Category: System for Award Management

In theory, if you want to bid on government contracting jobs, all you need to do is sign up with the System for Award Management (SAM). While we can help you with SAM registration, there are a few other tasks you need to handle to make it easier to find, bid on and win government contracts.

How Federal Contractor Registry Can Help
The government does not charge a fee for SAM registration, but the registration process is time-consuming (10+ hours) and complicated. Many potential contractors become frustrated with the process and give up on the idea of government contracting and that’s a shame because there are many lucrative contracts out there for just about any type of business.

Rather than try and navigate your way through the SAM registration process, you can simply hire Federal Contractor Registry to complete the application for you. We are a third-party registration service, and while we do charge a fee, we can complete your application quickly and accurately, so that you are approved and able to bid on contracts as soon as possible.

While we can handle all aspects of SAM registration, there are a few tasks that you will need to complete on your own, including the following:

1. Provide Us With The Required Information
In order to complete your SAM registration, you will need to provide us with the legal business name of your company as well as the physical address of the business, a PO Box will not suffice. Of course, we also will need a contact phone number and email address so that government procurement agents can contact you.

You also need to give us your DUNS number. This stands for Data Universal Numbering System. If you do not have a number or do not know your number, go to www.dnb.com. If you have a number already, you can look it up, and if you don’t, you can sign up and receive one at no cost. We also will need your Employer Identification Number, or EIN, which is listed on your federal tax forms.

We also will need to know a little bit about your business. For instance, we need to know how many employees you have and your gross annual receipts. We also need to know about the goods and services you provide so that we can determine your Product Service Codes (PSCs) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

Additionally, we will need your business bank account number and the routing number for your bank. This information is crucial because this is the account that federal agencies will deposit money into if you win and complete government contract jobs.

2. Send In Your Notarized Letter
The SAM notarized letter requirement is a fairly new development in the world of government contracting. In order to register with SAM, you need to send in a notarized letter that lists your Entity Administrator. This is simply the person that is allowed to make any changes in your SAM account. It might be the business owner or perhaps a trusted employee that will be handling your government contracting.

To obtain a template for this letter, go to FSD.gov. At the top of the page, you will see a tab that says, “Top Help Topics.” Under this tab, there is a section for SAM and the first topic is called “Tips for Notarized Letter.” If you select this option, you will be led to a question about the letter and under the answer, there is a link to the templates. We recommend that you copy the template exactly and follow the instructions carefully so that your letter will be approved and filed quickly.

In the past, you had to have this letter approved by the FSD (Federal Service Desk) before your SAM registration was approved. This is no longer the case, but you do have to send this letter in and have it approved in order to keep your SAM registration active.

3. Sign Up With The SBA, If Applicable
If you qualify as a small business, this can make it easier to win government contracts. In most cases, contracts valued at about $150,000 or less are set aside for small businesses. It might surprise you to learn how big a business actually can be and still qualify as a small business. In some cases, companies with hundreds of employees still qualify.

To check and see if you qualify, head to https://www.sba.gov/size-standards and use the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) size standards tool. You will need to know your NAICS codes, and you can either look them up at https://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ or we can determine these codes for you as we handle your SAM registration.

If you do qualify, you may qualify as more than just a general small business. There are many special categories, known as set asides, for which you may also be eligible. For instance, if the business is majority-owned by a woman or a veteran, these are two types of set asides.

You may also qualify for the 8(a) certification benefits. The 8(a) program was designed for small businesses that are majority-owned by a person who is part of a group that has been economically or socially disadvantaged. This might be because of race or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, physical handicap or other reasons.

Furthermore, if your business is located in a HUBZone, you may qualify for HUBZone set asides. This is an area that has been historically underutilized. It might be located in an inner-city or perhaps a rural area or on Native American lands. Sometimes areas damaged by natural disasters qualify as HUBZones as the government tries to bolster the economy in these areas. To check and see if your business is located in a HUBZone, go to https://maps.certify.sba.gov/hubzone/map#center=39.828200,-98.579500&zoom=5.

