This Policy Flash provides updated information on changes to SAM and supersedes Policy Flash 2018-18.
June 28, 2018
minute read time
DATE: June 28, 2018
TO: HCAs/Procurement Directors/Contracting Officers
FROM: Director
Contract and Financial Assistance Policy Division
Office of Policy
Office of Acquisition Management
SUBJECT: Updated Entity Registration Requirements in the System for Award Management (SAM)
SUMMARY: The General Services Administration (GSA) continues to make changes to strengthen controls for the System for Award Management (SAM). This Policy Flash provides updated information on changes to SAM and supersedes Policy Flash 2018-18.
GSA has recently announced the following changes that will affect DOE Contracting Officers, DOE contractors, and DOE financial assistance awardees.
Changes to SAM Access for All Users. Beginning on June 29, 2018, all SAM users, including DOE Federal Employees, will be required to access SAM through the login.gov site. This site provides dual-factor authentication and improves security for SAM. Effective June 29th, users will be redirected automatically to the login.gov site when trying to login to SAM.
It is important to ensure that your current email address is associated with your SAM account. The account creation process for login.gov will require a confirmation email that will be sent to your email address. The email address will also be used to automatically migrate your user roles in your current SAM account to your new login.gov SAM account. If you provide a different email address when establishing a new login.gov account, your user roles in SAM will need to be reassigned and your access to SAM will be delayed.
GSA has recently sent a notice to all SAM users providing information on the upcoming change. If you did not receive a notice from GSA, it is likely that you have an outdated email address associated with you SAM account and you will need to update the email address in your SAM profile before June 29th. To update your profile go to www.SAM.gov → My SAM → My Account Settings → Edit User Information.
Streamlined process for SAM Registration for Contractors and Financial Assistance Recipients. Earlier this year, GSA began requiring entities that register with SAM to provide a notarized letter before a new registration or a renewal could be processed. This was an additional control added in response to fraudulent activity in SAM that was detected by GSA earlier this year.
GSA has recently announced changes to streamline this process. While recipients are still required to provide a notarized letter, GSA will allow SAM registrations or renewals to be finalized before they have received and processed the letters. This change will reduce the possibility that awards are delayed because of a lengthened SAM registration process. GSA’s streamlined process began on June 11th for entities that register as financial assistance recipients only, and will begin on June 29th for all entities registering in SAM.
SAM entity registrations that are pending as of June 29th due to a notarized letter review will be activated but it may take up to two weeks for the activation process to complete and the vendor registration to become available in SAM. If activation is needed before that time, an expedited review process is available. Requests for expedited registration reviews must be submitted to HQProcurementSystems@hq.doe.gov by the Procurement System Working Group (PSWG) point of contact for each site.
GSA has provided further detail regarding these changes to SAM at SAM.gov.
Reminder to Update SAM Awardee Information in STRIPES. Please note that STRIPES does not automatically refresh awardee information from SAM when making an award to an entity that has already received a DOE contract or financial assistance award. The vendor information must be updated manually. As noted in Policy Flash 2018-18, the reports of fraudulent activities in SAM underscore the importance of continuing to refresh vendor/awardee information in STRIPES before making any contract or financial assistance action or award in STRIPES.
For questions regarding this policy flash or updates to the SAM registration process please contact HQProcurementSystems@hq.doe.gov.