FPDS Query Library
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Last Name

Human-readable last name for the NASA alternate principal investigator named on the award record. This is a label field associated with the alternate principal investigator entity rather than a coded procurement attribute.

Family: Award
Category: General
Data Type: string
Semantic Type: label
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__agencySpecificAwardElements__NASASpecificAwardElements__alternatePrincipalInvestigator__lastName
Title
Last Name
FPDS Path
award/agencySpecificAwardElements/NASASpecificAwardElements/alternatePrincipalInvestigator/lastName
Description
Human-readable last name for the NASA alternate principal investigator named on the award record. This is a label field associated with the alternate principal investigator entity rather than a coded procurement attribute.
Business Meaning
This field helps identify the individual serving as the alternate principal investigator on NASA-related awards, supporting personnel tracing, award governance review, and relationship analysis across contracts and grants. It is useful when examining who is accountable for technical oversight or when linking award-level records to named personnel.
Example Value
_2124749677_MTQwMzA1
Observed Non-Null Count
13,692

FPDS Compare

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__agencySpecificAwardElements__NASASpecificAwardElements__alternatePrincipalInvestigator__lastName
FPDS XML Path
award/agencySpecificAwardElements/NASASpecificAwardElements/alternatePrincipalInvestigator/lastName
Mapping Type
flattened_fpds_xml_field
Comparison Summary
FPDS Query flattens the original nested FPDS XML path 'award/agencySpecificAwardElements/NASASpecificAwardElements/alternatePrincipalInvestigator/lastName' into the SQL-ready variable 'content__award__agencySpecificAwardElements__NASASpecificAwardElements__alternatePrincipalInvestigator__lastName'.

Use Cases

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

Common Usage

  • Identify the alternate principal investigator on NASA awards
  • Join or compare personnel names within award records
  • Review staffing patterns across NASA-funded actions

Common Mistakes

  • Assuming this is a unique person identifier
  • Using the value alone for exact matching without other name fields

Query Guidance

Use this field as a display or filtering attribute on NASA-specific award records, and combine it with other alternatePrincipalInvestigator name elements for better matching. In SQL, prefer case-insensitive comparisons and trim whitespace; do not treat it as a numeric or coded key unless validated by the source data.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__agencySpecificAwardElements__NASASpecificAwardElements__alternatePrincipalInvestigator__lastName AS last_name
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__agencySpecificAwardElements__NASASpecificAwardElements__alternatePrincipalInvestigator__lastName IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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