4. Create A Capability Statement
We tell people all the time that it’s important to craft a top-quality capability statement. This is a one-page (usually) document that basically acts just like a resume. Instead of representing a single person, the capability statement represents your business.

The capability statement will include contact information as well as general statistics about your company, including your NAICS codes, your DUNS, your PSCs and more. You also will have a section entitled Core Capabilities, which lists what goods and services you can provide to government agencies.

There will be a section entitled Past Performances, and this is a list of your previous clients. Another section, entitled Differentiators, is a section where you explain what sets your company apart from other companies. There are many examples of capability statements available on the internet, and while we work on your SAM registration, you can work on building this special type of government resume.

5. Educate Yourself About Bidding & Contracts
While SAM registration is complicated, it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to government contracting. We highly recommend that you spend some time learning about the different types of bids and the different types of contracts.

You could start by simply taking a look at what types of contracts currently are available for your goods or services. Do a quick check at Beta.SAM.gov. This is a database that lists all government contracts. You can search by agency or by date, but it’s often easiest to search using your NAICS codes or PSCs, which, again, we can figure out for you if you use our service for SAM registration.

In addition to looking at federal contracting jobs, every state has its own procurement system, and we highly recommend that you sign up with your state’s procurement database. You will need to complete SAM registration for state government work as state governments do ask for your CAGE Code when you register. The types of contracts and bids at the state level are similar to the federal government’s, so any knowledge you gain about contracting can help you win state or federal contracts.

Once you see the types of bids or contracts that meet your company’s goods and services, start researching how to bid. Some companies offer training courses, but state governments often can provide you with helpful materials and webinars to further your education. The SBA also has some helpful information for small businesses wishing to dive into government contracting.

Get Started With Government Contracting
If you would like to get started, simply head to our homepage and click on the green New Registration tab and fill out our quick contact form. A SAM registration specialist will be in contact with you as soon as possible to gather your information and get started on your SAM registration.

If you are interested in government contracting and qualify as a small business, you may be eligible for 8a certification through the Small Business Administration (SBA). This is a business development program exclusively for small, disadvantaged businesses, and there are many 8a certification benefits.

Is Your Business A “Small” Business?
If you want to enjoy 8a certification benefits, the first step is to ensure that you are considered, by the U.S. government, to be a small business. Many businesses with hundreds of employees qualify as well as those small Mom & Pop shops with just a handful of employees.

To check and see if you are a small business, head to https://www.sba.gov/size-standards/. This is the SBA’s Size Standards Tool. It will ask you several questions, and you must be able to fill in your NAICS codes. This stands for North American Industry Classification System. These codes describe the goods or services that your business provides to clients. To find your codes, go to Census.gov and you’ll find a downloadable guide that lists all the NAICS codes.

However, we also can help you discover which NAICS codes are the best fit for your business as well as your Product Service Codes, which are similar and used by government agencies to search for contractors that match their needs. But we’ll explain our services further down in this blog.

Do You Qualify For 8a Certification?
Once you determine that your company qualifies as a small business, you will need to see if you meet the other 8a qualifications. On its website, the SBA list the following items in its eligibility checklist.

• The business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens who are economically and socially disadvantaged
• The business must be owned by someone with a personal net worth of $750,000 or less
• The business must be owned by someone whose average adjusted gross income for three years is $350,000 or less
• The business must be owned by someone with $6 million or less in assets
• The owner must manage day-to-day operations and make long-term decisions for the company
• The company principals must demonstrate good character
• The company must show potential for success and be able to perform successfully on contracts

While the first five are fairly straightforward, the last two are somewhat ambiguous. When the government says that a company’s principals need to demonstrate good character, they aren’t following you around to ensure that you don’t litter or jaywalk, this refers to your business dealings. Do the principals have liens against them? Have they been convicted of fraud?

The government wants to ensure that your company and its officers are in good standing and do not engage in unsavory business practices or illegal practices. This is a concern that government agencies have with companies of all sizes, and not just small businesses. After all, government contracts are paid using taxpayer dollars, so if your company principals aren’t trustworthy then taxpayer money might be wasted or misspent.

