Verification status for a contract value

Contract values carry the same three-tier confidence label used across the rest of the index — Verified, Reported, and Estimated — but it's worth spelling out what each tier means specifically for a contract record.

Verified means the award value and dates come from an official contract announcement or a government award database entry. Reported means the value comes from credible press or industry coverage of the award, without a matching primary-source filing. Estimated means the figure is inferred — for example, a ceiling value reported at award time that hasn't been confirmed against actual obligated spend, or a value triangulated from partial public disclosures.

This matters most for IDIQ-style vehicles, where a large headline ceiling is frequently reported as if it were a firm award, when in practice only a fraction of that ceiling may ever be obligated through task orders.