Attachment 8 - SAM registration process.pdf

System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards

U.S. General Services Administration

SAM.gov Entity Validation Integrated Award Environment Stakeholder Forum August 9, 2022

Katherine Rollins Lead Program Manager SAM.gov, Integrated Award Environment (IAE) Office Technology Transformation Service (TTS)

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● What Is Entity Validation?

● How Does Entity Validation Work in SAM.gov?

● Demo

● What Happens After I Submit Documents?

● What Happens after Entity Validation?

● Frequently Asked Questions about Validation

● Where to Get Help

Agenda

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What Is Entity Validation?

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What Is Entity Validation?

The validation process is a critical piece of the federal awards ecosystem. It prevents improper payments, procurement fraud, and helps ensure the integrity of government contracts and grants processes, representing trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year.

SAM.gov uses an entity validation service (EVS) to independently verify the existence and uniqueness of an entity.

● Validation is required when you

○ register an entity

○ renew your entity registration each year

○ get a Unique Entity ID, and

○ update or change your entity’s name or address

● Every entity must validate with the new provider’s databases and data sources, even if you had an active registration.

IAE Stakeholder Forum

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How Does Entity Validation Work in SAM.gov?

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How Does Entity Validation Work in SAM.gov?

IAE Stakeholder Forum

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You are About to Validate Your Entity

Enter Entity Information

We are Searching Millions of Records

Enter Incorporation Information

Review Entity Details (select entity)

Are All of Your Details Correct?

Proceed to Core Data Registration pages (if registering)

Receive Entity Validation

Update Entity Details

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Document Your Entity Details

Confirm Entity Details

Entity Documents Submitted

Get Unique Entity ID

At this point, your validation incident is generated. The EVS has received your documents and will conduct a review.

Processing and resolving new incidents with correct documentation currently will take 7 calendar days. Submitting incorrect documents will delay incident resolution timeframes.

No

Yes

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Demo

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What Happens After I Submit Documents?

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● Sign in to FSD.gov to add a comment to your validation incident. Your validation incident from SAM.gov will be available under “My Incidents.” Write a comment or question at the top of your incident.

● Add documents in your Entities Workspace in SAM.gov. Do NOT add documents at FSD.gov.

How can I ask a question about my entity validation?

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● If sending a bank statement or utility bill, make sure it is less than five years old.

● Send documents that match your current, correct name and address you have provided to SAM.gov.

Document Rules for Successful Validation

This is the documentation playbook!

Documentation submitted without following these guidelines will be rejected and you will be asked to send additional documents.

● If your documents are in a language other than English, send both non-English-language originals and a certified English translation.

● Make sure your scans or photos do not obscure or cut off information, and are not low contrast or out of focus.

● Sorry, we can’t accept an original application or typed document, or screenshots of a form where you entered data on a website.

● Sorry, P.O. boxes are not accepted for your physical address!

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● Only the EVS provider receiving incident tickets from SAM.gov can validate your entity. They will communicate with you via your incident ticket only.

● Federal Service Desk agents cannot address validation issues over the phone or chat.

● Do not submit multiple validation incidents for the same issue. Creating multiple incidents does not expedite our handling of your incident and actually slows down the overall process.

Incidents are processed in the order received.

We are closely monitoring the situation and are working to address each incident as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This is our top priority and will continue to be so until incident resolution times are stabilized.

What Can I Do Now?

If you have an open incident:

● Check your documentation

● Monitor your email

● Respond to messages about your incident promptly

If your registration renewal is upcoming:

● Start early

● Prepare entity documents, if needed

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What Happens after Entity Validation?

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What Happens After Entity Validation?

If your current, correct entity information is in SAM.gov, you will complete validation immediately and receive your Unique Entity ID.

You can continue on to complete your entity registration from this page or later from your Entity Workspace.

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What Happens After Entity Validation?

If you had to submit documentation to add or update your entity, your documents will be reviewed by the entity validation team. You will receive an email notifying you when your entity is validated. At that time, you may continue registering, renewing, or getting your Unique Entity ID.

Go to SAM.gov and select the “Entities” widget.

Your next action will depend on your entity’s status. If you manage multiple entities, go to the entities workspace to select the entity referenced in the email.

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What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?

If your entity is in the Pending ID Assignment status, select “Get Started” from your Entities Workspace.

Enter your entity information.

This time, you should see an exact match for your entity’s name and physical address.

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What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?

If your entity is in the ID Assigned status, go to your Entities Workspace by selecting the ID Assigned bubble.

If your entity has a “Validation Required” alert, select “Validate Entity” from the Actions menu (the three vertical dots) to complete the Entity Validation process.

You should find an exact match for your entity’s name and physical address.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Validation

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We check against millions of records pulled from hundreds of official sources, such as government databases, to find a match to the information you enter in SAM.gov. In some cases, an exact match will not be found. When this happens, we use the verifiable documentation you submit to establish the correct information.

IAE Stakeholder Forum

Answer

Why can’t I find a match to the name and address I entered in SAM.gov?

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Once you are validated in SAM.gov, your entity information is in our database.

As long as your information does not change, you will not have to open an incident or submit documentation to validate.

IAE Stakeholder Forum

Answer

Will I need to validate any time I update my SAM.gov registration?

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CAGE code reviews are handled by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). SAM.gov provides them with your name and address and they run a separate validation against their database.

Resolution of CAGE code issues is handled directly with DLA.

IAE Stakeholder Forum

Answer

Why am I getting rejected at CAGE if I am validated in

SAM.gov?

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Where to Get Help

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Where to Get Help

The Help page on SAM.gov includes a list of help topic trends, including validation help, FAQs and a menu to navigate through help topics.

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We will also continue to update our FSD help pages for all the latest information around validation and other changes impacting any IAE system.

System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards

U.S. General Services Administration

The Integrated Award Environment

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https://buy.gsa.gov/interact/community/47/activity-feed https://buy.gsa.gov/interact/community/47/activity-feed

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Questions?

Thank you!