Att 0002 - Vendor Guide - beta.sam.gov.pptx

Contractor/Vendor Guide beta.SAM.gov

Topic: Slide number(s):

Understanding SAM/Beta.SAM and 3 – 11 Navigation Tips in Beta.SAM Establishing a User Account 12 – 30 Accessing Your Workspace and Profile 31 – 37 Search for Contract Opportunity Notices 38 – 58 (Includes: Downloading, Saving a Search, and Following an Opportunity) Interested Vendors List (IVL) 59 – 64 Public Standard Contract Opportunity Report and Data 65 – 70 Contract Opportunity Attachments 71 – 80 Helpful Links 81

Understanding SAM/Beta.SAM Navigation Tips in Beta.SAM

What is SAM?

The System for Award Management (SAM) (https://sam.gov) is a Federal Government owned and operated free web site that consolidates acquisition capabilities into one site and is undergoing modernization. SAM will co-exist with the modernized site, “Beta.SAM”, until no longer required.

Here are a few things you must do in order to be ready to do business with the U.S. Government:

Be sure you have a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number (a free service) provided by Dun and Bradstreet (D&B): https://www.dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html Be sure the information you enter is exact because this must match the Legal Business Name (LBN) and PHYSICAL address that will be imported to your SAM registration. If you advance to the SAM registration step and your information is incorrect, you must return to D&B to make the correction.

Complete the SAM registration (a free service). There are multiple steps to the SAM registration, be sure you complete every step. When finished and your registration is submitted you will receive a “success” notification. Your SAM registration will have to be renewed annually.

As part of the SAM registration process your company will be assigned a Commercial and Government Entity Code (CAGE) Code and the information for your CAGE Code will need to match the DUNS and SAM information. For more information on CAGE Codes: https://cage.dla.mil/ NOTE: You are registering with your company’s LEGAL business name and PHYSICAL Address.

NOTE: The average cycle time for your SAM Registration to become active is at least 10-business days from date of submission at SAM. If questions arise it will take longer!

You’ll use the information you provide in SAM for many purposes, including:

Confirm your company meets eligibility requirement to do business with the federal, state, local government as well as tribal and educational institutions;

Your company is categorized appropriately;

Your company has a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) or an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

The legacy SAM application is found at https://sam.gov.

Contractors still need to register here until its capabilities are transitioned to Beta.SAM in the future (anticipated in 2021)

What is Beta.SAM?

It is the transitioned modernized site that will contain all the functionality/domains for 10 online federal awarded management systems and be streamlined into one environment. Once all capabilities have transitioned to Beta.SAM all domains will have the same look and feel so users will not have to learn/re-learn multiple systems. Beta.SAM is the “official” site for some acquisition functionality already, such as Contract Opportunities.

How is Beta.SAM organized?

Access video tutorials and FAQs Quick Start Guides Glossary Search online help Discover additional resources Read featured articles Find new content

Find Contract Opportunities Extracts and APIs available for public Find Federal assistance Look up wage rates Find registered vendors Save searches Download search results Get featured search results

Regardless of the domain the functionality is organized in the same way. Each “icon” is a tab and indicates primary functionality within the tab.

Click here to access the available tabs Provides information on maintenance actions and system outages Home returns you to the main landing page from any screen within any domain Connect to web services and APIs. Integrate with data feeds to download extracts Access your saved searches, requests, and notifications Administer your organization and users Manage your assistance listings Post your contract opportunities Register your company Report your sub-awards Manage past performance Search “Sign in” is your account workspace Learning Center

What is “Contract Opportunities”?

The Contract Opportunities domain in Beta.SAM officially replaced FBO.gov on November 12, 2019 and is frequently known as “Opportunities”.

The Contract Opportunities domain within Beta.SAM is where you can view the procurement notices from federal contracting offices to find opportunities to bid for federal business. Anyone interested in doing business with the government can use this system to research active opportunities. Along with the migration of FBO, there will be a few changes to the terms that you're familiar with. The next few slides will help.

NOTE: If your entity wants to submit an offer / bid for a solicitation you must have completed a registration in the legacy System for Award Management (SAM) at https://sam.gov.

