SAM Registration and Government agencies

i dont know what you're doing and i'm not into 20 questions, but did you look through 2 CFR and see if there's something there applicable to your situation? Is checking SAM registration a burden? arbitrary questions.

Niles -- Good question.  I think you need to be a little more specific though.  Are you talking about Federal Agency A entering into an Economy Act agreement with Federal Agency B?  ... Or, are you talking about some sort of FAR-based contract between a federal agency and municipality?  Federal agencies don't register in Sam.gov, but a municipality would need to be registered as a precondition to entering into a contract with a federal agency.  Again, this gets very fact-specific very fast, so if you can provide some more detail, that would help the community answer your question.

Oyster said:

Federal agencies don't register in Sam.gov,

Some do. I don't exactly know why but assume there is a reason. My civilian sub agency does. Perhaps I should ask. 

dsmith101abn said:

Some do. I don't exactly know why but assume there is a reason. My civilian sub agency does. Perhaps I should ask. 

I'm told by my finance/fiscal office there's not a mechanism to pay other federal/state/county/city organizations if there is no SAM registration. System limitation. Whether that applies to other executive agencies I do not know. Whether that is a requirement of any regulation i do not know that ether.

Niles said:

Is it required to check for SAM.gov registration when entering into a contract or agreement with either another federal agency, or a local Government? Since the point of checking SAM is to make a responsibility determination this seems unnecessary to me.  I don't see anything about this under FAR 4.11.

How about a literal read of FAR 9.104-6(a), does it help answer your question for a Federal contract award?  Reminder the FAR definition of "shall" and checking of SAM.gov could mean many things yet for responsibility it would seem 9.104-6(a) is clear.

dsmith101abn said:

I'm told by my finance/fiscal office there's not a mechanism to pay other federal/state/county/city organizations if there is no SAM registration. System limitation. Whether that applies to other executive agencies I do not know. Whether that is a requirement of any regulation i do not know that ether.

Thanks dsmith101abn.  I stand corrected.  Thank you for that information.  I know see that sam.gov's website explains that it extends to federal agencies too.

Oyster said:

Niles -- Good question.  I think you need to be a little more specific though.  Are you talking about Federal Agency A entering into an Economy Act agreement with Federal Agency B?  ... Or, are you talking about some sort of FAR-based contract between a federal agency and municipality?  Federal agencies don't register in Sam.gov, but a municipality would need to be registered as a precondition to entering into a contract with a federal agency.  Again, this gets very fact-specific very fast, so if you can provide some more detail, that would help the community answer your question.

Thank you. I'm referring to a Federal Agency entering into to both IAAs and FAR based contracts with local municipalities, typically resulting from a Memorandum of Understanding. 

I'm asking to see if a policy/practice in my agency could be revised. It's know it is not an onerous burden, but it seemed unnecessary to me to be checking SAM registration for government agencies and local governments. 

C Culham said:

How about a literal read of FAR 9.104-6(a), does it help answer your question for a Federal contract award?  Reminder the FAR definition of "shall" and checking of SAM.gov could mean many things yet for responsibility it would seem 9.104-6(a) is clear.

FAR 9.104-6(a) would literally apply to a contract action above the SAT. We're typically under SAT, but that is a good point. 

dsmith101abn said:

I'm told by my finance/fiscal office there's not a mechanism to pay other federal/state/county/city organizations if there is no SAM registration. System limitation. Whether that applies to other executive agencies I do not know. Whether that is a requirement of any regulation i do not know that ether.

We have the ability to conduct transactions with entities not registered in SAM. 

Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

On 11/16/2023 at 2:01 PM, Niles said:

Thank you. I'm referring to a Federal Agency entering into to both IAAs and FAR based contracts with local municipalities, typically resulting from a Memorandum of Understanding. 

I'm asking to see if a policy/practice in my agency could be revised. It's know it is not an onerous burden, but it seemed unnecessary to me to be checking SAM registration for government agencies and local governments. 

FAR 9.104-6(a) would literally apply to a contract action above the SAT. We're typically under SAT, but that is a good point. 

We have the ability to conduct transactions with entities not registered in SAM. 

Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

I don't think that it is accurate to say that checking SAM.gov is only about the responsibility determination for contract award. FAR 4.1102(a) states:

Quote

Offerors and quoters are required to be registered in SAM at the time an offer or quotation is submitted in order to comply with the annual representations and certifications requirements except for— [...]

The stated scope of FAR 4.11 - System for Award Management, says:

Quote

This subpart prescribes policies and procedures for requiring contractor registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) to—

(a) Increase visibility of vendor sources (including their geographical locations) for specific supplies and services; and

(b) Establish a common source of vendor data for the Government.

As other posters have noted, there are Federal agencies and state/local governments registered in SAM with UEIs. I'm still digging into why federal agencies have profiles in SAM, but state and local governments have to be registered and active in SAM in order to receive other types of Federal awards, such as grants (see 2 CFR 25.205(a)). If you look up State and local governments, you'll see that some are registered for "Federal Assistance Awards Only", and others are registered for "All Awards". It is important to make sure that the vendor is registered "For All Awards" if you are awarding a contract to a state or local government (as opposed to other types of Federal financial assistance).

Unless an exception applies, FAR 4.1103(a) says that the contracting officer "shall" verify that the offeror or quoter is registered in SAM at the time an offer or quotation is submitted through the use of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). (NOTE: When I first started in contracting, the requirement was that the prospective contractor needed to be registered in SAM prior to contract award, however that seems to have been changed in 2018 (see FAR Case 2015-005 Item 1)).

Since an Interagency Acquisition (IAA) isn't an offer or quote, that requirement wouldn't apply - at least not from a FAR-perspective. My experience with IAAs is that a lot of the guidance is very agency dependent, but since Federal agencies don't complete annual representations and certifications and can't be suspended/debarred, it doesn't make a lot of sense why you would need to check SAM before entering into an IAA. Another poster mentioned payments to other Federal agencies, but the mechanism for transferring funds from one agency to another is the Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection (IPAC) system/G-Invoicing.

But for awarding federal contracts in accordance with the FAR, the mandatory check makes sense to ensure that the vendor has complied with the requirements in FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management, which is required in "all solicitations" (see FAR 4.1102(a) for exceptions). 

Checking for SAM right before award (which is what the previous language in FAR 4.1103 used to mandate) seems like a good way to make sure that your vendor hasn't been suspended or disbarred in the time between receiving the offer or quote and making the award, as well as making sure their registration is still active at the time of award (one of the requirements in 52.204-7).

So while the FAR no longer states that the CO shall check SAM prior to award, it seems like you would need to in order to ensure that the contractor is in compliance with the requirements of FAR 52.204.7 (and subsequently FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance).