If you thought ORCA was your door into the world of government contacting, those days have passed. ORCA, which stood for Online Representations and Certifications Application, has been replaced with the System for Award Management (SAM). While ORCA government contracts are no longer an option, you can still grab your piece of the government pie with SAM.
While people still talk about ORCA and CCR (the Central Contractor Registration), both of these were replaced with SAM in 2012. SAM is a huge centralized database that includes all approved government contractors. So rather than search for information about ORCA government contracts, you will want to search for information about SAM government contracts.
It can be quite confusing to navigate the maze of government acronyms. If you want to become a government contractor, you’ll need to know about SAM, CAGE codes, DUNS, NAICS and so much more. In order to bid on government contracts, you must complete SAM registration and attain a CAGE code, which stands for Commercial and Government Entity code. This code is the unique identifier for your business in the SAM database.
Once you have a CAGE code, you can begin searching for government contracts. There are contracts available for businesses in just about any industry. There are even contracts set aside for owners of small businesses, for woman-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses and other special groups. If you are interested in applying for government grants, your SAM registration will allow you to do this, as well.
Your first step will be to head to the Dun & Bradstreet website and obtain a DUNS number. This number, which stands for Data Universal Numbering System, can be attained for free and it takes just a few minutes to apply for this online. Once you have your DUNS number, gather up the bank routing number and account number for your business, locate your business’s taxpayer identification number and give us a call.
Why Call Federal Contractor Registry?
As you may or may not know, SAM registration is free and the government does not charge you to sign up or to get your CAGE code. However, the SAM registration process is extremely challenging, time-consuming and filled with government-speak that can be difficult to understand if you don’t have a great deal of experience in the world of government contracting.
At Federal Contractor Registry, we’ve been helping companies get started in government contracting for years. In the past, we helped our clients prepare to bid on ORCA government contracts and now we help with SAM registration. Completing SAM registration on your own can be frustrating and can take more than 20 hours to complete. Hiring an experienced SAM registration service just makes sense; it’s a bit like hiring an accountant to complete your taxes. You certainly can do your taxes on your own, but the tax code is complicated and you’ll save valuable hiring a professional to tackle that job for you.
To recap, you no longer need to worry about CCR or ORCA. Government contracts are available only by filling out your SAM registration and we can help. Give us a call today and get started with the registration process.