Major changes from FBO.gov to Opportunities: Terminology

User Tip for Search Results:

Filter – for notices on left hand side tool bar Keywords, Status, Notice Type, Date, Organization Sort By – Published Date Response Date Modified Date Inactive Date Title

Major changes from FBO.gov to Opportunities: Notice Types & Interested Vendors List (IVL)

User Tip:

Search Results – more capability to sort/search IVL Notice Types – Special Notice Sources Sought Presolicitation Intent to Bundle Requirements Solicitation Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Award Notice Justification Sale of Surplus Property

Multiple resources are available to help you stay informed about changes to Beta.SAM:

Sign up to keep abreast of what you need to know before changes impact you.

https://interact.gsa.gov/group/integrated-award-environment-iae-industry-community

Check back to read new information about upcoming changes, tips, and more:

https://dodprocurementtoolbox.com/site-pages/betasam

When trying to find award data, should I search the legacy system or Beta.SAM?

The search tool on beta.SAM.gov accesses the same production data that exists in legacy systems. Special permissions or login credentials are not required to access beta.SAM.gov publicly available data. The data presented will be production data from the systems until users are able to enter data directly into beta.SAM.gov. Users may view detailed records for all of the domains below:

Contractor/Vendor Guide Beta.SAM.gov

Establishing a User Account

The next few charts will help you establish your user account in Beta.SAM. Please note, if you have a user account in the legacy System for Award Management (SAM) (https://sam.gov) you can use the same LOGIN.gov email and password. If you do not have a legacy SAM account, you will need to complete all the steps to include LOGIN.gov Note: When you complete your user profile, we recommend you associate your account with your entity’s registration from SAM. To do so, you’ll need to know your entity’s DUNS number or CAGE Code. If your account isn’t tied to your company, you will not gain access to the Interested Vendors List (IVL) and you will not be allowed to request access to controlled documents.

Click “Sign In.”

Then click “Accept” in the pop-up window.

Start at the Homepage (https://beta.sam.gov) Please note: all screen shots are captured using CHROME. If you use a different web browser your screen layout may look slightly different. We recommend CHROME as your browser.

Click ‘Create an account” to get started.

Note, if the email has been used for legacy SAM, you can use the same login.gov e-mail & password, but you will still need to create a new Beta.SAM account.

Enter an email address.

You will receive an email from no-reply@login.gov with a link in it to verify your email address. Click the link in the email.

Clicking the link will confirm your email.

Create a strong password.

Login.gov requires two-factor authentication. So you must pick a secondary authentication method. Picking phone requires you have a phone that can receive calls or texts.

If selected, login.gov will send a text message to the phone number you enter.

Enter the code from the text to confirm your secondary authentication method. You will have to do this every time you log in.

Choose another authentication method to complete login set up. This method will only be used when the first method fails.

Success! You may now log in to Beta.SAM or SAM.gov.

Click continue to return to Beta.SAM.gov home page to continue setting up your account.

After returning to Beta.SAM.GOV, you will need to sign into your account to complete setting up your profile.

If you would like your account to be associated with an entity, enter the entity DUNS number / CAGE code for your entity registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).

If you want access to the Interested Vendors List (IVL) or request access to any controlled attachments, then your account must be associated with either the DUNS number or CAGE code for your entity. If you don’t do it now, you will have to update your account profile before access will be granted.

Back-up: Looking up your SAM registration information (if needed)

Begin at the Beta.sam.gov home page. Select “Entity Information” from the drop down and enter your search term (business name, DUNS number, etc.)

Tip: If you don’t know your entity’s DUNS Number or CAGE Code, you can look your entity’s SAM registration up (note – if your entity has not authorized public release of its SAM registration, this will not work – you will need to contact your SAM registration representative)

Scroll through the search results until you find the correct company. CAGE code is displayed in the summary.

You can click on the company name to see further details.

This is an example of the data you will see within the detailed entity screen.

The Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code is a five-character ID number used extensively within the federal government, assigned exclusively by the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) CAGE Program Office. The CAGE Code supports a variety of mechanized systems throughout the government and provides a standardized method of identifying a given legal entity at a specific physical location. Agencies may also use the code for a facility clearance, or a pre-award survey. There is no cost to obtain a CAGE Code.

Please visit the DLA’s CAGE Search & Inquiry page to verify that the information for your entity is accurate and complete.

For US Located SAM Registrants:

You do not need to have a CAGE Code prior to registering in the System for Award Management (SAM). Once you submit your Entity Registration for processing, SAM will send your entity information to the DLA for CAGE Code assignment. The DLA assigns the CAGE Code, SAM will then receive and apply the code to the Entity Registration. No further action by the registrant is necessary to apply the CAGE Code to an Entity Registration, unless the DLA requests additional information. If the DLA needs any additional information for the assignment of your CAGE code, your Government Business POC will receive an email notification from the DLA. Please follow the instructions in the email to provide any requested information.

