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Interagency Contracting Authority Description

Human-readable description for the award-level interagency contracting authority value. This field explains the coded or selected authority in plain language, such as "NOT APPLICABLE," rather than storing the underlying code itself.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__legislativeMandates__interagencyContractingAuthority__description
Title
Interagency Contracting Authority Description
FPDS Path
award/legislativeMandates/interagencyContractingAuthority/description
Description
Human-readable description for the award-level interagency contracting authority value. This field explains the coded or selected authority in plain language, such as "NOT APPLICABLE," rather than storing the underlying code itself.
Business Meaning
This field helps procurement analysts interpret whether and how an award used interagency contracting authority, which can affect compliance review, sourcing analysis, and oversight of assisted acquisitions or interagency buys. It supports accurate reporting by translating coded procurement data into readable labels.
Example Value
NOT APPLICABLE
Observed Non-Null Count
111,317,387

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

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

Common Usage

  • Translate interagency authority codes into readable output for reports
  • Validate whether an award used an interagency contracting mechanism
  • Support joins or display logic alongside the paired coded authority field

Common Mistakes

  • Filtering on the description text as if it were the underlying code
  • Assuming the description is always standardized across records or time periods

Query Guidance

Use this field for display, validation, and descriptive grouping only. In SQL, prefer joining or filtering on the paired code field when available, and use this description field to label results or to inspect distinct observed values such as 'NOT APPLICABLE' before normalizing categories.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__legislativeMandates__interagencyContractingAuthority__description AS interagency_contracting_authority_description
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__legislativeMandates__interagencyContractingAuthority__description IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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