How to register in SAM.gov

What SAM.gov is and why you need it

The System for Award Management, SAM.gov, is the federal government's vendor registry. Before an agency can award you a contract, pay you, or count you as a small business, your entity must have an active registration there. It is also where you get your Unique Entity ID and where the CAGE code request starts.

Registration costs nothing. If a company offers to register you for a fee, you are paying for convenience, not access. Many shops do it themselves in a few sittings.

The registration is also how contracting officers see you. It records your NAICS codes, size status, points of contact, and banking details. Buyers pull vendor lists from it during market research. A thin or stale registration makes you easy to skip.

What to gather before you start

Most delays come from data that does not match across systems. Collect these items first and use the same spelling everywhere.

• Legal business name exactly as it appears on your formation documents and with the IRS.
• Physical address. A post office box does not work here.
• Taxpayer Identification Number, usually the EIN, and the taxpayer name the IRS has on file for it.
• Date and state of incorporation or organization.
• Bank routing and account numbers for electronic funds transfer.
• NAICS codes that describe what you make or do. See choosing NAICS codes.
• Names and emails for your points of contact: an entity administrator, a government business contact, and an electronic business contact.
• Documents that prove your name and address, such as articles of incorporation, a recent bank statement, or a utility bill.

One person should own the registration. That person creates a Login.gov account with their own work email and becomes the entity administrator. Do not use a shared mailbox for this.

The registration, step by step

The SAM.gov form walks you through several pages. You can save and come back. The order below is the order you will see.

Entity validation and the CAGE code

Entity validation is the step most likely to stall. SAM.gov matches your legal name and physical address against an outside validation service. If your name has a comma where the IRS has none, or your suite number is formatted differently, you may get no match. When that happens you open an incident with the Federal Service Desk at fsd.gov and upload proof. Use the exact spelling from your formation documents in every field.

Once your registration passes review, the Defense Logistics Agency assigns a CAGE code. For a company in the United States this happens as part of SAM processing. You do not apply separately. Foreign companies get an NCAGE code first, from their national codification bureau, and enter it during registration.

The IRS also has to confirm that your TIN and taxpayer name match. If they do not, the registration will not activate. The name must be the one on your IRS letter, not a trade name.

Processing time varies. Plan on weeks, not days, and start well before you need to bid. Do not wait for a solicitation to appear before you register.

Representations and certifications

The representations and certifications section asks a set of questions drawn from the FAR and DFARS. They cover your size status under each NAICS code you list, whether you are woman owned, veteran owned, or located in a HUBZone, whether you have debarments or delinquent federal taxes, and other compliance points. You are certifying to the government, so treat every answer as a legal statement.

Small business size is set by the SBA size standard for each NAICS code, either an employee count or an annual receipts figure. Check the current standard on sba.gov before you claim small. A false claim can cost you contracts and more.

Two reps that come up often for shops: whether you are a manufacturer or a dealer for a given code, and whether the products you offer are made in the United States. Read each question in full.

You can update reps and certs at any time. You must also confirm them when you renew each year.

After you are active: renewal and upkeep

Your registration is active for one year from the date it is approved. It then expires unless you renew. An expired registration means you cannot be awarded a contract and, in many cases, cannot be paid on one you already hold. Set a reminder for a month or two before the expiration date.

Renewal is a review of the same data. Update anything that changed: address, contacts, bank, NAICS codes, size status. A legal name or address change means validation again, with documents.

Keep your entity administrator current, and add a second one. If the only administrator leaves, regaining control takes a formal process through the Federal Service Desk.

Once you are active, your CAGE and UEI work in every other system: DIBBS, the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment for invoicing, and prime supplier portals. See CAGE codes and UEI for what each one does.