Guides
Plain-English explanations of the SAM.gov registration.
Register
How to register your business in SAM.gov
What a first SAM.gov registration is, what to have ready, the order of the work, and who answers the certifications.
Updated October 2026
Why a SAM.gov registration is stuck or returned
Why a registration can sit still or come back for a correction, the usual reasons a validation is rejected, and who can help, without a processing time.
Updated October 2026
Do you register in SAM.gov for contracts, grants, or both?
How All Awards and Financial Assistance differ, who answers the certifications, and why an SBIR applicant confirms other registrations with the agency.
Updated October 2026
What to have ready before you register in SAM.gov
The records to gather before a first SAM.gov registration, listed without asking for the numbers.
Updated October 2026
Is SAM.gov in Spanish? The English words you will meet
Whether SAM.gov's registration screens are in Spanish, and the plain meaning of the English words you will meet there.
Updated October 2026
Can a sole proprietor register in SAM.gov, and which name goes in?
Whether a sole proprietor can register in SAM.gov, which name to type, and why this page does not decide entity type or size.
Updated October 2026
Why your business name and address have to match your paperwork exactly
SAM.gov checks the name and physical address you enter against records and documentation about your business. This is where first-time registrations stall, and most of it is avoidable.
Updated September 2026
What "not found or opted out of public display" means
Why a lookup can come back empty, what it does not prove, and what to do about it.
Updated September 2026
Renew
How a SAM.gov registration renewal works, in plain words
What a renewal is, why it comes around every year, why there is no extension, what it costs, and who can help.
Updated October 2026
My SAM.gov registration expired. What now?
What an expired or inactive registration means, what changes while it is not active, and how to get it active again.
Updated October 2026
SAM.gov contract extension: what it is, and what your registration has to do with it
What a contract extension is, why SAM.gov has no extension of its own for a registration, and what to check about your registration before a contract is extended.
Updated October 2026
How to check a SAM.gov registration's status and expiration
How to see whether a SAM.gov registration is active, where the expiration date lives, and what an empty public lookup means.
Updated October 2026
Should I update my SAM.gov registration or renew it?
When a changed fact is an update, when the yearly submission is a renewal, and why the expiration date is only a date.
Updated October 2026
What am I answering when I renew the representations and certifications?
What the representations and certifications are when you renew, and why the answers have to be yours.
Updated October 2026
When to renew your SAM.gov registration: the year, the date, and what to have ready
When to renew: how the year is shaped, when to start, and the short list of things to gather first.
Updated October 2026
Is that SAM.gov renewal letter a scam?
The letter in your hand is a sales letter, not a government bill. Here is how to tell, and what the free route is.
Updated October 2026
Your IDs
Your UEI: what it is, where to find it, and why nobody needs to sell you one
How to get a UEI, who needs one, the twelve-character format, what it replaced, and what it costs.
Updated October 2026
How to look up a business's UEI
How a public lookup finds a UEI, what the number means, and what an empty result does not prove.
Updated October 2026
Do you need only a UEI, or a full SAM.gov registration?
How Unique Entity ID Only differs from a full SAM.gov registration, and why it is not a way around the certifications.
Updated October 2026
Is my UEI the same as my EIN?
Why a UEI and an EIN are different numbers, what each one is for, and why this page never asks you to type one.
Updated October 2026
CAGE codes, explained
What the five-character code is for, how an entity gets one, and why it costs nothing.
Updated October 2026
Access and roles
Who should be your SAM.gov Entity Administrator
The role that controls your entity's registration, why it has to be someone inside your business, and what happens when the person holding it leaves.
Updated September 2026
Why SAM.gov asks for a Login.gov account, and whose it should be
Why SAM.gov signs you in through Login.gov, whose account that should be, and what to do when you cannot sign in to renew.
Updated October 2026
Letting someone help with your registration without sharing your password
SAM.gov has a role for a helper who is not part of your business. It is how a third party does the data entry without ever holding your sign-in.