The last point, about showing potential, basically means that you need to be able to show that you have some past performances that speak to your abilities. Past performances, in government terms, are simply former clients who might be able to attest that your services or goods were high quality and that you are a dependable vendor.

What Are The 8a Certification Benefits?
By now you are probably wondering if signing up is worth the effort, but we urge anyone that qualifies to attain 8a certification. Benefits include having a Business Opportunity Specialist assigned to your company to help with government contracting and you can receive management and technical assistance. This could include training, executive development, marketing assistance and more.

While those are helpful, from our perspective, the best 8a certification benefit is that you enjoy is that you can compete for set-aside and sole-source contracts. This gives you an important edge in the world of government contracting jobs.

Every government agency is supposed to “set aside” a portion of its yearly contracting budget just for small businesses. There are several types of set asides, as they are known. For instance, if your business is owned 51% or more by a woman, you might qualify for the Woman-Owned Small Business set aside and there are several others, as well.

When you are bidding on set-aside contracts, these might be competitive bids where you are bidding against other small businesses or you might be able to acquire a sole-source contract. This is a contract that is awarded without a competitive bidding process. This might be because the items needed are available from just one source or it might be because the agency doesn’t have time to deal with a competitive bidding situation, such as in the case of a natural disaster or other emergencies.

How Can I Sign Up For 8a Certification Benefits?
There are two steps to this process, and the team at Federal Contractor Registry can help with the first step. The initial step is to complete your System for Award Management registration (SAM registration) and get approved by the government as a government contractor.

Once you are approved, you can to Certify.SBA.gov. After you have signed up with SBA, you will need to go into your SAM account and update your business profile to showcase that you are 8a certified. If you aren’t sure how to do this, just give us a call and we can help.

The only catch is that SAM registration can be extremely difficult to complete. It can 10-15 hours to finish the application, and many people become frustrated with the whole process and give up on government contracting. Rather than forgo those lucrative government contractor jobs, you can hire a third-party registration service to complete the process for you, such as Federal Contract Registry.

At Federal Contractor Registry, we handle hundreds of SAM registrations and SAM renewals for businesses of all sizes. While we do charge for our services, we can handle the whole process very quickly, so that you can be approved and bidding on contracts as soon as possible.

If you are unsure how to complete SAM registration or you’ve started the process and become frustrated or confused, give us a call or click on the New Registration tab on our homepage. In addition to completing your SAM registration, we can help you determine if you qualify as a small business and for any 8a certification benefits.

The federal government includes hundreds of departments, agencies and offices and most of these entities need goods and services from the private sector. In order to work with the federal government, you will need to complete your System for Award Management registration, a complicated process, which is why we’ve created this SAM registration guide.

What is the System for Award Management?
The System for Award Management, usually just called SAM, is the huge database that contains all government contractors as well as those wanting to apply for federal grants. To do business with any government agency, including FEMA, the Department of Defense, etc. you must have completed SAM registration.

How Much Does SAM Registration Cost?
The government does not charge a fee for SAM registration. At Federal Contractor Registry, we are a third-party SAM registration service. You might wonder why someone would pay a third party to register them into the SAM database. While SAM registration is free, the truth is it’s extremely complicated and frustrating. Many of our clients are business owners that started to complete their SAM application, got frustrated or fed up and simply called us instead.

It can take 10-15 hours to complete the SAM application. The application is filled with puzzling government-speak, and if you’ve never dealt with government agencies, you can become quickly confused by the questions and acronyms.

This is why it can make sense to hire a SAM expert just as you would hire someone to complete your taxes. The government does charge you a fee to file your taxes, but they also don’t make the tax code easy to understand, which is why many people hire an accountant.

Additionally, it’s easy to make mistakes on a SAM application, and this can delay the approval process. Using our service or another third-party registration service ensures that your application is completed correctly on the first attempt, and you will be eligible to bid on government contracts sooner.

