FPDS has been the backbone of federal contract award data for decades. In 2026 GSA migrated FPDS reporting to SAM.gov and is decommissioning the legacy interface. This guide explains how to research government spending data using SAM.gov Data Bank, Contract Awards search, USAspending.gov, and the Contract Awards API. Learn filtering techniques, cross-validation workflows, and how to turn raw award data into actionable competitive intelligence for pricing and pipeline building.