In this article, we give an overview of our Contacts dataset.
Dataset Description
GovSpend endeavors to be the one-stop-shop for business card information for employees of public entities in the US. We attempt to obtain as much detail as the agency can provide including name, title, department, direct phone number, business cell phone number, email address and office address.
Data Sources/Collection Methods
Contact data is acquired two ways: through the public records requests and by employing automated data harvesting - or “scraping” - from government agencies.
Public records requests are made annually or bi-annually asking for a full roster of employees. Requests can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the agency and state regulations.
Data scrapers run on a more frequent cadence, often every 90 days. Once new sites are identified, we can normally extract the data and data elements we publish, then standardize the information, confirm the email address is valid and publish data within 24 hours.
Limitations are generally specific to public records and privacy laws by state. Legislation dictates what information can be disclosed publicly, the limitation on the use of data, and response time to inquiries.
Data Coverage & Refresh Rate
- 8.5 million contacts and growing – rapidly
- Data is updated or refreshed every 180 days
- High percentage coverage of Municipalities, Counties and K-12 School Districts
Contact Data Validation Process
Each contact file goes through a validation process. Once a file is received it is compared to the previous file for quality and quantity. From there, the file is run through the email validation process to confirm the email address is valid and active.