CAGE Code

Government contracting can be profitable, but it’s not always easy to wade through the mire of government-speak and fully understand the rules, regulations and registration instructions. If you’ve been struggling with SAM.gov, you’re not alone, but there is help available.

If you are reading this, you probably already know that registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) is the first step you take as a new government contractor. You probably also know that after a few minutes on the SAM.gov website that this registration process may be free, but it’s definitely not easy.

The folks at SAM.gov constantly stress that it’s free to register, but, of course, they won’t tell you that it actually does cost you something. It can take 15 to 20 hours to complete the registration process, so while they don’t charge you a fee, you will pay the cost of your valuable time. Additionally, it’s not just taking up time, it’s also a frustrating process, forcing you to stop every few minutes and find a set of Frequently Asked Questions or perhaps a video tutorial to help you understand each specific section of the application.

The easiest solution would be to hire a third-party registration service, such as Federal Contractor Registry. We do charge for our services, but it’s much like paying an accountant to handle your yearly taxes. An accountant understands all the details and updates to the U.S. tax codes, and we fully understand every part of the SAM registration process.

What We Need From You

Before you contact us gather together some preliminary information, including your DUNS number, your bank account number and bank routing number, your business’s taxpayer ID number and be prepared to give us a description of your business, the number of employees and what services or products you provide.

If you do not yet have a DUNS, which stands for Data Universal Numbering System, just head to the Dun & Bradstreet website and apply for one. This is a free service, and it takes about five minutes to apply for a DUNS. It does take about two business days for you to receive the number, but once you have it as well as the aforementioned information, you can give us a call and we’ll get started on your SAM registration.

The Notarized Letter Requirement

While we are handling your SAM.gov registration tasks, you have one step you will need to take on your own. In 2018, the government began requiring businesses to provide a notarized letter that signifies the name of the Entity Administrator for your SAM account. This is the person that is authorized to update and make changes to your SAM account.

This is a new requirement, and it came about because the General Services Desk (GSA), which is the agency responsible for SAM, notice potentially fraudulent activity in SAM, so they now require the notarized letter to ensure that they have the name of the Entity Administrator.

You can find a template for this letter at SAM.gov, and we highly recommend that you complete this letter as soon as possible. We also recommend that you send the letter using certified mail so that you can track the letter’s arrival. The government will not send you any type of confirmation until they have reviewed the letter and either approved or rejected it. If it is rejected, they will tell you why it was not approved. We highly recommend that you follow the template exactly, so that no mistakes are made.

In the past, the government would not approve your SAM registration or provide you with a CAGE Code until the letter was approved. However, there was such a huge backlog of letters that no SAM registrations or renewals were being approved. This was frustrating for those new to SAM, but it was extremely costly to those who were waiting on renewal, particularly if they had active government contracts. Without a current SAM registration, the government cannot do business with you, even if you already are in the middle of a contract.

Obviously, this didn’t work, and many contractors were losing money, not to mention the project delays. Subsequently, the GSA decided to continue requiring the letter, but they no longer require it before issuing a CAGE Code to first-timers or before approving a SAM renewal. If your head is spinning, you are not alone. Learning how to do business with the government and dealing the ins and outs of SAM.gov can be tricky. If you are feeling overwhelmed, contact us today and we can handle your initial SAM registration as well as SAM renewals.

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While every industry has its own unique jargon, if you’ve spent most of your life in the private sector but now wish to delve into government contracting, you will learning a whole new language, which we like to call “acronym-speak.” For instance, you might hear someone say, “I got my SAM, MPIN and CAGE, now I am applying at DHS, DOD and DOL.” For newbies, this can be quite confusing, so here’s a quick look at some of the acronyms you probably need to know.

SAM
This acronym stands for System for Award Management. It is a system, or rather a database, that includes all of the contractors available for government contract jobs. Various government agencies will search through this system in order to “award” these contractors with jobs. If you are not registered with SAM, you cannot bid on government contracts.

SAM & MPIN
When you register with SAM, MPIN follows. The MPIN (Marketing Partner ID Number) is a special code that you will use in order to access different government agencies and websites in order to search for contracting jobs. Everyone who registers with SAM will receive an MPIN.

SAM & CAGE
Along with SAM & MPIN, you also need to understand CAGE codes. CAGE stands for Commercial and Government Entity Code. This is the code that identifies you or your business. The MPIN is like a password for your access to government websites, while your CAGE code is like an ID number, a bit like your social security number or driver’s license number.

DUNS
Before you deal with SAM, MPIN and CAGE, you must first attain your DUNS number, or Data Universal Numbering System number. This is a unique number given to a business by Dun & Bradstreet, and government entities as well as other businesses can learn more about your company’s financial stability by searching for this number. In order to complete SAM registration, you must have a DUNS number, and registration for this number is free and takes just a few minutes.

EIN & FEIN & TIN
In addition to securing your DUNS number, you also need to know your Employer Identification Number, which is sometimes called the Federal Employer Identification Number. This also can be interchangeable with TIN or Taxpayer Identification Number. Each business has a unique number, but if you are applying as an individual, you can use your SSN (Social Security Number). Many people don’t wish to use their SSN, and you can contact the IRS and ask for a free EIN. This does take about two weeks to receive from the IRS, so keep this in mind and apply for it well ahead of the time when you want to complete SAM registration.

SBA
If you are a small business, you definitely will want to take advantage of the information and services provided by the Small Business Administration, or SBA. This entity has a website filled with helpful tips for small businesses, including information about government contracting and grants.

