PublicPenny
A citizen-facing watchdog that tracks federal, state and local construction and renovation projects in one searchable feed, so taxpayers can see what was promised, what was delivered, and what it cost.
Civic-minded citizens and local journalists who want to follow how public construction dollars are being spent in their region
- Auto-ingested feed of public-project bid awards, change orders and inspection reports from FOIA portals and USAspending.gov
- Side-by-side comparison of originally promised budget and timeline versus the latest published figures
- Risk flags for projects showing common warning signs (cost >2x original budget, repeated contractor changes, peeling coatings, missed milestones)
- One-click 'contact my rep' drafts that pull your legislators' correct handles and summarize the project status
The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool story exemplifies a pattern — splashy government renovations that spiral in cost and quality — and civic accountability content is having a moment. Putting these scattered public-project data points into a single consumer dashboard addresses a recurring story arc.
Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool cost-overrun story is real and widely covered (BBC, ABC, The Hill, People, Elle Decor) showing $1.8M projected ballooning to ~$14M, but source trend is only ~200 Google searches and consumer-facing product demand is unproven.Trump Finishes $14M Reflecting Pool Renovation Here's the Before and After ↗Donald Trump work cost on Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool jumps by $11 million ↗
Adjacent space is crowded — USAspending.gov (official federal), OpenGov (B2B capital project PM), SamSearch (contractor-facing AI), CivicTrack (India), and Folio Projects Civic Dashboard (city-facing B2B). No dominant consumer/citizen watchdog exists, but the niche sits atop a saturated adjacent market.Government Spending Open Data | USAspending ↗Top 10 Websites to Find Government Contracts in 2026 ↗Capital Budget & Project Management | OpenGov ↗
Every comparable tool is either free government-built (USAspending) or B2B sold to agencies/contractors — no consumer subscription precedent; web search for willingness-to-pay on civic accountability journalism products returned zero results.Government Spending Open Data | USAspending ↗Top 10 Websites to Find Government Contracts in 2026 ↗
Public construction spending is permanent but news-cycle driven; the Lincoln Memorial hook will fade quickly and civic-tech consumer products historically suffer low retention once the triggering outrage fades.Lawsuit seeks to halt Trump's $13m makeover of Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool ↗Inside the $14 Million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Repaint Saga ↗
Federal data via USAspending is structured, but aggregating state and local construction/renovation feeds is a serious ETL challenge — formats vary widely, many jurisdictions still publish PDFs, and procurement IDs/schemas are not standardized across levels of government.Government Spending Open Data | USAspending ↗