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Solicitation Procedures Description

Human-readable description paired with the coded Solicitation Procedures field in an award record. It states, in plain text, the procurement solicitation procedure used for the award, such as an abbreviated or standardized source label.

Family: Award
Category: Competition
Data Type: string
Semantic Type: description
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description
Title
Solicitation Procedures Description
FPDS Path
award/competition/solicitationProcedures/description
Description
Human-readable description paired with the coded Solicitation Procedures field in an award record. It states, in plain text, the procurement solicitation procedure used for the award, such as an abbreviated or standardized source label.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts interpret solicitation procedure codes and understand how the requirement was competed or solicited. It is useful for classifying procurement method, assessing competition patterns, and validating coded values against their narrative labels.
Example Value
ONLY ONE SOURCE
Observed Non-Null Count
98,270,351

FPDS Compare

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description
FPDS XML Path
award/competition/solicitationProcedures/description
Mapping Type
flattened_fpds_xml_field
Comparison Summary
FPDS Query flattens the original nested FPDS XML path 'award/competition/solicitationProcedures/description' into the SQL-ready variable 'content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description'.

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building
  • Competition and sole-source analysis

Common Usage

  • Interpret the coded solicitation procedures value
  • Group awards by solicitation method or competition path
  • Validate whether coded and descriptive fields align

Common Mistakes

  • Treating the description as a separate business attribute instead of the label for a code
  • Filtering on the text alone without checking the paired coded field

Query Guidance

Select this field alongside the paired solicitation procedures code when reviewing records. In SQL, use it for display, QA, or code-to-label joins, and filter or group on the underlying code when you need stable categorical analysis.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description AS solicitation_procedures_description
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

SELECT
    content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description AS value,
    count() AS record_count
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__competition__solicitationProcedures__description IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY value
ORDER BY record_count DESC
LIMIT 25

Each dictionary item includes SQL-ready examples generated alongside the variable metadata, allowing immediate use in FPDS Query for filtering, aggregation, and analysis.