SAM.gov Guide for International Registrants (1).pdf

Quick Start Guide for International Registrants Helpful Information

SAM an official free, U.S. government-operated website – it is FREE to register and maintain your entity registration record in SAM. It is FREE to get help.

What is an Entity?

In SAM, your company, business, or organization is referred to as an “Entity.”

You register your entity to do business with the U.S. government by completing the registration process in SAM.

What do I need to get started?

1. DUNS Number: You need a Data Uni-versal Numbering System (DUNS) Number to register your entity in SAM.

DUNS Numbers are unique for each physical location you want to register.

2. NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code: International entities must obtain an NCAGE Code for each DUNS Number they plan to register in SAM before starting the registration process.

3. You must prepare, sign, and submit a letter designating your Entity Administrator to the Federal Service Desk within 60 days of activation.

How do I get a DUNS number?

If you do not have one, you can request a DUNS Number for free to do business with the U.S. government by visiting Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform It takes up to 5 business days to obtain an international DUNS number.

How do I get an NCAGE code?

To obtain an NCAGE Code, visit: https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135 Public/scage/CageList.aspx. Make sure the legal business name and physical address you provided to get your DUNS Number and your NCAGE Code are exactly the same. It takes up to 3 business days to obtain a NCAGE code.

What about a U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)?

You only need a TIN if your entity pays U.S. taxes. If you are an international entity that does not pay taxes in the U.S., do not enter a number in the TIN field during registration.

Steps for Registering

1. Get your DUNS Number and NCAGE Code assigned. Confirm the legal business name and physical address match in both records, then start the SAM registration process.

2. Type www.sam.gov in your Internet browser address bar.

3. Select Log In to complete authentication and create an account.

4. On the My SAM page, select Entity Registrations from the sub-navigation menu, then select Register New Entity.

5. Select your type of Entity, most likely “Business or Organization.”

6. Tell the system why you are registering in SAM. This determines what information you have to provide.

• Are you interested in bidding on Federal contracts? If so, select “I want to be able to bid on federal contracts or other procurement opportunities. I also want to be able to . . .”

• Are you just interested in becoming eligible to apply for grants or other Federal financial assistance? If so, select “I only want to apply for federal assistance opportunities like grants, loans, and other financial assistance programs.”

7. Complete your registration. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*). A few helpful hints:

• On the Business Information page, you will create a Marketing Partner Identification Number (MPIN). Write your MPIN down. It is used as a password in other government systems like Grants.gov.

o If you do not pay U.S. taxes, do not enter a TIN or select a TIN type. Leave those fields blank.

• On the NCAGE Code page, enter your NCAGE Code. Remember your legal business name and physical address for your DUNS Number and NCAGE Code must match.

• On the General Information page, only select Foreign Owned if your entity is owned or controlled by a foreign entity. If you are also a Manufacturer of Goods, select that first, then select Foreign Owned.

• On the Financial Information page, you do not need to provide Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) banking information. If you do choose to provide this electronic banking information, it must be for a U.S. bank:

SAM cannot accept foreign banking information. The remittance name and address are the only mandatory sections on this page.

• In the Points of Contact section, list the names of people in your organization who know about this registration in SAM and why you want to do business with the U.S. government. These are called Points of Contact or POCs. The Government Business POC is the primary contact for your organization.

8. Select Submit after your final review. You will get a confirmation message on the screen. If you do not see this message, you did not submit your registration.

• Once approved by the IRS (if you entered a TIN), the U.S. Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) system, and with an approved Entity Administrator letter on file, you will get an email from SAM.gov when your entity registration is active.

9. Start this process well before your contract or grant application deadline. Allow up to 12-15 business days after you submit before your registration is active in SAM, then an additional 24 hours for other systems such as Grants.gov to recognize your information.

For FREE help with your SAM entity registration, contact the Federal Service Desk (FSD) at https://www.fsd.gov/ http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/index.jsp https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.fsd.gov/

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SAM Registering a New Entity in SAM to be Eligible for Grants and Other Federal Assistance – v1.0

July 27, 2012

Watch video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvMm7mErmc#action=share

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This demonstration will walk through the process for registering a new entity in SAM in order to be eligible for grants and other federal financial assistance.

