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Solicitation Procedures Description

Human-readable text that describes the solicitation procedures used for the award. It is the descriptive companion to the coded 'Solicitation Procedures' field and is intended to spell out the procedure in plain language.

Family: Other Transaction Award
Category: Competition
Data Type: string
Semantic Type: description
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__competition__solicitationProcedures__description
Title
Solicitation Procedures Description
FPDS Path
OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/competition/solicitationProcedures/description
Description
Human-readable text that describes the solicitation procedures used for the award. It is the descriptive companion to the coded 'Solicitation Procedures' field and is intended to spell out the procedure in plain language.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts interpret competition and solicitation approach without depending only on source codes or abbreviated values. It is useful for assessing how an opportunity was solicited, comparing procurement methods across awards, and validating whether the recorded procedure aligns with the reported acquisition strategy.
Example Value
PROGRAM SOLICITATION
Observed Non-Null Count
38,894

FPDS Compare

FPDS Query Variable
content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__competition__solicitationProcedures__description
FPDS XML Path
OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/competition/solicitationProcedures/description
Mapping Type
flattened_fpds_xml_field
Comparison Summary
FPDS Query flattens the original nested FPDS XML path 'OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/competition/solicitationProcedures/description' into the SQL-ready variable 'content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__competition__solicitationProcedures__description'.

Use Cases

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

Common Usage

  • Decode the solicitation procedure recorded for an award
  • Group awards by solicitation approach in descriptive reporting
  • Validate coded competition data against the text label

Common Mistakes

  • Using the description as if it were the authoritative code
  • Assuming text values are standardized across agencies or reporting systems

Query Guidance

Select this field alongside the paired solicitation procedure code when available, and use it for human-readable reporting, filtering, or validation. In SQL, avoid joining or grouping on this text alone if a normalized code field exists; instead, group on the code and display the description as the label.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__competition__solicitationProcedures__description AS solicitation_procedures_description
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__competition__solicitationProcedures__description IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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