How do I register on SAM.gov and find federal contract opportunities?

Do you need a full registration or just a Unique Entity ID?

SAM.gov gives you two starting points. A full entity registration is for organizations that want to bid directly on government contracts or apply for federal assistance, and SAM.gov assigns your Unique Entity ID (UEI) as part of it. Getting a UEI only takes your legal business name and physical address, but SAM.gov is clear that if you choose to only get a UEI, you cannot apply directly for federal awards.

GSA notes that some entities, such as subcontractors, choose a UEI only. SAM.gov's checklist also describes a Financial Assistance Awards Only registration, which covers grants and loans but not contracts. If you want to bid on federal contracts yourself, the option you need is an All Awards registration.

In my experience, if you expect to bid as a prime within the next year, start the full registration now. Activation takes time, and solicitation deadlines do not wait for it.

What information do you need to register?

SAM.gov publishes an Entity Registration Checklist so you can gather everything before you start. For an All Awards registration, it groups the questions into the UEI step, Core Data, Assertions, Representations and Certifications, Points of Contact, and an SBA supplemental page if you are a small business, plus architect-engineer and Defense (DFARS) questions where they apply. The main items:

• For the UEI step: legal business name, physical address (a post office box cannot be used), date of incorporation and state of incorporation.
• Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and IRS consent, for U.S. entities.
• Banking details for electronic funds transfer: account type, routing number and account number, plus a remittance address.
• Your CAGE code if you have one. A U.S. entity without one selects No and is assigned one after submitting.
• NAICS codes for what you sell, optional Product Service Codes, and size information such as annual receipts and number of employees.
• Answers to the representations and certifications, a long set of FAR-based questions on topics such as ownership, debarment, delinquent federal taxes and labor standards.
• Three mandatory points of contact: Accounts Receivable, Electronic Business and Government Business, each with name, email and phone number.

GSA also advises making sure your business name, address and ownership details are consistent across IRS, SAM.gov and SBA records. During the UEI step you choose whether your record appears in public search results. The checklist explains that a restricted record is not visible to other non-federal entities or to state and local governments that may want to do business with you, although federal users still see your non-sensitive information.

How do you register on SAM.gov, step by step?

1. Create your SAM.gov user account. Your username and password are managed by Login.gov, and you return to SAM.gov to finish your profile.
2. Gather your information using the Entity Registration Checklist.
3. Select Get Started and choose Register Entity. Pick the purpose of registration (All Awards, to bid on contracts) and your entity type.
4. Enter your legal business name, physical address and incorporation details. SAM.gov validates them and assigns your UEI. If it cannot validate your entity, you can open a help ticket with the Federal Service Desk from that page.
5. Complete Core Data, Assertions, Representations and Certifications, and Points of Contact. If you select at least one small business NAICS code, SAM.gov links you to SBA's supplemental page, which opens in a new window. Go back to the SAM.gov window to submit.
6. Submit, then watch your email, including spam. SAM.gov says to allow at least ten business days for the registration to become active. If TIN or CAGE validation fails, instructions go by email to your Government Business POC.
7. Check progress by signing in, selecting Check Registration Status, and entering your UEI or CAGE code.

Is SAM.gov registration free, and how often do you renew it?

Yes, it is free. SAM.gov's checklist states that there is no charge to get a Unique Entity ID, register your entity, or maintain your registration, and GSA's registration page says you do not need to pay a third party to complete it.

GSA has also warned registrants directly. In a May 4, 2023 bulletin, GSA said registration in SAM.gov is always free, acknowledged that some third-party companies charge for registration help, and set out how to protect yourself:

• Check that a sender's email address or link ends in .gov, and be wary of lookalike links, such as ones ending in gov.com.
• Do not provide information by phone or email. Go to SAM.gov directly, sign in and check your registration.
• SAM.gov will never ask for money or personal information outside the system, ask you to call or text anyone, or advertise on social media.
• GSA security policy prohibits using another person's email address and password to access SAM.gov, which matters if anyone offers to log in for you.

Renewal is every 365 days. SAM.gov says you must renew to keep the registration active, and you can update it at any time, including during renewal. GSA adds that where a contract requires it, you must maintain your registration, UEI and CAGE code throughout the life of the contract through final payment. My advice: when a renewal email arrives, do not click through. Open SAM.gov yourself and sign in.

How do you search Contract Opportunities on SAM.gov?

Contract Opportunities is the part of SAM.gov that holds procurement notices from federal contracting offices. Anyone can search it without an account. Signing in lets you save searches, follow changes to opportunities and join interested vendor lists.

1. Start with keywords that describe your work the way a buyer would write them.
2. Narrow by NAICS code or Product Service Code. SAM.gov's help pages cover searching by both.
3. Filter by set-aside type if you qualify. The categories include total and partial small business, 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, women-owned and economically disadvantaged women-owned set-asides, among others.
4. Filter by place of performance so you see work in the locations you can actually serve.
5. Use the notice type and federal organization filters to focus on the stages and buyers that matter to you.
6. Save the search and turn on email notifications of saved search results, so new matches come to you.
7. Follow the individual notices you are tracking, so you see changes such as amendments.

In my experience, a single NAICS filter misses notices that a buyer coded differently from how you describe your own work, so I run code-based and keyword-based saved searches side by side.

What do the SAM.gov notice types mean?

SAM.gov describes Contract Opportunities as including presolicitation, solicitation, award and sole source notices. Its public API lists the full set of notice types, which also includes sources sought, special notice, combined synopsis/solicitation, justification (J&A), sale of surplus property and intent to bundle requirements (DoD-funded). The ones I watch most:

• Sources sought: market research, not a request for offers. GSA describes it as a tool primarily used to identify small businesses capable of performing a requirement, posted early, after the requirement is defined, and used to judge whether there is a reasonable expectation of two or more offers from small businesses.
• Presolicitation: advance notice that a solicitation is coming. Under FAR Part 5, it carries details such as the set-aside status, product service and NAICS codes, and a description of what is being bought.
• Solicitation: the request for quotes or proposals itself, with the instructions, terms and deadline you must follow.
• Combined synopsis/solicitation: the notice and the solicitation in one posting, used for commercial products and services.
• Award notice: who received the contract. FAR Part 5 calls for award notices on certain contract actions, including those likely to result in subcontracts, which makes them useful for finding primes.
• Justification (J&A): the justification for a contract awarded without full and open competition. The FAR generally requires it to be posted within 14 days after award.
• Special notice: announcements that are not solicitations. For example, DFARS guidance tells Defense contracting offices to post small business events as special notices with titles beginning "Small Business Event".

Where do registered businesses still miss federal opportunities?

What I see most often is not a registration problem but a monitoring problem. The common gaps:

• Letting the registration lapse. It must be renewed every 365 days to stay active, and an active registration is what keeps you eligible to bid directly.
• Skipping sources sought notices, which feed the agency's set-aside decision.
• Restricting the entity record from public search, which hides you from non-federal entities and state and local governments looking for suppliers.
• Searching on one NAICS code only.
• Not following a notice after downloading the documents, so amendments to dates or requirements go unnoticed.
• Expecting every federal purchase to appear as a presolicitation notice. Under the overhauled FAR Part 5 text, orders under existing task order or delivery order contracts are among the actions that do not need one, so that work goes to businesses already holding those contracts.
• Ignoring award notices, which show which primes just received work you could support as a subcontractor.