Connect USAspending to Copilot Studio
Query USAspending directly from Copilot Studio. Arlet links the two through one MCP connection and takes care of API keys.
This server connects your AI client to USAspending.gov, the US Treasury's official source for federal spending data. Every federal contract, grant, loan and direct payment above the reporting threshold is here, which makes it the practical starting point for US public-sector market research and counterparty due diligence.
Key features:
- search_awards: search awards by recipient company name, awarding agency, keyword and date range, choosing the award category (contracts, grants, direct payments, loans, other financial assistance, IDVs). Results come back sorted by award amount, largest first.
- summarize_spending: aggregate spending along a category axis - top recipients, awarding agencies, NAICS industry, product/service code, state, federal account, CFDA program - to answer 'who are the biggest vendors to this agency' or 'how is this company's federal revenue split by agency'.
- get_award: pull one award's full record: obligated and outlayed amounts, period of performance, recipient details and UEI, awarding and funding agencies, place of performance, competition and set-aside status, NAICS/PSC classification and subaward totals.
The recipient UEI returned by these tools is the same identifier SAM.gov uses, so results join cleanly with entity registration data.
No API key is needed. Note that the search endpoints only cover action dates from 2007-10-01 onward; older data is available through USAspending's bulk download features.
How to connect USAspending to Copilot Studio
- 1
In the Arlet dashboard, open Data tools, find USAspending and switch it on. No API key setup is needed.
- 2
Sign in to Copilot Studio with your work account, create a new agent (or open an existing one), and in the Build tab choose Tools → + → Add → Model Context Protocol (MCP) in the right panel.
- 3
In the Add MCP server form, enter "Arlet" as the Server name, https://mcp.arlet.dev/mcp/ as the Server URL, choose OAuth 2.0 for Authentication and "Dynamic (detected)" for Configuration type, then click Add. No Client ID / Secret is needed.
- 4
On the Select a connection screen, choose Create new connection → Create, then sign in with Google on the Arlet authorization screen and click Allow. Click Add to attach the tool to the agent, then Publish to use it from Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Requires a Microsoft work account and a Copilot Studio license (or trial). MCP is available only for agents using generative orchestration and not in Copilot Studio in Teams.