Where the data comes from

Every lane on awardlanes is copied from USDA's own award files and links to the page it came from. Here is each record we read, how often we read it, what it proves and what it doesn't.

Lanes with deliveries still due: 7,982
USDA award notices behind them: 94
Contracts: 426
Random lanes rebuilt from USDA's files: 30 of 30

Snapshot as of Nov 7, 2026. USDA files fetched Nov 7, 2026. Covers the 48 contiguous states and DC (49 territories).

How a lane is built

Award notice

We read each line of USDA's award notice: vendor, plant, destination, quantity, unit price, contract number and award date.
Bid Array

USDA's second file must agree line by line on the item, destination, vendor, plant, quantity and price. If it disagrees, the lane is left out.
Solicitation

The "Required by" period of each line gives the delivery window. Lanes whose window ended before the snapshot date are never listed.
USAspending

The exact contract number gives the vendor's federal ID and shows whether the contract was changed or cut after award.

No AI model writes or estimates any value. The sentence on each lane is a fixed template, and every slot is copied from a record field. If a slot can't be filled safely, the lane is listed without a sentence.

Every lane is re-read before it's listed. The engine opens the raw USDA files again: each file's fingerprint (sha256) must match the one we recorded, and every printed quantity and price must be on the cited page. As of Nov 7, 2026, 0 of 8,355 findings failed this check.

The records we read

All are public records. Works of the US government have no copyright, and we cite USDA; we are not USDA.

USDA award notice (Purchase Award, PCA)

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), on its WBSCM procurement portal

portal.wbscm.usda.gov/ppp/doc/Solicitation/<PII>/<PII>-PCA.pdf

We read it: Every week.
They update it: Posted on the award date or within a few days.
In this snapshot: Newest award notice fetched Nov 7, 2026

What it proves

That USDA awarded the vendor these lines: contract number, award date, plant location, destination, quantity and unit price.
Sometimes also that the food was bought "f.o.b. destination" (the vendor delivers at its own expense). We say so only when the notice says it for that commodity: 5,674 of 8,355 listed findings (68%) as of Nov 7, 2026.

What it does not prove

That a load is ready to move, or that the vendor is looking for a carrier.
That the vendor ships from that plant. For fresh produce the printed plant is sometimes the vendor's office; we flag that and don't call it a plant.
That the unit price is freight. It is a delivered food price.

Source: USDA WBSCM public procurement portal; USDA AMS Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurement (MSCP-D, Sep 18, 2025)

USDA Bid Array report (.xls)

USDA AMS, in the same portal folder as the award notice

portal.wbscm.usda.gov/ppp/doc/Solicitation/<PII>/…Bid Array….xls

We read it: Every week.
They update it: Usually posted with the award notice or soon after.
In this snapshot: Bid Arrays fetched Nov 7, 2026

What it proves

A second USDA file for each line: plant name, destination, awarded quantity, price and number of bids.
It agrees with the award notice on 8,197 of 8,355 listed findings (98%) as of Nov 7, 2026. The rest have no usable Bid Array (none posted, or one without destinations), so they rest on the award notice alone and are ranked lower.

What it does not prove

The legal award: the award notice wins. A Bid Array is USDA's optimisation run, so when the two files disagree we leave the lane out instead of guessing.

Source: USDA WBSCM public procurement portal

USDA solicitation (bid invitation item details)

USDA AMS, in the same portal folder

portal.wbscm.usda.gov/ppp/doc/Solicitation/<PII>/<PII>.pdf

We read it: Once per award.
They update it: Published before the award.

What it proves

Each line's "Required by" delivery period, which sets the lane's delivery window.
Multi-stop LOTs: several drops on one delivery, each listed with its city.

What it does not prove

A pickup date or an unloading appointment.
That a delivery hasn't already happened. Early delivery is allowed when the recipient agrees ("The Contractor may deliver early if the recipient agency agrees to accept early delivery", MSCP-D clause 452.211-75(d)).

Source: USDA WBSCM public procurement portal; USDA AMS Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurement (MSCP-D, Sep 18, 2025)

USDA WBSCM public procurement listing

USDA AMS

portal.wbscm.usda.gov/ppp?solNo=<number>

We read it: Every week, one request.
They update it: Updated as awards are posted. Its history starts in September 2025.
In this snapshot: Listing fetched Nov 7, 2026

What it proves

Which awards exist, with links to each award's documents.

What it does not prove

Awards before September 2025: the portal's search doesn't reach them.
Awards that are listed without an award notice.