NAICS
Before there was NAICS, there was the SIC, which was created by the ECPC, and then changed under the guise of the OMB. While this probably means nothing to you now, it actually is something that will come into play during SAM registration. NAICS stands for North American Industry Classification System. Originally this system was known as the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. It was developed by representatives from the United States (via the U.S. Economic Classification Policy Committee/ECPC), Mexico and Canada.

Eventually, this system was updated from SIC to NAICS, and these updates were handled by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as well as representatives from Mexico and Canada. NAICS classifies all types of businesses, and also gathers pertinent information and statistics about these businesses, throughout North America. You can download the NAICS manual, which contains nearly 1,000 pages, classifying just about any type of business you can imagine. For instance, if you run a business that provides automotive glass replacement, your NAICS code will be 811122. This information will be one of the many bits of information needed to complete SAM registration.

Government Agencies
Because government agencies typically seem to have long names, using acronyms can make it easier and just about everyone involved in government contracting will use these acronyms. For instance, rather than saying Department of Defense or Department of Justice, most people will simply refer to these agencies as DOD or DOJ. With agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it’s just faster to say FEMA than to repeat the long name. Just about every government agency will need to hire contractors from time to time, so it can be a good idea to learn about some of these agencies and the types of contracting jobs they might need.

While you’ve no doubt heard of FEMA, DOJ and DOD, there are so many agencies with which you’ve had no experience. For instance, have you heard of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) or perhaps the Office of Planetary Protection, which is now the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA)? There are hundreds of agencies, and you never know which obscure government agency might want to hire you.

While it might seem counter-productive to have so many systems and acronyms, learning a few of the most important acronyms can make government contracting a bit easier. When it comes to SAM, MPIN and CAGE codes, we can help you complete the SAM registration process and attain your MPIN and CAGE code. SAM registration can be very complicated and extremely time consuming, but we can take this weighty task off of your to-do list.

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If you are new to government contracting, one of the very first steps you have to take is to complete your System for Award Management (SAM) registration. While you certainly can tackle this process yourself for no cost at www.Sam.Gov, we highly recommend that you consider using our services instead. If you are wondering why you should pay a third party to help with SAM registration, the following reasons might convince you.

1. WWW.Sam.Gov Can Be A Confusing Website
If you’ve ever applied for any type of service or benefit from the federal government, then you probably already understand how confusing a government website can be. In order to complete SAM registration, you need to learn about items such as CAGE codes or NCAGE codes if you are a foreign registrant, as well as acronyms such as MPIN, PSCs, FAR or DFARS, POCs and much more.

If your head is not yet spinning, it will be by the time you finish reading the government’s “helpful” Quick Guide for Contract Registrations. While the government truly does want businesses to take advantage of the many available contracting opportunities, there are so many different terms and organizations one must learn about, that it quickly can become confusing to know precisely what information you need to provide for SAM registration.

2. The Registration Process Can Take Two Full Working Days To Complete
In order to begin the process of bidding on government contracts, you can head to www.Sam.Gov and create a user account. Creating a user account might seem simple enough; after all, it’s just creating a username and password, right? Not quite. This is just the beginning of a lengthy registration process.

First you must select an account type, either an individual account or a system account. But which one do you need? In order to decide which option to select, you must read through the list of choices, decipher what these choices entail and select the right option.

After you’ve figured out this information, creating the user account takes just a few minutes where you provide contact information (both email and phone), inform the system whether you prefer email or phone correspondence and why. They actually do ask you why you prefer phone contact over email contact or vice-versa. Then you must create a username and password and provide the answer to security questions such as “What is the name of your first stuffed animal?” Or perhaps, “Who was the first person you kissed.” At this point, you will be able to create your user account.

That’s where the real fun begins. Once you have confirmation that your account has been created, you can log into the system Of course, you also have to have a DUNS number, a taxpayer ID number and the routing and account numbers from your bank account. This is the minimum amount of information you will need before filling out the form. During the actual application process, you will need to provide information such as your NAICS (North American Industry Classification) codes, decide whether or not you want to opt in for a public search, complete a SBA (Small Business Profile) for the SBA Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) if you are a small business and so on. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

While there are plenty of free resources and even YouTube videos to help you through the process, it can take 15 hours or more to do the research and fill out your SAM registration via www.Sam.Gov. For many people, this is a chunk of time that they simply cannot spare. You are busy running your business and probably don’t have 15 extra hours to spend filling out a complicated registration form. Therefore, it just makes sense to hire an experienced third-party registration service to complete this lengthy task for you.

3. You Have A Solid Alternative
At Federal Contractor Registry, we’ve been helping companies and individuals complete SAM registration for many years. Obviously, as a third-party service, we do charge a fee, but we already are completely familiar with the process of applying for government contacts and understand all of the acronyms and nuances of the SAM registration process.

We have many clients that begin the process themselves on www.Sam.gov only to become frustrated and consider giving up. Once you are past this hurdle, you can begin bidding on contracts, but the process itself is so time-consuming and overwhelming, it can be a huge deterrent.

If you are frustrated with www.Sam.Gov and the SAM registration process, just give us a call or fill out our quick contact form and one of our agents will contact you as soon as possible. We can answer any questions you might have, as well as completing the entire SAM registration process for you. Government contracting can be profitable and rewarding, so take the plunge and give Federal Contractor Registry a call today.

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