FPDS Query Library
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Vendor Name

Human-readable name of the awarded vendor recorded in the FPDS award vendor header. It is the label associated with the vendor entity in the award record and identifies the contractor or grantee by name rather than by 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__vendorName
Title
Vendor Name
FPDS Path
award/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorName
Description
Human-readable name of the awarded vendor recorded in the FPDS award vendor header. It is the label associated with the vendor entity in the award record and identifies the contractor or grantee by name rather than by code.
Business Meaning
This field supports vendor identification, market share analysis, obligation concentration reviews, and contractor profiling across awards. It is essential for linking awards to known suppliers, assessing award volume by vendor, and validating whether obligations are flowing to the intended entity.
Example Value
BURNS & ROE INC
Observed Non-Null Count
108,457,309

FPDS Compare

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

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-level spend summaries
  • award search and reporting
  • crosswalking records to contractor entities

Common Mistakes

  • treating the name as a stable unique key
  • assuming different spellings always represent different vendors

Query Guidance

Select and group by this field for readable vendor rollups, but join and deduplicate using vendor identifiers when available. In SQL, normalize case and punctuation only for reporting or fuzzy matching, not for authoritative entity matching.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__award__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorName AS vendor_name
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__award__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorName IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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