Are You Updating Your SAM.gov Registration Correctly?

Have you ever gotten an email saying that you will need to pay hundreds of dollars to renew your SAM.gov registration? Contractors should be wary of these offers, some of which are outright scams, because registering and updating your business’s registration in SAM.gov is always free. If you are already a federal contractor, you probably have dealt with registration in SAM.gov, and as you can imagine, keeping this registration updated yearly is important.

However, the System for Award Management (SAM) registration can cause a lot of headaches because some contractors are not familiar with how to update their registrations, and they let them expire or pay to get it renewed. Some scams like to take advantage of this confusion by sending spam emails, many designed to look like official correspondence, promising that they will take care of your SAM registration for a fee. To avoid any scams or letting your registration expire, we put together this blog to explain how you can update your SAM.gov registration correctly.

What is SAM.gov?

The System for Award Management, or SAM.gov, is an ever-evolving site for contractor information, federal procurement systems, and other federal programs or registrations. This system is extremely important for contractors because all entities interested in doing business with the federal government are required to have an active registration in SAM and renew it annually.

Why Do You Need to Update Your SAM Registration?

Updating your SAM registration can be a meticulous process because each SAM registration is only valid for one year and must be renewed prior to its yearly anniversary. If not renewed by the one-year anniversary, the record will expire and become inactive.

That means that you will want to keep your SAM.gov registration active and up to date, regardless of whether you are trying to obtain a government contract vehicle such as a GSA Schedule or just want to take advantage of open market opportunities.

It can be easy to overlook important fields while working through your registration, especially since SAM.gov has made a lot of updates in the past few years. With each new update, such as entity validation, you shouldn’t be surprised if you find additional questions you are required to answer. 

Prerequisites to SAM Registration

You will want to ensure you have your Marketing Partner Identification Number (MPIN) number handy because it serves as an electronic signature. The MPIN was created when your entity was originally registered. If you have forgotten it, the Entity Administrator for your business’s registration will have to reset your MPIN. Once you have this information prepared, you can start updating your entity’s registration in SAM.gov.

You will also want to have this information on hand in case you have issues completing the entity validation process (which we'll discuss below):

• Legal business name
• Physical address
• Date of incorporation
• State of incorporation or national identifier

Step 1: Entering Your Entity’s Registration Information

• Log-in to SAM.gov account using your login.gov email and password that is associated with your company’s registration.
• Click on the “Workspace” tab if you are not already there and you will find a box that says, “Entity Management.” Click on the icon with a number above “Active” (seen below. Note: the number will not be 0 if you are already registered). This will take you to a page that displays your active entity registrations. If no registrations appear, you are likely not associated with your entity and will need to request a role, which your Entity Administrator can approve for you.
• From there, you will need to select the entity you need to update. Click on the ellipsis in the top right corner of the correct registration and choose “Update.”

Step 2: Updating Your Entity’s Registration

Since the information from your initial registration and any subsequent updates will still be in the system, you now have to go through each section to affirm that this information is current and accurate. You have to go through the entire record and you cannot skip any sections. Click “Save and Continue” at the bottom of each page once you have ensured the information within it is correct.

Listed below are a few sections of your SAM.gov record that you should pay attention to every time you update:

• • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): This number replaced the DUNS in 2021 and is given upon initial SAM registration (or if you had a registration before the changeover, you were automatically assigned one).
  • Financial Information: Make sure your banking and contact information are current, including bank account numbers, Taxpayer Identification number (usually your Employer Identification Number), and remittance address.
  • Size Metrics: This is one of the easiest sections to miss and one of the most important sections to update since it can change frequently with employee turnover and company revenue. Your small business size determination depends on the information you provide in this section. Be sure to update your average annual receipts (3 or 5 year average) and average number of employees (24-month average).
  • Points of Contact: Be sure to have current employees listed under this section so that they can monitor any updates or Requests for Information (RFIs) you receive from SAM.gov.
  • NAICS Codes: You may want to update your NAICS codes if you have new offerings or would like to change your primary NAICS code.
  • Representations and Certifications: You may have to represent your entity’s agreement to abide by new FAR and/or DFARS regulations.

Step 3: Entity Validation

Entity validation is a crucial process for the federal marketplace because it prevents improper payments, procurement fraud, and ensures the integrity of government contracts. SAM now requires you to go through the Entity Validation process every time you:

• Register an entity for the first time
• Renew your entity registration annually
• Get a Unique Entity ID (UEI)
• Update or change your entity’s name or address

To validate your entity, you will first need to enter your entity and incorporation information. If your entity information is not correct/doesn’t match or you can’t find your entity at all, you will need to submit documentation to prove that your entity exists, and the information you have inputted is current, complete, and accurate. 

GSA has provided 3 types of successful documentation:

• Proof of name and/or address
• Proof of entity start year and date
• Proof of your national identifier

You can find the full list of documentation at FSD.gov.

When your entity is successfully validated, you will receive an email. Then you can complete your registration renewal. This process can take awhile if you are unable to find your entity right away, so we suggest you start your registration early to avoid any delays.

Step 4: Reviewing and Submitting Your SAM Registration

Once you have reviewed your SAM registration, updated anything required, and verified all information is correct, you can submit your registration. When you are updating your SAM record it’s important to take your time to ensure all the information included is correct. SAM.gov will send an email when your registration is submitted and again when it is approved.

Once submitted, your SAM registration can take a few days to be approved if there are no major changes. If there were significant changes, you may be contacted to confirm the updated information. For example, if your company address was updated, you will have to go through the CAGE code review process, which will delay your updated SAM.gov registration for up to a few weeks.

Keeping Up with Your GSA Schedule

What may have seemed like a major task can be taken care of by most businesses if they are familiar with the process. Now that you are more comfortable with renewing your SAM registration, you will be better prepared and more confident that the information on display to ordering agencies is current and accurate. If you want to learn more about entity validation, check out our blog, "7 Tips for Successful Entity Validation."

If you have any questions about SAM.gov registration and its implications on federal contracting opportunities, such as what you will need to include in your SAM registration to apply for a GSA Schedule, please reach out to Winvale and we would be happy to help you figure it out.