FPDS Query Library
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Purchase Card as Payment Method Description

Human-readable description paired with the coded "Purchase Card as Payment Method" field in award contract data. It indicates the labeled value recorded for whether a purchase card was used as the payment method, rather than the code itself.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__contractData__purchaseCardAsPaymentMethod__description
Title
Purchase Card as Payment Method Description
FPDS Path
award/contractData/purchaseCardAsPaymentMethod/description
Description
Human-readable description paired with the coded "Purchase Card as Payment Method" field in award contract data. It indicates the labeled value recorded for whether a purchase card was used as the payment method, rather than the code itself.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts interpret procurement records where payment-method logic is stored as a code and the meaning may not be obvious from the raw value alone. It is useful for identifying card-based payments, validating award payment methods, and supporting spending, compliance, and card-use analyses.
Example Value
NO
Observed Non-Null Count
111,349,436

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building

Common Usage

  • Decoding the purchase-card payment indicator
  • Filtering awards paid by purchase card
  • Validating coded payment-method values

Common Mistakes

  • Using the description field alone as if it were the authoritative flag when the paired code field is available
  • Assuming nonstandard text values mean a new business concept instead of a label for the underlying coded indicator

Query Guidance

Use this field to label or decode the paired purchase-card indicator in SELECT statements, and join or filter on the underlying code field when available. For SQL, normalize values with UPPER/TRIM if needed, but rely on the paired code/description combination for reporting rather than the description text alone.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__contractData__purchaseCardAsPaymentMethod__description AS purchase_card_as_payment_method_description
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__contractData__purchaseCardAsPaymentMethod__description IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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