What each section of a SAM.gov registration asks for

The facts that identify the entity. SAM.gov's page says the legal business name and physical address were validated when the entity got its Unique Entity ID. The section adds what is left: a mailing address, which can be the same as the physical one, and the day and month the fiscal year ends. A website and a division name or number are optional. The entity's start date is the validated one, and SAM.gov shows it filled in. A post office box is not a physical address.

What the IRS will check. The section asks for the type and the number of the taxpayer identification number, the most recent year the entity filed paperwork with the IRS, and the taxpayer name and address as on the most recent tax return. It then asks one question about ownership: whether a common parent that files its federal income tax returns on a consolidated basis owns or controls the entity. A yes asks for that parent's name and number, and the answer is the business's own statement about its ownership. The section ends with the IRS consent. Why SAM.gov's taxpayer check fails, and what the IRS consent is explains the check and the consent.

How the entity is set up. SAM.gov asks for the entity structure, such as a corporation, a partnership or a sole proprietorship, and the profit structure, for profit or not. Where they apply, it asks for an institution type, an organization factor such as a limited liability company, whether the entity manufactures goods, and the country of incorporation. Its page says to have the business formation certificate in view. A second page lists the socioeconomic categories, the Native American entity types and one question about the Department of Transportation's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise status. Each of those is a statement the business makes about itself.

Who owns or came before the entity. The section asks whether another entity owns or controls the one being registered. A yes asks for that owner's CAGE or NCAGE code and whether it sits outside the United States. It asks whether the entity is a successor to a predecessor that held a federal contract or grant within the period the question names, and a yes asks for the predecessors' codes, newest first. Its last page, Ownership Details, carries two representations from FAR 52.209-2: whether the entity is an inverted domestic corporation, and whether it is a subsidiary of one. Each is the business's own statement.

How the government pays the entity. The section asks whether the entity accepts credit cards. For payment it asks for a bank account and routing number, the account type, the financial institution's name and a way to reach it, and a payment address for when direct deposit is unavailable. The executive compensation questions ask about the share and the size of the entity's revenue from federal sources, and whether its senior executives' compensation is already public. SAM.gov's page says to have a bank statement or a voided check ready. This guide shows no account number and asks for none.

Whether certain proceedings, debts or exclusions concern the entity or its principals. The section opens with one gate question that names FAR 52.209-7, FAR 52.209-9 and 2 CFR 200 Appendix XII, and only a yes leads to the questions about federal and state proceedings connected to an award. Its other pages ask about convictions, civil judgments and pending charges for the offenses it lists, and about unpaid or delinquent federal tax. They ask about exclusions, where SAM.gov first says what its own records show for the entity, and about a contract ended for cause within the period the question names. Each cites the FAR provision it serves. Each is the business's own statement about itself, which this guide explains and never answers.

What the entity sells, and how large it is. The section asks for NAICS codes with one marked primary, which SAM.gov says is used in small business size determination, and for product and service codes, which are optional. Then it asks the business size: the number of employees and the annual receipts, worldwide, counted under the Small Business Administration's rules in 13 CFR 121, with the entity's own location optional. From those figures SAM.gov draws a table setting each NAICS code's size standard beside the entity. After it comes the Small Disadvantaged Business question from FAR 52.212-3, and an Architect-Engineer response appears only for the NAICS codes it names. PSC vs NAICS codes: what each one is and where each appears explains the two lists; whether the entity is small is its own statement.

Three optional things: the highest security clearance the entity holds for an employee and for its facility; electronic data interchange details, which its network provider supplies; and a listing in the Disaster Response Registry. A yes to the registry asks whether the entity needs bonding to bid on contracts, and the areas it serves.

The people the government may reach about the registration. On an All Awards registration three are mandatory. An accounts receivable contact receives and manages federal payments. An electronic business contact controls access to federal business systems for the entity. A government business contact is whom offices such as the CAGE program write to about the registration. Each needs a name, an email address and a phone number, and the last two an address. Optional contacts cover past performance and alternates. SAM.gov's page says adding a contact does not give that person access to the entity's record; Who should be your SAM.gov Entity Administrator is about the role that does.

Financial Assistance Response asks one gate question: whether the entity wishes to apply for, or already receives, federal financial assistance. A yes opens the general certifications and representations for federal financial assistance, a numbered list that cites 2 CFR 200 and other laws. Under it is a box in which the person signed in attests to their accuracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and the False Claims Act.

Defense Response asks whether the entity wishes to bid on, or holds, any contract the Department of Defense issues or funds. A yes opens the DFARS representations as plain yes-or-no questions grouped by topic: operations and finance, foreign ownership, and satellite services. Each names its DFARS provision, and they are reviewed against the provisions at the end.

Offer-Level Representations and Certifications holds the FAR representations that apply to specific procurements: location, pricing, technology products and services, foreign end products, and EPA designated products. Several offer a third answer, that the vendor will provide the information with specific offers. Every certification in the three sections is the business's own statement, answered by the person the business names, after a notice of what a false statement means. This guide suggests no answer.

Three pages. Review Entity Data repeats every section's review with an edit link each. It ends with the search authorization, which SAM.gov shows fixed at yes because it has discontinued the choice to opt out of public search. Review Representations and Certifications shows the financial assistance answers with their attestation and lists the FAR and DFARS provisions the registration populated. One attestation there names the person signed in and covers the entire NAICS table. Submit Registration carries SAM.gov's warning that a knowingly false statement can be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and pursued under the False Claims Act.

More than the three certification sections. In SAM.gov's layout several statements sit inside the entry sections: the common parent question in Taxpayer Information, the socioeconomic categories in Business Types and the two ownership representations in Entity Relationships. So does every page of Legal Proceedings, and so do the size figures and the Small Disadvantaged Business question in Goods & Services. Size, affiliation, ownership and exclusions are questions about the business's own facts. This guide explains where each is asked and never what to answer. A free APEX Accelerator, SBDC or SCORE counselor, or an attorney, reads those facts with you, and the card just below this guide names where to ask.

It describes an All Awards registration of a business in the United States, as its pages were read while one was completed. The Financial Assistance path, a renewal, a government entity and an entity outside the United States were not read, and SAM.gov's checklist is quoted for the Financial Assistance list instead. SAM.gov's screens change, so this guide names what each section asks and never how to move through it.

Firmenza's copilot asks each section's questions one at a time, in SAM.gov's order and in plain words, and Using the copilot, from start to finish shows what that looks like. Is SAM.gov in Spanish? The English words you will meet explains the section names for a Spanish-speaking reader. We complete your SAM.gov registration from your answers. A Firmenza specialist reviews your application.