If you are ready to take your business to the next level and begin contracting for the government, then you should know that this process is quite different than bidding on contracts in the private sector. Your first step in government contracting is to complete your System for Award Management registration, more commonly known as SAM registration. Here are a few facts about SAM and the SAM registration process.
1. Who Needs SAM Registration?
Basically, any person that wishes to do business with the federal government needs to complete SAM registration. This includes those providing services, such as construction or repair services, as well as vendors. A vendor would be someone who provides goods or products for the government. Additionally, any business or individual applying for a federal grant or federal financial assistance via Grants.gov needs to be registered with SAM. Typically, though, our clients are those providing services or acting as a vendor for the federal government.
2. What About CCR & ORCA?
There’s quite a bit of alphabet soup in the world of bureaucracies, and many of our clients also believe that they need CCR registration or perhaps ORCA certification. CCR stands for Central Contractor Registration and ORCA stands for Online Representations and Certifications. These two “systems” are no longer used, but you still might hear them thrown around by people who have contracted with the government. Today, you simply need to be concerned with attaining SAM registration and don’t have to worry about CCR or ORCA.
3. SAM Includes Multiple Procurement Systems
When SAM was developed, it combined many different procurement systems and these systems were added to SAM in phases. In the past, each of these systems required its own registration process, but SAM registration streamlines everything into one system. The systems that merged into SAM include the CCR and ORCA, as well as the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), Federal Business Opportunities (FBO), Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS), Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA), Wage Determinations Online (WDOL), Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG) and the Past Performance and Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).
4. Before You Register, You Need These Two Things
After you have completed your SAM registration, you will receive what is known as a CAGE code. This stands for Commercial and Government Entity code, and each government supplier, vendor or contractor has a unique CAGE code. However, before you even begin the SAM registration process, you need to already possess two things – an active DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number and a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). Your business probably already has a taxpayer ID number, and applying for DUNS is quite simple and free as you can apply directly via the Dun & Bradstreet website. Typically, it takes just one or two business days to receive this number.
5. Federal Contractor Registry Can Help!
Did you know that it can take as many as 15 hours to complete the SAM registration process? The application is extremely complex and time consuming, but the good news is that we can complete the application for you, allowing you to focus on your business rather than trudging through the complexities of SAM registration. We are a third-party registration service that assists small to large businesses and Fortune 500 companies with SAM registration.
Most small businesses simply don’t have the time or the resources to complete this process in a timely manner, and the SAM registration process tends to dissuade small businesses from grabbing their share of the government contracting pie. If you are interested in government contracting, let us help you over the SAM hurdle. After we have completed and submitted your application, you should be fully qualified to bid for and accept federal, state and local government work within two weeks.
To get started with SAM registration, simply head to our homepage and click on the tabs that state, “Register Online” or “New Registration.” Fill out our quick form, and one of our knowledgeable registration specialists will contact you as quickly as possible.