FPDS Query Library
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Vendor Name

Human-readable vendor name recorded in the FPDS IDV vendor header. It is the label associated with the awardee or vendor entity in the record, typically used to identify the contractor in plain text.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__IDV__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorName
Title
Vendor Name
FPDS Path
IDV/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorName
Description
Human-readable vendor name recorded in the FPDS IDV vendor header. It is the label associated with the awardee or vendor entity in the record, typically used to identify the contractor in plain text.
Business Meaning
This field lets analysts identify which company or organization received the award and aggregate activity by vendor across IDVs. It is essential for vendor profiling, market share analysis, spend concentration reviews, and matching FPDS records to external company identifiers.
Example Value
MARVIN J PERRY INC
Observed Non-Null Count
4,756,589

FPDS Compare

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

  • grouping awards by vendor name
  • matching FPDS records to external vendor master data
  • reviewing award concentration by contractor

Common Mistakes

  • treating the name as a unique vendor identifier
  • assuming identical-looking names always represent the same legal entity

Query Guidance

Select and group on this field for vendor-level summaries, but normalize case and whitespace and use it alongside vendor IDs or other identifying fields when joining or deduplicating. Example: GROUP BY content__IDV__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorName; avoid using it as the only join key.

SQL Examples

Preview values

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

Top values

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