CIRAS Government Contracting Specialist
They saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” If you have been working in the federal contract market during the past couple of years, there seems to be no truer statement.
The long-awaited, much-anticipated integration of SAM.gov and beta.SAM.gov occurred on May 24.
As of May 24, legacy SAM.gov, as you know it, was retired. Its registration, excluded parties listing, and other functionalities were moved to beta.SAM.gov. But the “beta” also went away, and it is now called SAM.gov. This is an entirely new, consolidated system.
Also new to users will be the introduction of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). This eventually will take the place of your company DUNS.
According to the GSA, the “transition will be seamless; you don’t need to take any action. All SAM.gov data related to entity registrations, entity reports, and exclusions will be migrated, as will roles and permissions. You will be able to access your data at www.SAM.gov, just like usual.”
We can certainly hope for the best, but it’s always a good idea to prepare for the worst, as history has shown us that system consolidations tend to come with many months of hiccups.
If you haven’t connected with your Iowa PTAC counselor, now is a good time to do so. Make sure you are set up with a BidMatch subscription, as this can help if you have difficulty navigating the new SAM.gov search function.
And to stay in the know on future changes, join the GSA Interact community. On the right-hand side of that page there is an option to “Stay in the Loop!” Click the “subscribe here” link to join their email list.
For more information, contact Melissa Burant at mmburant@iastate.edu or 563-726-9958.