FPDS Query Library
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Contractor Name

Human-readable name of the contractor or vendor recorded as the award recipient in FPDS. This is the label associated with the awarded entity for the contract action, not a coded identifier.

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__vendor__contractorName
Title
Contractor Name
FPDS Path
award/vendor/contractorName
Description
Human-readable name of the contractor or vendor recorded as the award recipient in FPDS. This is the label associated with the awarded entity for the contract action, not a coded identifier.
Business Meaning
This field identifies who received federal procurement dollars and is essential for vendor-level spend analysis, award concentration review, competition oversight, and contractor performance tracking. It supports aggregation by supplier, market share assessment, and cross-award linking when paired with identifiers.
Example Value
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE
Observed Non-Null Count
43,243,132

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building
  • Contractor profiling and competitor analysis

Common Usage

  • grouping awards by contractor name
  • identifying top vendors and spend concentration
  • displaying award recipient names in reports

Common Mistakes

  • treating the name as a stable unique contractor identifier
  • assuming identical names always refer to the same legal entity

Query Guidance

Use in SELECT and GROUP BY for reporting, but avoid using it alone for joins or deduplication. For vendor analytics, normalize casing and spacing if needed, and combine with contractor identifiers or standardized vendor keys when available.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__vendor__contractorName AS contractor_name
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__vendor__contractorName IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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