For Non-US Located SAM Registrants:

NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Codes are CAGE Codes for entities located outside the United States and its territories. Assignment of NCAGE Codes is part of the NATO Codification System and is required for all foreign entities before completing a SAM registration. Once you receive your NCAGE Code, you should enter it on the “CAGE or NCAGE Code” page in the “Core Data” section of your Entity Registration.

For Non-SAM Registrants:

U.S. entities which are NOT receiving contracts and/or grants from the U.S. Government may request a CAGE Code for the following:

Facility Security Clearance Assignment of a Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DODAAC) To fulfill the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 4.18 requirement for Ownership of Offeror to identify their Immediate Owner and/or Highest-Level Owner

The bottom line: if you wish to do business with the Federal government and want to have the opportunity to bid on a solicitation; to optimize all functionality within Beta.SAM, then your company will need a CAGE/NCAGE Code.

More information – what is a CAGE/NCAGE Code and why do I need one?

Contractor/Vendor Guide Beta.SAM.gov

Accessing Your Workspace and Profile

Please note: all screen shots are captured using CHROME. If you use a different web browser your screen layout may look slightly different. We recommend CHROME as your browser.

Complete the remaining login steps.

Afterward, the first page that comes up is your Workspace.

Your Workspace is tailored to your roles in Beta.SAM. The more roles you have, the more tiles you will have in the center of the Workspace screen.

All users will have the User Directory available, although it is limited to your organization.

All users can access their Profile by clicking the link at the top of the screen.

Users can also go directly to any Saved Searches or items they are Following by clicking those buttons.

If you click on “Profile”, you will be taken to your Account Details page. You can also get to this page at anytime by clicking on the User icon at the top of the screen.

On this page you can edit your contact info or associate yourself to an entity registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) by clicking the ‘Edit’ pencil icon.

You can also request an API key on this page if you intend to set up a system interface to Beta.SAM (note – most users do not need this).

You can review any roles that you have in Beta.SAM by clicking on the ‘My Roles’ tab.

You can review any Contract Opportunity notices that you are following by clicking on the Following tab (or from clicking the icon on your Workspace).

Here you can set the frequency that Beta.SAM will send you emails if notice is updated.

You can also choose to ‘unfollow’ a notice here.

You can review any saved searches you have established by clicking on the icon on your Workspace.

On this page you can re-run the search criteria at any time by clicking the title of the saved search.

You can also delete the saved search under the Actions drop-down

Beta.SAM.gov

Search for Contract Opportunity Notices (Includes: Downloading, Saving a Search, and Following an Opportunity)

What is “Contract Opportunities”?

The Contract Opportunities domain in Beta.SAM officially replaced FBO.gov on November 12, 2019 and is frequently known as “Opportunities”.

The Contract Opportunities domain within Beta.SAM is where you can view the procurement notices from federal contracting offices to find opportunities to bid for federal business. Anyone interested in doing business with the government can use this system to research active opportunities. Along with the migration of FBO, there will be a few changes to the terms that you're familiar with. The next few slides will help.

NOTE: If your entity wants to submit an offer / bid for a solicitation you must have completed a registration in the legacy System for Award Management (SAM) at https://sam.gov.

Major changes from FBO.gov to Opportunities: Terminology

User Tip for Search Results:

Filter – for notices on left hand side tool bar Keywords, Status, Notice Type, Date, Organization Sort By – Published Date Response Date Modified Date Inactive Date Title

Major changes from FBO.gov to Opportunities: Notice Types & Interested Vendors List (IVL)

User Tip:

Search Results – more capability to sort/search IVL Notice Types – Special Notice Sources Sought Presolicitation Intent to Bundle Requirements Solicitation Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Award Notice Justification Sale of Surplus Property

To Search Opportunities Without a Beta.SAM Account

Go to: https://beta.sam.gov/

Without signing in you have two options:

Click “Search” In the dropdown select “Contract Opportunities”

OR

Click on “Search Contract Opportunities”

ALL Opportunities will be displayed in a list. To search within the results see chart 20.

NOTE: An account is required, and you must be signed-in to follow an opportunity or download / save a search.

To Search Opportunities With a Beta.Sam Account When signed into your account you have two options:

Click “Search” Click on the down arrow to select “Contract Opportunities” for a list of all opportunities.

OR

Click on “Search Contract Opportunities”

TIP: From the home page, one can search opportunities by solicitation number, NAICS code, or DoDAAC of the government contracting office.

NOTE: An account is required, and you must be signed-in to follow an opportunity or download / save a search.