Source: USDA WBSCM public procurement portal

USAspending.gov award records

US Department of the Treasury

api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_<contract>…

We read it: Every week.
They update it: New contract data is loaded nightly.
In this snapshot: Fetched Nov 7, 2026; USAspending last updated Nov 6, 2026

What it proves

The vendor's federal ID (UEI), legal name and registered address, matched on the exact contract number.
Whether the contract was modified after award, or cut back.

What it does not prove

The plant or the destinations.
What was delivered. Many contracts are modified after award, so we label those quantities "as awarded", and we leave out lanes whose contract value moved by more than 10%.

Source: USAspending.gov

FMCSA operating authority and Company Census

US DOT Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, on data.transportation.gov

Motus inys-ebih · L&I 6eyk-hxee · Census az4n-8mr2

We read it: Every week.
They update it: Motus is reloaded daily. The older L&I file was frozen on May 14, 2026.
In this snapshot: Motus load used Nov 7, 2026

What it proves

Your office state when you type an MC or USDOT number, so we can show your states.

What it does not prove

That a broker's authority is active today when only the frozen L&I file lists it. We show the "as of" date instead.

Source: FMCSA Motus Carrier, All With History (inys-ebih); FMCSA Carrier, All With History, legacy L&I (6eyk-hxee); FMCSA Company Census File (az4n-8mr2)

US Census Bureau Gazetteer and ZIP code (ZCTA) files

US Census Bureau

www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/

We read it: Yearly.
They update it: The Gazetteer is yearly; the ZIP code areas come from the 2020 census.

What it proves

That a printed plant city is a real place in that state.
Which state a ZIP code is in, when you type one.

What it does not prove

Spelling. We print USDA's spelling as written, for example "Councill Bluffs, IA".

Source: US Census Bureau Gazetteer files; US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA to county relationship file

One lane, field by field

Each value on a lane comes from a named record, and each lane links to that record. Here is a current Texas lane from the same data the app shows, with the record behind each value.

The top-ranked Texas lane, as the engine wrote it.

Loading a current Texas lane…

Vendor

Contractor name printed on the award notice.

Plant

Plant Location on the award notice, matched to the plant name in the Bid Array.

Destination

Each award line's destination on the award notice, matched to the Bid Array row.

Commodity and quantity

Item description and each line's quantity on the award notice.

Delivery window

The "Required by" period of each line in the solicitation.

Contract and award date

Header of the award notice, and USDA's portal listing.

Who pays the freight

The award notice's own f.o.b. sentence, only when it states one.

Vendor's federal ID

USAspending's record for the exact contract number.

Open the Texas sample in the app

A separate check: 30 of 30 matched

30 of 30

random lanes rebuilt from USDA's files on Nov 6, 2026

A separate check, run outside our pipeline, drew 30 findings at random from test territories (Texas; Georgia and Florida; Michigan, Ohio and Indiana), from every listed finding, not just the top of the list. It downloaded every cited file again from the USDA portal and USAspending and rebuilt each finding with its own code, which shares nothing with our pipeline.

All 30 reproduced, value for value. None was false.

What was compared, for each lane

Award notice: award date, contractor name and plant location under that contract number.
Every line's destination, quantity, unit and unit price, including prices that wrap onto the next page.
Line count, quantity total and the f.o.b. destination sentence.
Bid Array: the awarded row for each item, with its destination, plant, price and quantity.
Solicitation: each line's "Required by" period and multi-stop LOT, and from those the window and the lane's kind.
USAspending: contract number, the vendor's federal ID and name, and the obligated amount.

Every week, before anything is published

Each lane is re-read against the raw USDA files (above): 0 of 8,355 findings failed as of Nov 7, 2026.
The snapshot is published only when every automated check passes: 381 checks with 0 failures this week, including 178 golden cases. A golden case is a value already confirmed against the USDA record, kept and replayed on every run.
Every lane has a "Wrong record?" button. A confirmed report becomes a new golden case, so the weekly run stops if the same mistake comes back.

What's covered, and what's left out

Covered

Domestic USDA food purchases (AMS office 3J14). Export (international) awards are left out.
Plants and destinations in the 48 contiguous states and DC.
Award notices posted since September 2025, when the portal's history starts.
Lanes with deliveries still due: at least one line's "Required by" period ends on or after the snapshot date (Nov 7, 2026).

