Years of History
Execution data from FY2019 through FY2026, and enacted appropriations acts from FY2022 on, including all 12 regular FY2026 bills. See how much of an account is still unobligated compared with the same point in each of the last three years. Follow an account across fiscal years and see patterns that don't show up in a single month or quarter.
Apportionment Intelligence
Know when funds get apportioned, reapportioned, or restricted. See the footnotes that control spending, in every iteration OMB approves.
Apportioned and Executed
The apportionment says what OMB made available, and when. The SF-133 reports what happened. We put both on the same account page so you can read them together.
Take the Data With You
Export award search results and staffing tables to CSV. We're not precious about the data. Take it, analyze it, cite it. That's the point.
We built a tool for the people who work with federal budgets every day and the folks who wish they never had to.
Federal budget data belongs to the public. BlazingStar's job is to make it useful.
Ready to dig in?
Not ready to sign up? Start with the blog.
We publish free deep dives on how to read apportionments, SF-133 reports, and appropriations language. No paywall, no gated content. If you want to understand federal budget execution, we'll teach you—whether you become a customer or not. Read the blog at blog.blazingstaranalytics.com.
Our Commitment
We are committed to operating with the same transparency we advocate for in government. That means being clear about our data sources, methodology, and limitations. It means designing for privacy by default.
BlazingStar is not a replacement for official government reporting systems. We are a complementary tool that makes existing public data more accessible and actionable. We work alongside—not against—the dedicated public servants who manage federal budgets.
If you have questions about our platform, data sources, or approach, we encourage you to reach out. Federal budget transparency is a collective effort, and we're grateful to be part of it.