Example Search of Contract Opportunities by NAICS code.

The results are ordered by Relevance as a default.

Note: that the initial search term is displayed in “Keywords” below. It is now one of the “filters” for the search results.

These are the additional filters you can use to narrow your search criteria.

Note – in the Federal Organizations area, you can narrow the organization by Service, Major Command, or even office (e.g., DoDAAC).

If you know the code for the organization or the specific name, you can enter it in the box (Beta.SAM will bring back matches).

If you don’t know the code, you can use the look-up feature (…)

You can download your search results by clicking the “Download” button at the top of the screen. You will be offered the opportunity to download in either a .pdf or .csv format.

Tip: While the search results will be presented in the order of relevance; you can change the ‘sort by’ to “Title” or “Last Published Date” in the Sort By field.

NOTE: An account is required, and you must be signed-in to download a search.

Saving a Set of Search Criteria

Conduct a search as described in previous screens; adjust the filters as desired.

Click ‘Save Search’ at the top to save the filters you’ve created into a Search that you can re-run at any time.

NOTE: An account is required, and you must be signed-in to save a search.

Give your search a name and click Save.

Use the hamburger icon at the top of the screen to toggle back to your Workspace.

Back on the Workspace tab, you can go to the Saved Searches button right under your profile.

Your Saved Searches screen will come up; click on the search name to run the search again at any time.

Following a Contract Opportunity Notice

Following a notice will cause Beta.SAM to send you a notification whenever the notice is updated by the government.

From a search return page, click into the title of the action you wish to follow.

NOTE: An account is required, and you must be signed-in to follow an opportunity notice.

Once you are in the notice itself and decide that this is one you would like to ‘follow’, just click the ‘Follow’ button at the top of the screen

Note that once you’ve clicked it, it will change the button status. Click on it again to ‘unfollow’.

To see the list of notices you are following at any given time, go to your account Profile page.

While logged in, click on the person icon at the top of any page to open the available tabs and click ‘Profile’

Your Accounts Details tab will come up – click on the Following tab

On the ‘Following’ tab, you are able to see all of the specific notices you are following

Note – a fix is coming to show the Notice ID correctly in the Record ID field – Beta.SAM is currently showing it’s own internal number)

Here you can also change the frequency for which you are emailed notices regarding followed actions

You can unfollow actions here as well by changing the Action tab

You can also access the list of notices that you are following from your Beta.SAM Workspace

Just click on the Following icon

Interested Vendors List (IVL)

What is the Interested Vendors List (IVL)?

The intent of the Interested Vendor List (IVL) feature is to collect a list of vendors interested in competing for the opportunity or vendors interested in subcontracting opportunities. The contracting officer is the only person who can determine whether to include an IVL and the view settings for an IVL.

How do I get on the IVL?

You must have an account in Beta.SAM and your account must be associated with your entity’s DUNS Number / CAGE Code from its registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) (https://sam.gov.

It is important to realize that every IVL will be tied to a notice!

If you are interested in receiving notifications about a notice you need to take action in Beta.SAM!

If you wish to be added to the IVL you must take action in Beta.SAM!

If the government contracting officer has made the IVL public, others can see that your entity is on the IVL!

Please note: all screen shots are captured using CHROME. If you use a different web browser your screen layout may look slightly different. We recommend CHROME as your browser.

Once logged in, Search is available at the top of your screen. Click on the down arrow to select “Contract Opportunities” and search to find an Opportunity.

NOTE: An account is required and you need to be signed in to sign up for the interested vendors list (IVL).

Click on a results title to see the entire opportunity.

If the government has established an Interested Vendors List – click it. (Note – not all notices will have an IVL) Top of Page Bottom of Same Page NOTE: An account is required and you need to be signed in to sign up for the interested vendors list (IVL).

You can click “Add Me to the Interested Vendors List” to be added to the list. Clicking the same button again will remove you from the list.

If the government has made the IVL public, you will be able to see all the entities that have added themselves to the list.

NOTE: An account is required and you need to be signed in to sign up for the interested vendors list (IVL).

beta.SAM.gov

Public Standard Contract Opportunity Report and Data

Public Standard Contract Opportunity Reports Reports on federal contract opportunities are available to the public. These reports provide detailed information in support of business decisions.

Users must be logged in to access these reports.

Please note: all screen shots are captured using CHROME. If you use a different web browser your screen layout may look slightly different. We recommend CHROME as your browser.

Once logged in, click the hamburger icon to get the menu. Click “Data Bank”.