What We Need From You
Before we can complete your SAM registration, we will need some information about you or your company, including the following:
• The legal name of your business
• The physical address of the business
• A contact phone number
• The names of your company officers
• Your DUNS number (Not sure? Go to www.DNB.com)
• Your checking account number
• Your bank routing number
• A description of your goods or services
• The number of full-time & part-time employees
• Your company’s Tax Identification Number or Employer Identification Number

Once we have this information, we can get started on your SAM registration. When it comes to the bank check account number and routing number, these are required for SAM registration, because this is the account where a government agency will deposit any money owed to you.

How Do I Find Government Contracts?
No SAM registration guide would be complete without some information about what happens after your application is approved. Once you are eligible to bid on contracts, you can find government contracting jobs at Beta.SAM.gov and, if you qualify as a small business, at https://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm.

The latter website is run by the Small Business Administration (SBA). If you qualify as a small business, there are federal contractor jobs set aside exclusively for small businesses. Once you are approved with SAM, you should register your small business at SBA.gov and determine if you qualify for any of the special “set asides” defined by the SBA.

Set asides are categories of small businesses, such as a woman-owned small business, a service-disable veteran-owned small business or perhaps a business located in a HUBZone. A HUBZone is a historically underutilized area, such as an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in a city. The idea is that the government can improve the economy in these zones by supporting small business owners.

Don’t Forget About State Government Contracting Jobs
Once you are approved with SAM, you will receive what is known as a CAGE code, this is your unique identifier in the SAM database. While you need this CAGE code to do business with the federal government, you also need this to do business with state government agencies, as well.

Contracting with your state government or county governments can be very lucrative, and sometimes it’s easier to get started with state government contracting than with the contracting at the federal level. To find your government procurement website, simply do an internet search with your state name and the word “procurement.” Look for the result with the .gov extension at the end and click on that link to sign up and learn more about opportunities in your state.

Do Subcontractors Need To Register With SAM?
Yes, subcontractors must have an active SAM registration to work with a prime contractor or any government agency. Subcontracting can be a great way to get started with government contracting. Prime contractors (companies with large government contractors) often are required to with subcontractors (small businesses) in order to win those huge government contracts.

Working with a prime contractor can be a great way to get your feet wet in the contracting game, as the prime contractor will handle much of the back and forth with government procurement agents, but you will still learn a bunch about government contracting and how it all works.

5 Steps Every New Government Contractor Should Take
1. Create A Capability Statement – This is basically a resume for government contractors, although it does look different than the resumes people hand into hiring managers. This document should have several sections including a section detailing general information about your company as well as your Core Competencies, Differentiators and Past Performance.

2. Join Your Local PTAC – The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers can be a great resource for those new to government contracting. Go to APTAC-US.org to find your local Procurement Technical Assistance Center or PTAC.

3. Find Your Niche – Do a search for government contracting jobs at Beta.SAM.gov using your Product Service Codes or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to see what types of contracting jobs are available that match your goods and services. If you don’t know your codes, we can help with this during the SAM registration process. This can help you identify which government agencies might be the best fit for you in terms of contracting.

4. Learn About The Bidding Process – There are many different types of bids, and it’s smart to learn all you can about each one before you start bidding on contracts. Sometimes your local PTAC or SBA will offer webinars and sometimes state procurement agencies offer webinars to help. Also, check out this workbook from SBA.gov at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2018-02/proposals_workbook.pdf.

5. Study The Types Of Government Contracts – There are several different types of government contracts and the more you know about the different types, the more successful you will be in finding contracts that fit your business. You also can check out our article “A Look at 5 Types of Government Contracts” to learn some general information about this topic.

This general SAM registration guide can help you learn the basics of government contracting. It does take time to learn and understand government procurement, but, in the end, it can provide you with an excellent source of revenue. The government will always need goods and services, and just about any business can find lucrative contracts.

If, after reading this SAM registration guide, you are ready to get started with government contracting, give us a call at (800) 985-7658 or click on the green New Registration tab on our homepage, and we will get to work on your SAM registration so you can start bidding on government contracts.

When you are just getting started with government contracting, it can be easy to become confused about the process and the requirements. You might hear terms such as CCR, ORCA, CAGE Code, federal award management registration, SAM registration and more. But what does it all mean? Here are a few facts to help you get started.