Left out, never guessed

USDA's two files (award notice and Bid Array) disagree on the line.
USAspending shows the contract value moved by more than 10%, or was cut back to zero.
The plant and the destination are the same city.
The destination is an ocean shipping code rather than a city, or is outside the 48 contiguous states and DC (Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska).
The plant has no state printed, so we would have to guess it.

In Texas as of Nov 7, 2026, these rules left out 33 lanes and kept 920. The app shows the 920 as 862 lanes, because a lane split across several contracts is shown once.

Lanes by state as of Nov 7, 2026 (49 territories)

Lanes by state as of Nov 7, 2026
State	Lanes	Left out	Award notices
Alabama	314	5	44
Arizona	206	4	46
Arkansas	175	5	44
California	2,039	179	73
Colorado	279	13	58
Connecticut	71	1	34
Delaware	77	2	31
District of Columbia	43	2	30
Florida	747	13	67
Georgia	448	9	58
Idaho	173	1	32
Illinois	484	22	66
Indiana	416	6	47
Iowa	270	6	50
Kansas	232	5	30
Kentucky	213	7	46
Louisiana	408	6	52
Maine	101	3	38
Maryland	47	1	33
Massachusetts	195	9	56
Michigan	735	14	55
Minnesota	265	3	44
Mississippi	316	2	55
Missouri	343	6	57
Montana	49	1	31
Nebraska	332	4	35
Nevada	92	2	50
New Hampshire	52	2	28
New Jersey	404	9	58
New Mexico	69	3	42
New York	558	18	70
North Carolina	246	4	54
North Dakota	271	5	25
Ohio	575	7	64
Oklahoma	197	3	48
Oregon	113	3	52
Pennsylvania	740	7	61
Rhode Island	54	2	28
South Carolina	238	7	52
South Dakota	42	1	24
Tennessee	362	5	52
Texas	862	33	77
Utah	147	9	37
Vermont	18	1	18
Virginia	244	4	60
Washington	338	7	55
West Virginia	83	3	39
Wisconsin	311	8	58
Wyoming	14	0	12

A lane counts in a state when its plant or any destination is there, so one lane can count in two states. "Left out" counts the lanes our rules dropped in that state; "Award notices" counts the USDA notices behind that state's lanes.

Questions about the data

Where does the data come from?

USDA's own files: the award notice (PCA), the Bid Array spreadsheet and the solicitation, all from portal.wbscm.usda.gov. USAspending.gov supplies the vendor's federal ID. FMCSA supplies your office state when you type an MC number.

How accurate is it?

Every value is copied from a USDA or USAspending record field; no AI model writes or estimates a number. Before a lane is listed, we re-read the raw USDA files and check the file fingerprints and the printed values: 0 of 8,355 findings failed as of Nov 7, 2026. A separate check on Nov 6, 2026, with code that shares nothing with our engine, downloaded the USDA and USAspending files again and rebuilt 30 random findings; 30 of 30 matched.

Is an award a load I can book?

No. An award is USDA's contract with a food vendor, not a tender. The vendor may already have a carrier, and USDA can change or cut a contract. We leave out lanes whose contract value moved by more than 10%.

How fresh is it?

We read the USDA portal every week and publish a dated snapshot. This one is as of Nov 7, 2026; USDA's files were fetched Nov 7, 2026. USDA posts awards in bursts: 43 of the last 52 weeks had at least one new award.

Which areas do you cover?

The 48 contiguous states and DC. Lanes to or from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Hawaii and Alaska are left out, as are export awards. A plan covers up to 3 states; a lane counts when its plant or any destination is in them.

Check it on your own states

Open a sample, click any lane's USDA link, and compare it with the record yourself.

Open a sample (Texas) Start free trial 14-day free trial, no card

Sources for this page

USDA WBSCM public procurement portal
USDA AMS Master Solicitation for Commodity Procurement (MSCP-D, Sep 18, 2025)
USAspending.gov
FMCSA Motus Carrier, All With History (inys-ebih)
FMCSA Carrier, All With History, legacy L&I (6eyk-hxee)
FMCSA Company Census File (az4n-8mr2)
US Census Bureau Gazetteer files
US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA to county relationship file
US copyright law, 17 U.S.C. §105 (works of the US government): law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105
Numbers on this page: the awardlanes engine snapshot as of Nov 7, 2026, published after its checks ran on Nov 8, 2026.
The separate check of Nov 6, 2026, with code that shares nothing with our engine: 30 of 30 sampled findings reproduced.