How to Register A New Federal Contracting Company and Find Opportunities with beta.SAM.gov
Are you in the process of creating a new company? Whether this is your first federal construction company, you are building a new contracting company or you’ve entered into a Joint Venture (JV) that needs to be registered, one of the first things on your to-do list should be to create a System for Award Management (SAM) account.
A SAM account is required for businesses to do federal contracting. It is also a place to browse recently posted or newly awarded contracts.
The government is updating all their government-wide acquisition systems in an effort to provide better security, data quality and user convenience, while increasing transparency into federal spending. Currently the SAM website is in the beta testing phase so you will create your account at https://beta.sam.gov/ and once the government has migrated all other acquisition systems it will just be the new SAM.gov.
We are here to help you navigate this sign-up process with a simple to-do list and general website information so you can utilize all the benefits the site has to offer.
To-Do List to Register for beta.SAM.gov
1. Create a new account in beta.SAM.gov
The government is using login.gov to access beta.SAM.gov as part of ongoing efforts to enhance security and have a single sign-on for all government-contracting applications.
Unless you have a login.gov account, you will need to create a new account. We have provided step-by-step instructions in the graphic at right.
If you have an existing login.gov account go to Sign In on the toolbar, enter your email address and password for your existing account. You will receive an email to associate your existing login.gov account with beta.SAM.gov. You will now use this login.gov account to sign into beta.SAM.gov.
2. Register Entity
Once an account is created the entity registration will need to be completed. This will update your account with all the of the company’s data. Most of this data will be required to pursue contracts, making it important to complete with accuracy. Entity registration items include the following.
Core Data: This information will include an entity’s basic information like name, address and financial information, as well as entity identifiers including a Dun and Bradstreet Number (DUNS), Cage Code and Tax Identification Number (TIN).
Assertions: This section will provide data including types of good and services, entity size, optional Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and disaster relief data.
Representations and Certifications: This section documents an entity’s representations and certification related to their small business (SB) status, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) provisions/clauses, and Architect-Engineer Responses.
Point of Contact: Providing company points of contact is mandatory for all registration types. Required contacts will include President/Owner, accounts receivable and government business.
3. Create your “Search Agents”
This is a good opportunity to determine what types of projects and contracts to search for that best represent your current work interests and capabilities. To create a new search on beta.SAM.gov follow these steps:
a. Click on Saved Searches
b. Click on Search Result which is located at the top of the far-left side bar.
c. Change the top drop down to the left of the top main search bar to Contract Opportunities
d. Insert key words
e. Customize your search on the left side bar to meet specific criteria related to your company or interests
f. Click Search
g. Click Save Search
h. Go to Saved Searches and you will see your new search
Note: to see your Saved Searches in the future, navigate to My Workspace and click on Saved Searches
4. Develop a “Follow List”
In beta.SAM.gov you will “Follow” opportunities you want to “watch” or keep track of their status. Once you manually “Followed” an opportunity you will still be able to select email notification frequency to get updates. To “Follow” an opportunity simply search for the opportunity in the search bar, click on the opportunity, then click on the Follow button (top right above the Opportunity Title). You will be able to see all the opportunities you are following under My Workspace / My Profile / Followings.
5. Add to Interested Vendors Lists:
Once you have identified solicitations that might be a good fit for your new company’s experience and capabilities you can add your company to the Interested Vendors list for that opportunity. This is a good approach for examining competition or developing new relationships in the market. This is a space that other companies can see your interest in the solicitation and reach out for potential teaming arrangements or offer subcontract opportunities.
Now you can start navigating the site. When you log in the site will automatically take you to the My Workspace page. From this point, you can review your profile, see your Following List, manage your Saved Searches and search for new opportunities.
If you have any questions hit us up, we spend a preposterous amount of time at this site. We can help set up a new account, create search agents and follow lists or help you respond to that first solicitation with your new company.
