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Tag: Sam.gov

Is it Beta, Old, or New SAM?

Over time, GSA is transitioning reporting tools to beta.SAM, while the original SAM.gov remains live. Although the final site will also be called SAM.gov, it will be much different than the current one. When the full functionality of the new SAM.gov is moved over to beta.SAM, the latter will lose the “beta” prefix and the old SAM.gov will simultaneously be retired. Confused yet? (Nextgov September 11, 2020)

According to Judith Zawasky, assistant commissioner for the office of systems management in the Federal Acquisition Service (and former EZGSA employee!), “the new site is on track to lose its “beta” designation in 2021.” Zawasky is trying to ensure that remaining transition areas and training are smooth. The soft launch is expected to be finished by 17 October, and after that date, users will no longer be able to run reports on the FPDS.gov site. Searches will remain part of the site for a slightly extended period. Zawastsky noted that what remains of the transition to the new SAM.gov may not be completed before 2025. (ibid)

The final SAM.gov site will include FBO, under Contract Opportunities; FPDS, under Data Bank; the original SAM.gov; the grants site Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, CFDA; Wage Determinations Online, WDOL; Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System, eSRS; the past performance databases, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, FAPIIS, Contractor Performance Assessment Reports System, CPARS, and Past Performance Information Retrieval System, PPIRS; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, FFATA. (ibid)

Can’t find what you are looking for on any site? Give us a call, we can help.

Emergency Rules

Government ontractors and small businesses should be aware of increased opportunities during the current COVID-19 national emergency. The government is permitted, during a national emergency, to set aside solicitations to allow awards “only to offerors residing or doing business primarily in the area affected by …[a] major disaster or emergency.” Contractors can verify if they fall into this category by reviewing Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.226-3(d). (Law360.com, April 13, 2020)

A national emergency declaration allows the government to (restrict) certain solicitations to small businesses in certain areas. These solicitations are either a set-aside or an evaluation preference is given to small businesses. (ibid)

During national emergencies, large contractors should look to team with small businesses, or to current teaming agreements already in place. In addition, contractors who are at the ready to produce/provide goods or services may be called on to contract with agencies to battle COVID-19. (ibid)

Micro purchase thresholds are another acquisition procedure government agencies may use during a national emergency. These allow for a simplified acquisition methodology for specific items or services required under emergency situations, such as the COVID-19 national emergency. (ibid)

State and local governments may also procure under the Stafford Act, wherein state governors request financial relief via federal grants that allow procurement under their own procedures. The Stafford Act authorizes federal contracts for “debris clearance, distribution of supplies, reconstruction, and other major disaster or emergency assistance activities.” In 2006 the Local Community Recovery Act amended the Stafford Act mandating local organizations to be given preference when using full and open competition. The FAR was also amended to align with the Local Community Recovery Act. Under the act, if a contractor does not meet all of the Recovery Act stipulations there are other factors that may be considered. (Contractors may self-certify that they are local.) (ibid)

Other streamlining acquisition procedures are available under federal supply schedule contracts, multi-agency blanket purchase agreements, and multi-agency indefinite-delivery contracts. Additionally, there is an easing of the requirement that a contractor be registered in SAM.gov at the time an offer is submitted to the government. (ibid)

The emergency declaration allows state and local governments to purchase from all GSA schedules. It also encourages accelerated payments to small business contractors.  (ibid)

Additional modified procedures to facilitate swift responses are:

  • Relaxation of qualifications requirements
  • Use of sole-source contracts
  • Use of oral requests for proposals
  • Use of letter contracts
  • Interagency acquisitions
  • Awards to small disadvantaged businesses
  • Retroactive overtime approvals
  • Waivers of bid guarantees when an emergency exists
  • Use of protest overrides where necessary for a contracting process to continue

In order to track procurements related to COVID-19, GSA added a National Interest Action (NIA) code to SAM.gov. To find information on the site, simply type COVID-19 2020 in the search bar. (ibid) Contractors can register with SAM.gov under the disaster response registry, and be sure to monitor the portals most closely aligned to the goods or services you provide.

Have questions about the many opportunities available under the current national emergency? Give us a call.