Updated September 2026
Cost and help
SAM.gov help: where to get it, free and paid
Where to get help with a SAM.gov registration or renewal: free counselors, the Federal Service Desk, Firmenza's guides and free check, and what paid help does.
Updated October 2026
Is SAM.gov registration free?
What it costs to register or renew in SAM.gov, what a paid letter is selling, and where free help already exists.
Updated October 2026
What paid SAM.gov registration services do, and what to ask first
What a paid SAM.gov registration service actually does, and the questions to ask before you pay one.
Updated October 2026
The free help that already exists
APEX Accelerators, Small Business Development Centers, SCORE, and the Federal Service Desk.
Updated October 2026
Federal contracts for a small business: where do I start?
Where a small business starts with federal contracts: an identifier, a registration, and free counseling, with size and set-asides referred.
Updated October 2026
Purchase cards and micro-purchases: how agencies make small buys
What a micro-purchase is, how agencies buy and pay with the government purchase card, when such a sale needs no SAM.gov registration, and what taking the card involves.
Updated October 2026
Getting paid on a federal contract: your registration, your bank details and the invoice systems
What a federal contract asks of your SAM.gov registration from the offer to the final payment, where the government sends the money, and how invoices reach an agency.
Updated October 2026
Where a Puerto Rico business gets free help with SAM.gov
Where a Puerto Rico business can get free help with SAM.gov, and how that differs from the island's own bidder registry, the RUL.
Updated October 2026
What the Firmenza health report checks, and what it does not
The findings the free check can produce, where the data comes from, and its limits.
Updated September 2026
SBA programs
SBA's small business programs: 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned and veteran-owned
What SBA's 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned and veteran-owned programs are, where SBA takes applications, and why SBA, not this page, decides who qualifies.
Updated October 2026
What is SBA's 8(a) Business Development program?
What the 8(a) Business Development program is, where SBA takes applications, why a SAM.gov registration comes first, and who decides.
Updated October 2026
What is SBA's HUBZone program, and where is the HUBZone map?
What the HUBZone program is, where SBA's own HUBZone map is, where to apply, and why SBA, not a map or this page, decides who qualifies.
Updated October 2026
What is SBA's Women-Owned Small Business program (WOSB and EDWOSB)?
What the Women-Owned Small Business program is, how WOSB and EDWOSB differ, where to apply, and why SBA, not this page, decides who qualifies.
Updated October 2026
What is SBA's veteran-owned small business program (VOSB and SDVOSB)?
What SBA's Veteran Small Business Certification program covers, how VOSB and SDVOSB differ, where to apply, and why SBA, not this page, decides who qualifies.
Updated October 2026
Using Firmenza
Your watch list and reminders
What Firmenza's watch reads, which emails it sends, who else can get them, and what each watched registration shows you.
Updated October 2026
Contract opportunities in Firmenza
How Firmenza matches contract notices to your profile, keeps the notices you save, and adds grants, city notices and contracts ending soon.
Updated October 2026
Changing your registration mid-year
How the copilot's update mode shows only what your change touches, and when a change is an update rather than the yearly renewal.
Updated October 2026
Using the copilot, from start to finish
How Firmenza's registration copilot works: the questions one at a time, the format check, uploads, the worksheet and Human Review.
Updated October 2026
Your Firmenza account
How you sign in to Firmenza without a password, change the language and the theme, set your reminders, and delete your account.
Updated October 2026
Ask Firmenza, the AI assistant on every page
What Firmenza's AI assistant answers from, what it can tell you signed in, how to choose how it answers, and what it never does.
Updated October 2026
Your capability statement in Firmenza
How Firmenza's capability statement page works: what it holds, what it can fill in for you, and how to print it or save it as a PDF.
Updated October 2026
Check your own record
The free health check reads the public SAM.gov record and tells you what it says — status, expiration date, and what is worth a second look.