Get to know SAM.gov

Who needs to register

If a business wants to apply for federal awards as a prime awardee, they will need a registration and allows a business: to bid on government contracts; and apply for federal assistance.

As part of the registration process, a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is assigned. Full registration requires more than just a UEI and has a 1-year expiration date from the date of account activation. If you allow your registration to expire, you will need to restart the process.

Note: If a business does not want to apply directly for awards, then it does not need to register. If only conducting certain types of transactions, such as reporting as a sub-awardee, only a UEI is needed.

How to register

To begin, set up a SAM.gov account. The username and password are managed by Login.gov, a shared service used by Government agencies to access applications across participating websites with one user credential. Login.gov will authenticate when signing in to SAM.gov.

For Canadian companies that have direct reporting divisions (established presence in the United States but owned by companies in Canada.), they may be certified as small. Or if a Canadian company bought an American company within the United States, a lot of times the parent company does not do what we call innovation of that company, so that the US government recognizes the parent company. We continue to do business with that other company, even though they are owned or a financially independent subsidiary of a major company. There’s that possibility that sometimes your company could be certified as a small business within the United States if you follow those things.

Once you’re signed in at Login.gov, you’ll be returned to SAM.gov to complete your profile. the following sections must be completed for “all awards” registrations:

1. Unique entity identifier (UEI)
2. Core Data
3. Assertions
4. Reps and Certs
5. Architect and Engineering Responses
6. Defense federal acquisition supplement (DFARS) questionnaire
7. Points of Contact (POCs)
8. SBA Supplemental Page (for small businesses only)

After selecting the purpose of the registration (All Awards) and the entity type, SAM requires the following information to obtain a UEI:

• Legal Business Name – Requires Company Name in the “REGISTERED NAME” field not just the “Doing Business As” Field. Ensure that your legal business name is the same on all the documents in which you present to prove that your company exists. “Doing Business As” usually doesn’t work unless “Doing Business As” is on everything.
• Physical Address (A Post Office box may not be used as the physical address)
• Date of Incorporation
• State of Incorporation (Entities outside the U.S. may need to provide alternate information)
• National Provider Identifier (NPI) (Non-U.S. entities only)

SAM.gov will validate the entity name and address. If SAM.gov cannot validate the entity, users can create a Help Ticket with the Federal Service Desk. A selection must also be made if the entity information will be visible in public search results.

Next complete the Core Data about your company which includes the following information:

• Business Information (Inception Date, Address, TIN, URL, etc.)
• IRS Consent Form
• CAGE (Commercial & Government Entity) Code: 5 character ID # assigned by the Defense Logistics Agency to identify vendors (If a firm does not have one, select “NO” and one is assigned after registration)
• Ownership Details (owned or controlled by another entity)
• Predecessor Details (Predecessor hold federal contract/grant in the last 3 years?)
• General Information (Country/State of Incorporation, Entity/Profit Structure, etc.)
• Financial Information (Accept Credit Cards, EFT, Automated Clearing House)
• Executive Compensation Questions (80%+ revenue federal sources, access to finance info of senior exec.)
• Proceedings Questions (FAR 52.209-7, FAR 52.209-9)

The SBA supplemental page has to do for U.S. small businesses only. Canadian companies are considered as a large business automatically.

For the Assertions section, provide the following information:

• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes (https://www.census.gov/naics/ )
• Product Service Codes (PSC) (optional) (https://www.acquisition.gov/content/product-and-service-code-manual)
• Organizational Size (Annual Receipts, # of Employees)
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
• Disaster Response Information

There are forty-two questions in the Reps and Certs (Representations and Certifications) section including:

• Name/Title person responsible for prices offered in company’s proposal
• Other Facilities used for performance on contract
• Following EPA guidelines
• Debarred, Suspended, Deemed Ineligible by any Federal Agency
• Convicted/Civil Judgment (Past 3 Years) – fraud, antitrust, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, etc.
• Delinquent Federal Taxes (Past 3 Years) – +$3,000, still unresolved
• Terminated for Cause (Past 3 Years)
• Small Business Concern
• EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) Reports
• Affirmative Action Programs
• Labor Standards
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure
• Section 889 Covered Telecommunications Equipment – “DOES NOT”

The Architect-Engineer Response section is only applicable if one of the following NAICS codes are selected:

• 541310 – Architectural Services
• 541320 – Landscape Architectural Services
• 541330 – Engineering Services
• 541360 – Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services
• 541370 – Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical)
• 541410 – Interior Design Services
• 541620 – Environmental Consulting Services

If one of the above NAICS codes applies, additional information is required to complete SF 330 Part II.

Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) section. is only applicable if an entity wishes to bid on or currently holds any Department of Defense (DoD) issued or DoD-funded contracts. Since can be much competition and the procurement cycle can be short, it is recommended that Canadian companies complete this section in advance of bidding so they are ready to respond to U.S. DoD tenders in a timely manner.

For the Points of Contacts (POC) section, contacts include:

• Accounts Receivable POC
• Electronic Business POC
• Electronic Business Alternate POC
• Government Business POC
• Government Business Alternate POC
• Past Performance POC
• Past Performance Alternate POC

It is recommended that people within the company are assigned as a company’s point of contact and that alternate POC are disclosed.

The SBA Supplemental Page is only applicable if at least one small business NAICS code is selected. Firms can provide additional information for market research and complete applications for SBA’s HUB zone or 8(a) programs.

The following are the notice types withing SAM.gov

If a user only wants to view opportunities, they do not need a SAM.gov account. However, if a non-U.S. government user wants to follow contract opportunities, save searches, view list of vendors interested in competing on an opportunity and request secure documents, they must register on SAM.gov.

To search for current opportunities in SAM.gov, select “Search” on the top menu.  From there, in the left menu click on “All Domains” under “Select Domain”. You will be able to choose between “Contract opportunities”, “Assistance Listings”, “Entity Information”, and more.

When searching for “Contract Opportunities”, enter your search word in the “Search” bar and filter by   “Federal Organizations”, “Dates”, “Notice Types” and more from the left hand navigation pane.

You can choose to follow an opportunity by selecting on the opportunity (listing) title and selecting the “Follow” button in the upper left corner. If enabled by the contracting officer (CO), you can also see the “Interested Vendor List” in the left hand navigation (SAM.gov account required).  

Transition from DUNS to UEI (April 4, 2022)

• DUNS Number has been removed from SAM.gov and replaced with the Unique Entity ID (UEI)
• Existing registered entities can view UEI in “Workspace” Tab by selecting “Entities” widget.

FAPIIS has moved to SAM.gov (December 12, 2022)

• Single access point for information about entity management, exclusions, responsibility, and qualification information.
• Agencies will continue to submit responsibility and qualification data through the FAPIIS Module in CPARS.
• The FAPIIS data in SAM.gov is named Responsibility/Qualification
• Before awarding a contract, federal Contracting Officers review the responsibility/qualification information.

Use SAM.gov self-help options – Search help articles to find answers to your questions or Explore a menu of our most popular help topics.

Ask the federal service desk (FSD) to get help with your account, resolve technical issues, create and manage help desk tickets or chat with a help desk agent.  Please do not contact FSD.gov about specific contracts, opportunities, or agency processes.