Emergency Relief for GSA Schedule Holders

GSA is instituting a 60-day extension to SAM.gov registrations with an expiration date between March 19 and May 17, 2020, to provide relief for those required to re-register during this time frame. (GSA Interact, March 24, 2020)

For example, if your entity registration is set to expire on April 1, 2020, you are granted an automatic extension to May 31, 2020. No action is required, other than to get re-registered by your new extension due date. (ibid)

GSA plans to process the extensions gradually to lessen the impact on their interfacing systems. Therefore, the entity administrators who are affected by the extension will receive an email with the subject line: “60-day SAM.gov Extension Granted for [Entity Name/DUNS/CAGE]. (ibid)

Once the records are extended, the revised expiration dates will be included in the SAM entity management extracts. (ibid)

Unclear if you are one of the 61,298 entities impacted by the extension? Give us a call.

You Are an Unique Entity!

You’ve heard (ad nauseum, probably) about replacing your DUNS number with the unique entity identifier (UEI) by  December 2020. Contractors will request and be assigned the new identifiers through SAM.gov. (To learn more about the transition, click here.) (GSA Interact, December 10, 2019)

Contractor award data, including UEI data, interfaces with many systems outside of the government interface. To assist contractors as well as other agencies, GSA published a first and second set of UEI/EVS specifications. For instance, Group 1 includes:

  • beta.SAM Entity Management. APE has updated schemas for a second version of the API. The second version allows  systems to pull information automatically. Differences between versions are marked as v1 (current version) or v2 (future version). Specs may be found here.
  • New EVS and UEI changes will not be updated to SAM Entity Management Web Services. Users of this web service should migrate to beta.SAM Entity Management API to retrieve UEI and new EVS information. 
  • The SAM public RESTful API will not be updated to incorporate UEI or new EVS changes. Users of RESTful API should migrate to beta.SAM Entity Management API to retrieve new EVS and UEI information.

Group 2 includes:

  • The beta.SAM Exclusions. API has updated schemas for version 2, which allows interfacing systems to pull information about the exclusions automatically.  Differences between the versions are marked as v1 for the current version and v2 for the future version. Specs may be found here.
  • The SAM Exclusions Search Web Services will not be updated to incorporate UEI or new EVS changes. Users of this web service should move to the beta.SAM Exclusions API in order to retrieve UEI and new EVS information concerning exclusions via interface.

The public will continue to receive UEI/EVS specifications as they are updated. IAE will release its testing plan by 30 December 2019. Additionally, IAE will complete the issuance of updated technical specifications interfacing systems. Contractors should start developing plans to allow for the interface changes and begin development for testing with IAE. (ibid)

Users with questions specific to interface testing should contact newsamtesting@gsa.gov. Users with questions specific to the SAM-generated UEI or entity validation services should contact entityvalidation@gsa.gov. (ibid)

Dun(s) Dun Dun Dun … No More

After almost 60 years of utilizing a DUNs number, every organization doing business with the government will receive a new identification number. Beginning in December 2020, the number and the process to acquire the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) will change. The new identifier will be generated through SAM.gov; however, DUNS numbers will be retained for historical purposes and Dunn & Bradstreet open data limitations remain in effect in perpetuity.

GSA is moving to a new, non-proprietary identifier, a 12 character alpha-numeric value, will be assigned by the System for Award Management. The Federal Register announced the new (UEI), including the identifier standards. Additional updates to the UEI can be found here: gsa.gov/entityid. (GSA.gov Unique Entity Identifier Update, September 9, 2019)

As you can imagine, many questions surround the upcoming change, and GSA’s recent online meeting answered some of them. Those that missed the meeting or want to listen again can find the presentation at beta.SAM.gov  and selecting the UEI video link. All questions submitted and answers provided are also available on this downloadable pdf.

The transition phase began in July of 2019, but DUNS will continue as the official identifier until December 2020. During the transition, all existing entity registrations will automatically be assigned a new UEI which will be displayed in SAM.gov and no one will be required to re-enter this data. (ibid)

Thinking this small change can lead to a lot of confusion? Have some questions that didn’t get asked or answered during the GSA public meeting? Give us a call.