FPDS Query Library
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Statutory Exception to Fair Opportunity

Human-readable value recorded for the statutory exception to fair opportunity on an award. It identifies the exception or condition used when full fair-opportunity competition was not provided under the procurement record.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__competition__statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity
Title
Statutory Exception to Fair Opportunity
FPDS Path
award/competition/statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity
Description
Human-readable value recorded for the statutory exception to fair opportunity on an award. It identifies the exception or condition used when full fair-opportunity competition was not provided under the procurement record.
Business Meaning
This field is important for measuring noncompetitive or limited-competition awards and for explaining why an order or task was not broadly competed. It supports compliance, competition, and sourcing analysis by showing the recorded statutory basis for bypassing fair opportunity.
Example Value
FAIR
Observed Non-Null Count
16,410,900

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

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

Common Usage

  • Identify awards using a statutory exception to fair opportunity
  • Group obligations by exception type for competition reporting
  • Review noncompetitive sourcing patterns across agencies or contracts

Common Mistakes

  • Using the text label as if it were the underlying statutory citation
  • Counting missing or blank values as evidence of full competition

Query Guidance

Use this field as a filter or grouping dimension after normalizing the text values, and join or compare it to any companion code field when available. In SQL, account for case differences, nulls, and variant labels; do not rely on exact string matching alone unless the data has been standardized.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__competition__statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity AS statutory_exception_to_fair_opportunity
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__competition__statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

SELECT
    content__award__competition__statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity AS value,
    count() AS record_count
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__competition__statutoryExceptionToFairOpportunity 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.