FPDS Query Library
About Us
Contact Us

Commercial Item Acquisition Procedures

Indicates whether commercial item acquisition procedures were used for this IDV. In FPDS this is a boolean-or-code flag, so the stored value may reflect a coded indicator rather than a plain yes/no text field. The example value "A" suggests analysts should inspect observed values and any paired description logic in the source extract.

Family: IDV
Category: Competition
Data Type: boolean_or_code_flag
Semantic Type: flag
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures
Title
Commercial Item Acquisition Procedures
FPDS Path
IDV/competition/commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures
Description
Indicates whether commercial item acquisition procedures were used for this IDV. In FPDS this is a boolean-or-code flag, so the stored value may reflect a coded indicator rather than a plain yes/no text field. The example value "A" suggests analysts should inspect observed values and any paired description logic in the source extract.
Business Meaning
This field helps identify procurement actions that were structured under commercial item acquisition rules, which can affect regulatory treatment, competition strategy, pricing expectations, and compliance review. It is useful for segmenting IDVs into commercial versus non-commercial acquisition approaches when analyzing procurement policy usage and award patterns.
Example Value
A
Observed Non-Null Count
5,861,947

FPDS Compare

FPDS Query Variable
content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures
FPDS XML Path
IDV/competition/commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures
Mapping Type
flattened_fpds_xml_field
Comparison Summary
FPDS Query flattens the original nested FPDS XML path 'IDV/competition/commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures' into the SQL-ready variable 'content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures'.

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building
  • Competition and sole-source analysis

Common Usage

  • Filter IDVs that used commercial item acquisition procedures
  • Segment awards by commercial versus non-commercial acquisition method
  • Check compliance or policy usage rates across agencies or periods

Common Mistakes

  • Assuming the field is always a literal boolean true/false
  • Treating blank or null values as equivalent to no

Query Guidance

Use this field as a categorical filter after confirming the code set in your extract. In SQL, join or CASE-map the stored values to normalized labels, then filter on the normalized commercial-item indicator rather than the raw code when possible.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures AS commercial_item_acquisition_procedures
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Flag distribution

SELECT
    content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures AS flag_value,
    count() AS record_count
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__IDV__competition__commercialItemAcquisitionProcedures IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY flag_value
ORDER BY record_count DESC

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