Federal award values and transactions
How to interpret award summaries, transactions, obligations, potential values, and transaction value fields in GovTribe federal award data.
Use value fields differently depending on whether the question is about an award-level record, a transaction-level event, or a potential contract limit. This guide applies to GovTribe federal contract awards, federal contract IDVs, federal grant awards, federal transactions, and federal sub-award records.
Quick model
| Concept | Meaning | Use when asking |
|---|---|---|
| Award summary | A rolled-up record for an award, IDV, or grant award. | What is the overall award or parent record? |
| Transaction | An action-level event beneath a federal award or IDV. | What changed, obligated, corrected, or modified value over time? |
| Obligation | Money the government has committed or de-obligated. | How much has been committed so far? |
| Potential value | A ceiling, base-and-options amount, or estimated limit. | How large could this contract or vehicle become? |
| Transaction value split | Federal and non-federal portions of a transaction value. | What part of this transaction is federal versus non-federal? |
Which field or type should I use?
| Question | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| How much has the government committed on an award or grant? | dollars_obligated on award-level records. | This is the summarized obligation signal GovTribe exposes on award records when available. |
| What happened on a specific modification or spending action? | Federal transaction records. | Transactions are action-level records and can show dates, modification numbers, reasons, and value splits. |
| What is the maximum potential size of a federal contract award or IDV? | ceiling_value on federal contract award or IDV records. | Ceiling value is a potential or maximum value, not the same as dollars obligated. |
| What is the total value reported on one transaction row? | total_value on federal transaction records. | This is transaction-level value, not an award-level ceiling. |
| How much of a transaction value is federal versus non-federal? | federal_value and non_federal_value on federal transaction records. | These split transaction value into federal and non-federal portions when the source reports them. |
GovTribe field mapping
| GovTribe field or data type | Meaning | Related attribute or data type |
|---|---|---|
dollars_obligated | Reported obligation amount on federal award-style records. | Dollars obligated |
ceiling_value | Potential maximum value on federal contract award and IDV records. | Ceiling value |
total_value | Transaction-level total value. | Total value |
federal_value | Federal portion of a transaction value. | Federal value |
non_federal_value | Non-federal portion of a transaction value. | Non-federal value |
| Federal transaction | Action-level contract or assistance transaction. | Federal transaction |
How to avoid double counting
- Use award records when the question is about current award-level history or a standard search result.
- Use transaction records when the question requires a time series, modification history, action date, reason for modification, or obligation movement.
- Do not add award-level
dollars_obligatedto transaction-level values for the same award unless you have deliberately designed a reconciliation workflow. - Treat
ceiling_valueas potential value. It can be much larger than obligated dollars and should not be used as committed spending. - Treat sub-awards as separately reported downstream activity, not as another transaction layer on the prime award.
Official source notes
- USAspending Federal Spending Guide distinguishes prime awards, sub-awards, prime award transactions, prime award summaries, obligations, and outlays.
- SAM.gov Contract Award Data is the federal contract award source GovTribe uses for contract award and IDV records.
- FAR 4.601 defines contract actions and contract action reports for FPDS reporting context.
- FAR 4.605 covers FPDS reporting identifiers and award reporting procedures.
Related articles
- Federal contract data model: Understand how awards, IDVs, vehicles, transactions, and sub-awards fit together.
- Federal grant data model: Understand how grant opportunities, programs, awards, transactions, and sub-awards fit together.
- Federal transaction: Review action-level transaction records.
- Dollars obligated attribute: Review the shared obligation value attribute.
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