FPDS Query Library
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Vendor Alternate Name

Stores the vendor’s alternate or trade name as recorded in the Other Transaction Award vendor header. It is a free-text label for the supplier identity when the legal or primary vendor name differs from the name used operationally or commercially.

Family: Other Transaction Award
Category: Vendor Header
Data Type: string
Semantic Type: label
Mapping: flattened_fpds_xml_field
AI Confidence: high

Variable Overview

FPDS Query Variable
content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorAlternateName
Title
Vendor Alternate Name
FPDS Path
OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorAlternateName
Description
Stores the vendor’s alternate or trade name as recorded in the Other Transaction Award vendor header. It is a free-text label for the supplier identity when the legal or primary vendor name differs from the name used operationally or commercially.
Business Meaning
This field helps analysts recognize vendors that appear under multiple names in procurement data, especially when awards are reported under a trade name, brand name, or abbreviated business name. It improves vendor matching, aggregation, and entity resolution across FPDS records, spend analyses, and portfolio reviews.
Example Value
NEXTFLEX
Observed Non-Null Count
17,107

FPDS Compare

FPDS Query Variable
content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorAlternateName
FPDS XML Path
OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorAlternateName
Mapping Type
flattened_fpds_xml_field
Comparison Summary
FPDS Query flattens the original nested FPDS XML path 'OtherTransactionAward/contractDetail/vendor/vendorHeader/vendorAlternateName' into the SQL-ready variable 'content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorAlternateName'.

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 name normalization and entity matching
  • identifying trade names used on awards
  • deduplicating spend across alternate vendor labels

Common Mistakes

  • using this field as the official legal vendor name
  • grouping vendors solely on alternate name without checking primary identifiers

Query Guidance

Use this field as a label in SELECTs and for grouping only after normalization; pair it with the main vendor name or vendor identifier in JOINs and CASE logic. In SQL, apply LOWER/TRIM and compare against other vendor-name fields to detect aliases, but do not assume one alternate name equals one unique vendor.

SQL Examples

Preview values

SELECT
    content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorAlternateName AS vendor_alternate_name
FROM fpds.data
WHERE content__OtherTransactionAward__contractDetail__vendor__vendorHeader__vendorAlternateName IS NOT NULL
LIMIT 25

Top values

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