For a Standard Contract Notice Details Report, click the link.

Initial report will run without filters.

Set filters on the left side to narrow down results.

Once complete, click Download (default format will be .csv)

Contract Opportunity Attachments

Things you need to know before you can access attachments to Contract Opportunity notices:

Contract Opportunity attachments within Beta.SAM are managed by two categories: “Public” and “Controlled”. Each attachment is labeled within the search results under the column header “access”.

“Public”: These types of attachments do not require any special handling. Access to them does not require your company to be pre-certified by the Joint Certification Program. However you must be logged in to your Beta.SAM account, and your account must be associated to your entity’s DUNS number / CAGE Code from its active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) (https://sam.gov).

“Controlled”: These type of attachments require special handling due to the information they contain. Users are not allowed to access controlled attachments unless your entity has been certified by the Joint Certification Program. Within Beta.SAM, your user account must be associated to your entity’s DUNS number / CAGE Code from its active registration in SAM and you must be logged in to your account in order to request access to these attachments. You will not immediately be permitted to view the document. Your entity’s Data Custodian (block 3A of the DD Form 2345) is the only authorized individual to be approved for access to the attachment(s). Your entity is responsible to manage the documents in accordance with prescribed directives.

If your entity is NOT already certified by the Joint Certification Program: the Joint Certification Program’s web site is found at https://www.dla.mil/HQ/LogisticsOperations/Services/JCP/. There is a link for completing a DD Form 2345. Please note that the form must be mailed along with additional information. Approval can take several weeks, so please plan accordingly.

Please note: all screen shots are captured using CHROME. If you use a different web browser your screen layout may look slightly different. We recommend CHROME as your browser.

After logging in, the search capability is at the top of your screen. Click on the down arrow to select “Contract Opportunities” and search to find an Opportunity.

To view attachments related to a contract opportunity, scroll down the main opportunity page to the “Attachments/Links” section.

You will see the name of the document, the file size, the access level, and the updated date. To open an attachment, click the document title. If there are multiple attachments, you may use the ‘Download All’ button at the top of the section.

Some contract opportunities have attachments that are controlled access. These are identified by the lock icon and “Controlled” in the Access column. Click the document title to request access.

You will receive a pop-up window to request access. Enter the Reason for Access in the window and hit Submit.

You will get a notice that your submission has been successful. The access status on the document will change to “Pending”.

This is an example of a Beta.SAM system generated response to your request for access to the controlled attachment

Once your request has been acted upon, you will receive another email to let you know that there is an update. Click the link to see the outcome.

You will see the outcome of your request (must sign in to Beta.SAM to see the page if you’re not already signed in). If rejected, the reason for rejection will be given in the “Response” field.

This is an example. Each notification is crafted by the government and may not contain the exact verbiage displayed here.

Once rejected for access, you will see the status update if you re-visit that opportunity’s page. It will remain rejected until/unless you follow the instructions to have a contracting officer/specialist give you access via a DD2345. See below for details.

This is an example. Each notification is crafted by the government individually and may not contain the exact verbiage displayed here.

Helpful links:

Beta.SAM: https://beta.sam.gov DoD Procurement Toolbox: https://dodprocurementtoolbox.com/site-pages/betasam GSA Interact: https://interact.gsa.gov/group/integrated-award-environment-iae-industry-community Beta.SAM library: https://beta.sam.gov/help/library System for Award Management (SAM): https://sam.gov Joint Certification Program (JCP): https://www.dla.mil/HQ/LogisticsOperations/Services/JCP/ Federal Service Desk: https://www.fsd.gov/fsd-gov/home.do LOGIN.gov: https://login.gov/ GSA Acronyms and Abbreviations: https://interact.gsa.gov/sites/default/files/list_of_acronyms.pdf Dun and Bradstreet (D&B): https://www.dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code: https://cage.dla.mil/ image1.png image2.png image3.png image4.png image5.png image6.png image7.png image8.png image9.gif image10.png image11.png image12.png image13.png image14.png image15.png image16.png image17.png image18.png image19.png image20.png image21.png image22.png image23.png image24.png image25.png image26.png image27.png image28.png image29.png image30.png image31.png image32.png image33.png image34.png image35.png image36.png image37.png image38.png image39.png image40.png image41.png image42.png image43.png image44.png image45.png image46.png image47.png image48.png image49.png image50.png image51.png image52.png image53.png image54.png image55.png image56.png image57.png image58.png image59.png image60.png image61.png image62.png image63.png image64.png image65.png image66.png image67.png image68.png image69.png