1. SAM Registration Is Required
SAM stands for System for Award Management, and this is the huge database that contains information about every government contractor. In the past, there were different databases, such as CCR (Central Contractor Registration) and ORCA (Online Representations and Certifications Application). You will still hear the acronyms CCR and ORCA used occasionally, but these are obsolete, all you need to worry about is SAM registration.

At Federal Contractor Registry, we provide SAM registration and SAM renewal services. SAM registration can be a difficult and frustrating process, and while the government does not charge a fee to register with SAM, it can make sense to just hire someone else (such as our service) to complete the process. SAM registration can take 10 or more hours to complete and it’s full of complicated government jargon.

Once we’ve completed your SAM registration, it will take a few weeks (usually) for your registration to be approved by the Federal Service Desk, which is the agency that manages SAM. Once approved you will be given a unique identifier known as a Corporate and Government Entities Code, or CAGE Code.

2. SAM Renewal Also Is Required
Your SAM registration will expire one year from the date that your initial application was approved. We can provide you with SAM renewal services, but whether you hire us or do it yourself, it’s crucial that you start the process several months before your SAM registration is set to expire.

Every government agency has employees known as procurement agents, and these individuals are the ones that you will deal with when trying to acquire a government contract. If you bid on a contract, but the procurement agent sees that your SAM registration is set to expire in a few months, they might be wary about selecting your company for the contract.

This is because government agencies can only work with companies or individuals with active SAM registration. If your registration expires in the middle of a job, technically, they cannot work with you anymore. While the renewal approval process usually is fairly fast, it’s best not to wait until the last minute. In some cases, it can take weeks for the government to approve your SAM renewal, so it’s always smart to renew two or three months ahead of that expiration date.

3. Sign Up With The SBA & Determine Your Set Asides
The Small Business Administration, or SBA, was created to support small businesses throughout the United States and its territories. They can provide you with business loans and helpful advice, but that’s not the only reason to sign up with SBA.

Every government agency sets aside a portion of its contracting budget for small businesses. For instance, just about any contract valued at $150,000 or less automatically is set aside for small businesses, but larger contracts also can be set aside for small businesses. Additionally, prime contractors, or large businesses that win large government contracts, often are required to use small businesses as subcontractors.

Subcontracting can be a great way to get started with government contractor jobs, as the prime contractor will kind of act as a guide throughout the whole process. You’ll learn a great deal about contracting but still have someone else doing the heavy lifting, so to speak.

At any rate, when you sign up with SBA, you also can determine if you qualify for any special “Set Asides.” For instance, if your business is located in a HUBZone, or historically underutilized zone, you might qualify for the HUBZone set aside. There are also set asides for women-owned small businesses, veteran-owned businesses and more.

If you qualify for a set aside, it can be much easier to earn government contracts. For instance, according to SBA, the federal government hopes “to award at least five percent of all federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses each year.” Thus, if 51% or more of your small company is women-owned, you qualify for this set aside.

4. There Are Several Ways To Find Contracts
If you own a small business, you can find many contracting opportunities at https://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm. This database is run by the SBA and includes only contracts designated for small businesses.

You also can head to Beta.SAM.gov, which lists all government contracting jobs, for all types of businesses. There are several ways to search for contracts, such as searching by keyword or by government agency. We find that the easiest way to find contracts is to search using your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes or your Product Service Codes (PSCs). We can determine which codes apply to your business when we handle your SAM registration.

When you search using your NAICS codes or PSCs, you generate results specific to the types of goods or services you can provide to a government agency. There are NAICS codes for any business imaginable, and if you don’t see any contracts for your specific type of business, keep checking back as new jobs are loaded up often.

Additionally, once you complete SAM registration and get your CAGE Code, you also can sign up with state and county governments to provide goods and services. In the past, state governments also host many events for government contractors where you can learn more about contracting and meet with procurement agents. Obviously, with the current pandemic, in-person events aren’t an option, but there still may be helpful webinars taking place, so be sure to sign up with your state’s procurement system.

We hope this provides you with some basic information about federal award management registration and government contracting in general. If you would like to get started with the process and your SAM registration, contact us at any time, and one of our government contracting specialists will be in touch as soon as possible.

