FPDS Query Library
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Total Obligated Amount

Numeric amount the contract record reports as the total obligated dollars. It represents the cumulative obligated funding captured in the FPDS award record at the time of reporting.

Family: Award
Category: Total Dollar Values
Data Type: numeric
Semantic Type: financial
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount
Title
Total Obligated Amount
FPDS Path
award/totalDollarValues/totalObligatedAmount
Description
Numeric amount the contract record reports as the total obligated dollars. It represents the cumulative obligated funding captured in the FPDS award record at the time of reporting.
Business Meaning
This field is a core measure of federal spending at the award level and supports obligation-based analyses such as spend trends, agency portfolio sizing, vendor demand, and contract value comparisons. It is commonly used to quantify reported commitment of funds rather than ceiling, estimated value, or potential future funding.
Example Value
26189333200.33
Observed Non-Null Count
111,509,024

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building
  • Spending aggregation and trend analysis

Common Usage

  • Obligation totals by agency, vendor, or fiscal year
  • Award value ranking and market sizing
  • Filtering high-dollar awards for review or segmentation

Common Mistakes

  • Confusing obligated amount with ceiling, estimated value, or awarded amount
  • Summing multiple award versions or modifications without deduplication

Query Guidance

Use the field as a numeric measure in SELECT, SUM, AVG, and threshold filters, and group it only at the award grain or a deduplicated snapshot grain. Apply null handling and check for amendments or multiple reporting versions before aggregating; for SQL, prefer SUM(COALESCE(content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount,0)) with a clearly defined DISTINCT or latest-record logic when needed.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount AS total_obligated_amount
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Aggregate total

SELECT
    sum(content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount) AS total_value
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount IS NOT NULL

Distribution overview

SELECT
    min(content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount) AS min_value,
    avg(content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount) AS avg_value,
    max(content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount) AS max_value,
    count() AS record_count
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__totalDollarValues__totalObligatedAmount IS NOT NULL

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