The System for Award Management (SAM), which can be found at SAM.gov, is the central database that includes data on all government contractors as well as information about current government contracts. If you’ve ever thought about taking the plunge and bidding on fed contracts, the team at Federal Contractor Registry can help you take the first step – SAM registration.
Government Contracting: Is It Right For You?
Every year, the United States government purchases billions of dollars in goods and services from civilian companies in the form of government contracts. For instance, in 2023, the government awarded more than $700 billion worth of contracts from every federal agency.
The type of goods and services needed might surprise you. We often think about contracts for weapons systems and other Department of Defense-related items, but the government also buys copy paper, office furniture, food, medical supplies and other goods. They also need a myriad of services such as HVAC repair, security services, marketing services, janitorial services and much more.
Before you complete your SAM.gov registration, we encourage you to head to SAM.gov and look through the Contract Opportunities section to gauge whether or not your services are needed by a federal agency.
To do this, we recommended searching for contracts using your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. These codes describe the precise goods and services a business provides, and you can find your codes at Census.gov. If you notice a few contracts that match what your company can provide, government contracting jobs could likely be a profitable option for your business.
SAM Registration: Your First Step
All federal contractors must have an active SAM account to do business with any federal agency. SAM registration, therefore, is the first step you will need to take once you have determined that you may be a good fit for government contractor jobs.
The government will not charge you a fee to register with SAM, however, they also don’t make the entity registration process easy. The application, which is available online at SAM.gov, can take 10 or more hours to finish and contains a plethora of confusing government-speak. Many people quickly become frustrated with the registration process and give up on the idea of government contracting.
This is a shame because there are many lucrative contracts out there for business owners who complete the SAM registration process. Many people opt to hire a third-party registration service to complete their registration, and we handle hundreds of SAM registrations and SAM renewals every year for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors of industry.
In addition to helping you complete SAM registration quickly and 100% accurately, we offer several other compelling reasons to use our service. We will save you many hours of time that you can better spend running your business, but we also include several other tasks in our registration fee, such as:
- Assistance With The UEI Number
In the past, the government asked all businesses to provide their Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number when registering with SAM. This number was generated by a private company, Dun & Bradstreet.
However, several years ago, the federal government decided to generate its own Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and you must first apply for your UEI number before you get started with SAM registration. This can be somewhat complicated, but we will attain your UEI as part of our registration services.
- Help With Notarized Letter Requirement
Every new registrant must mail a notarized letter to the Federal Service Desk listing their Entity Administrator. This is the individual at your company who is authorized to change or update your SAM account. While you will have to get this letter notarized and send it in on your own, we can help you with the template to ensure that your letter is filled out correctly.
As a side note, if you are coming to us strictly for SAM renewal services, this step as well as applying for a UEI number will not be necessary. Those currently needing SAM renewal will have already submitted their letter and the government automatically assigned a UEI to any company with a SAM account when it switched over to this new system.
- Help With SBA Registration
The Small Business Administration runs many different programs for small business owners who want to bid on government contract jobs. A portion of all contracting dollars are reserved just for small businesses, and these are known as a small business set aside. There are several different types of set-asides, including those for a woman-owned small business (WOSB) and a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) as well as HUBZone certification, 8a certification and more.
If the business you own qualifies as a small business, you likely will be eligible for general small business set-aside programs or perhaps a program such as WOSB or the 8(a) Business Development Program. We can help determine which programs are a good fit for your business, help you sign up with SBA and link your SBA account to your SAM account.
Become A Government Contractor
Once your SAM registration is complete and approved by the Federal Service Desk, you will be eligible to work as a federal contractor. You will need to keep your SAM account active and renew each year, and we recommend renewing SAM several months ahead of your expiration date.
You can search for contracting jobs at SAM.gov and small businesses also can search for subcontracting opportunities at the SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search website. Subcontracting can be a great way to get started as a contractor, and the prime contractor will handle all of the back and forth with the government, yet you will be learning the ropes and building a great contracting resume.
If you would like to bypass the hassle of SAM registration at SAM.gov, the team at Federal Contractor Registry is happy to complete registration for you. We will provide you with fast, accurate SAM registration services as well as the value-added services listed above. To get started, simply head to the New Registration tab on our homepage, click the green tab, and fill out our quick contact form.