If you want to do business with the federal government (and many state governments), you need an active listing in the System for Award Management (SAM) database. If you’ve already completed this process, it is important to know when and how to renew SAM registration and we can help.

When Should You Renew SAM Registration?
Your SAM registration is active for one year from the day the government approves your initial SAM registration. So you might think all you have to do is renew a few days or a week before the expiration date. However, you should start thinking about how to renew SAM registration several months in advance.

Government agencies can only do business with entities that have an active SAM registration. If a procurement agent (the proper term for a government employee tasked with selecting contractors) sees that your SAM registration is within two or fewer months of the expiration date, they might be wary about doing business with you.

This is because if you are in the middle of a contract and your registration expires, the government is no longer authorized to conduct business with you or your company. This means they won’t be able to receive the goods or services they need and you won’t get paid either.

We highly recommend that you renew SAM registration at least two months ahead of time to ensure that your renewal is approved with plenty of time to spare before that expiration date. This is especially important during the current pandemic, as this has forced the Federal Service Desk to modify its operations. If you head to the Federal Service Desk website (FSD.gov), they also state that the registration and renewal approval process as slowed down due to an influx of new registrations.

The Federal Service Desk is the government agency in charge of managing the SAM database as well as several other government systems, including beta.SAM.gov. This site is a helpful resource for all government contractors as it is basically a search engine allowing contractors to search for available jobs by agency, by date, by NAICS codes and more.

How To Renew SAM Registration
There are two ways to renew your SAM registration. You can go into your current listing and update it yourself or you can hire a third-party registration service to complete the renewal process for you. Renewal is free if you do it yourself, but it can be complicated and time-consuming, so many people just hire a company such as Federal Contractor Registry to handle this task.

At Federal Contractor Registry, we can quickly and accurately complete your SAM renewal so that you can be approved as quickly as possible. If your renewal is not completed correctly, this can lead to delays, which can be costly if you have jobs you wish to bid on in the immediate future. Sometimes it’s simply easier to have someone else handle this task for you.

A Word About Notarized Letters
If you are new to the world of government contracting and have not yet completed SAM registration, one of the steps you need to take was completing and sending in your SAM notarized letter to the Federal Service Desk identifying your Entity Administrator, which is simply the person in charge of making any needed changes to your SAM account.

For those who simply need to renew SAM registration, you probably already have sent in a notarized letter with your initial SAM registration. If you already sent the letter, there is no need to send a new one every time you renew your registration. If for some reason, you have not submitted this letter or you are working on your first SAM registration, instructions for this letter can be found as FSD.gov under the Top Help Topics tab.

Other Changes To SAM
Earlier in this article, we referred to beta.SAM.gov, which is a database that lists government contracting jobs. This is a new database and it has replaced FedBizOpps.gov or FBO.gov, so if you were thinking about checking that website, it no longer exists. The new site looks quite a bit different, but it is relatively easy to navigate and find contacts.

We usually recommend that people look for government contractor jobs using their NAICS codes, as this provides results that are a close match to the goods and services that you provide. You also can search by agency, location, set aside, PSCs or even by type of notice.

In addition to the switch from FBO.gov, there will be changes to the DUNS number system coming down the pipe fairly soon. DUNS was managed by Dun & Bradstreet, and when you registered with Dun & Bradstreet, you received what is known as a DUNS number often just called a DUNS.

This is a required number for SAM registration, but the government has awarded a contract to another company and the DUNS numbers will be phased out and replaced with a code called a Unique Entity Identifier or UEI. This change was supposed to be complete by December 2020, but the switch (and 2020 to be frank) has not gone as smoothly as planned. Therefore, this date has been extended to a mystery date in the future. At any rate, if you have heard about this switch and were wondering what to do, the short answer is that you don’t need to do anything at present.

If you do need to renew SAM registration, and would prefer to leave this process to SAM experts, we are always here to help and we make SAM renewal as easy and fast as possible. To get started, just click on the blue Renew Registration tab on our homepage. If you can’t remember when your SAM registration expires, just click on the Status Check tab and we will be happy to check it out for you at no charge.