FPDS Query Library
About Us
Contact Us

Reason for Modification Description

Human-readable text that explains why the contract was modified. It is the descriptive companion to the coded "Reason for Modification" value in the Other Transaction Award contract data.

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

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__contractData__reasonForModification__description
Title
Reason for Modification Description
FPDS Path
OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/contractData/reasonForModification/description
Description
Human-readable text that explains why the contract was modified. It is the descriptive companion to the coded "Reason for Modification" value in the Other Transaction Award contract data.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts interpret modification activity by translating abbreviated or coded modification reasons into plain language. It supports review of scope changes, supplemental agreements, administrative corrections, and other modification drivers in procurement oversight and trend analysis.
Example Value
SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT FOR WORK WITHIN SCOPE
Observed Non-Null Count
31,768

FPDS Compare

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

Use Cases

  • Dictionary lookup and field explanation
  • SQL filtering and grouping
  • Analytical reporting and reusable query building

Common Usage

  • Classify modification reasons for reporting and trend analysis
  • Validate coded modification reason values against displayed text
  • Identify scope changes versus administrative or funding-related modifications

Common Mistakes

  • Using the description alone as a normalized category without checking the paired code
  • Grouping records by exact text match when descriptions may vary slightly across records

Query Guidance

Select and group this field only when you need the readable reason text; for analysis, join or compare it to the paired reason-for-modification code and normalize values with CASE or lookup logic before aggregating.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__contractData__reasonForModification__description AS reason_for_modification_description
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__contractData__reasonForModification__description IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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