FPDS Query Library
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Vendor Legal Organization Name

Human-readable legal name of the vendor organization recorded in the award. It identifies the entity as it appears in FPDS and is used as the label for the vendor record rather than a code.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__award__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorLegalOrganizationName
Title
Vendor Legal Organization Name
FPDS Path
award/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorLegalOrganizationName
Description
Human-readable legal name of the vendor organization recorded in the award. It identifies the entity as it appears in FPDS and is used as the label for the vendor record rather than a code.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts identify which legal entity received the award and distinguish vendors with similar names or multiple subsidiaries. It is useful for vendor profiling, spend concentration analysis, award tracking, and linking FPDS records to external entity lists or contract history.
Example Value
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
Observed Non-Null Count
31,943,511

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

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

Common Usage

  • Vendor spend and award concentration analysis
  • Entity matching and vendor profile review
  • Reporting award recipients in human-readable form

Common Mistakes

  • Treating the name as a unique identifier across all awards
  • Assuming exact string matches capture all records for the same vendor

Query Guidance

Select and group by this field only when you want readable vendor rollups; for analyst-grade aggregation, normalize case and whitespace and combine with vendor IDs where available. In SQL, use it for display, filtering, and joins only as a fallback when a more stable identifier is unavailable.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorLegalOrganizationName AS vendor_legal_organization_name
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorLegalOrganizationName IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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