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
SAM.gov asks for a Login.gov account because that is how you sign in, and the account belongs to a named person inside your business. It is not a shared company login, and a helper uses their own account rather than yours. Firmenza never asks for, stores, or uses those credentials; a sign-in problem goes to Login.gov's own help.
Why does SAM.gov ask for a Login.gov account?
SAM.gov asks you to sign in with a Login.gov account. That account is how the system knows which person is acting. It is not a Firmenza account, and Firmenza never creates one, opens one, or types into one.
Each person sets up their own Login.gov account, on login.gov, and uses it themselves. A check there that you are a person is for you to meet yourself. Nobody else completes it for you, and Firmenza does not.
Whose Login.gov account should it be?
The account should belong to a named person inside the business, in their own name. The Entity Administrator role sits on that person. It does not sit on a shared company mailbox, and it does not sit on a consultant, an accountant, or a registration service.
A helper does not use your account. The guide on letting someone help is the supported path: their own Login.gov account, and a role your Entity Administrator can grant and take back. Never send your username or password to a helper, and never type either one into a page on this site.
What if I cannot sign in to renew?
If you cannot sign in to renew, start with whose account it is. If the account is yours, Login.gov's own help, on login.gov, is where a forgotten sign-in or a sign-in that will not open belongs. This guide does not walk those screens.
If the person who held the account has left, and nobody at the business holds the Entity Administrator role, the business appoints a new administrator by sending the Federal Service Desk a notarized Entity Administrator Appointment Letter, at no charge. A new shared login is not that path. The guide on your Entity Administrator is the fuller one.
Where does a sign-in problem go?
A question about the Login.gov account itself goes to Login.gov's own help. A question about the SAM.gov registration, a role on the entity, or a ticket you already have goes to the Federal Service Desk, at no charge.
A counselor at an APEX Accelerator, a Small Business Development Center, or SCORE can sit with you through the work, still without your password. The guide on the free help that exists names those doors. Firmenza explains the registration in plain words. It does not sign in as you.
Free help also exists: APEX Accelerators (DoD-funded, free) and the Federal Service Desk will help you at no charge. We built Firmenza to be useful alongside them.
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