Before beginning, I want to clarify the term entity. In SAM, entity is a “catch all” term that includes prime contractors, organizations applying for assistance awards, those receiving loans, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships and any federal government agencies desiring to do business with the Government. In this webinar we will concentrate on entities that have never registered in Central Contractor Registration and that wish to be eligible for government grants and other federal financial assistance, and what they need to do.

Before you start, you will need to have a SAM user account. Anyone can create an account in SAM and this process can be started at anytime

To create an individual SAM user account, select the “Log In” link located in the upper right of the homepage, at which point you will be taken to an overview page. This page provides information on the benefits of registering for a SAM account, as well as what is required to create a SAM account.

When ready, click the “Create an Account” button.

First, you must enter your personal information. You will note that only very basic information is required, including first and last name, as well as an email address. Make sure that you have access to this email address because SAM will use it for all SAM-related communications, including future annual renewals.

You must also enter your phone number and country.

Once you have entered the necessary information, scroll down and click “Next.”

On this page you must provide specific account information.

First, I will create a username and password. As you type into these fields, the system will display a green checkmark when you have met the requirements.

Next, select three unique security questions and enter responses.

Once completed, scroll down and click “Next” to continue to the “Summary” page.

On this page, you are given the opportunity to review the information entered. If you need to make any changes, you can select the “Edit” button to return to a specific page. If satisfied, scroll down and click “Submit” to complete the process.

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After creating the account, a confirmation page will be displayed which you can save or print for your records. Select “Done” to continue.

Once you create the account, a validation email will be sent to the email address you provided during registration.

You will need to click on the link found in the email and login to activate the account. Upon login, you will be taken to your “My SAM” page which is the centralized location for your SAM needs.

I will log into an account that I just created.

Your email address has now been validated and your account is active.

Click “Done.”

Every time you login, you must accept SAM’s terms and conditions.

When you login, you must always accept SAM’s terms and conditions.

The page that you see here is your “My SAM” page. This is your centralized location for all functionality that you need to access. For more information on the “My SAM” page see the User Management section of the User Guide.

To start the registration process click, select “Register New Entity” from the left-hand menu under “Manage Entity.”

Your registration will go more quickly if you have some information on hand before you start. This includes gathering the following information:

You must have your Data Universal Numbering System (or DUNS) number from Dun and Bradstreet and the name and address associated to that DUNS. If you do not have this please contact Dun and Bradstreet at 866-705-5711. More information on DUNS numbers can also be found in the Help section of the website in the User Guide and the Frequently Asked Questions.

If your organization is U.S. based you must also have your Taxpayer Identification Number (or TIN) and your entity’s name from your W-2.

(Not applicable for International organizations).

Your Contractor and Government Entity (CAGE) Code is also required if you already have one. If you don't, and you are a US-based registrant, one will be assigned to you during the registration process.

If you are an international (non-U.S.-based) registrant, you will need an NCAGE prior to registering. A weblink for where to get an NCAGE can be found in our FAQs.

In order to register for grants and other federal financial assistance, you will need to complete the following sections of SAM:

https://www.fsd.gov/

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“Core Data,” which includes, but is not limited to, DUNS number, name, address, CAGE or NCAGE code, Taxpayer ID Number (if you are a U.S.-Based Organization), general and financial information, and details about any proceedings in which your entity may currently be involved. If you are a Department of Defense Agency, then you will also need your DoDAAC number.

You will also be asked to provide contact information for any mandatory “Points of Contact” required based on the information provided during registration.

To begin, click the “Start Registration” button found at the bottom of the page.

You will be asked a series of questions. Based on your answers, the system will guide you through the registration process.

First select your entity type. In this demonstration, I will be registering a “Business or Organization” that is located in the United States. If you select a different entity type you may be presented with fields that are different for your entity

Next you will be asked if you wish to bid on Contracts? Again, in this case, we are only interested in grants, so we will select “No.”

For the question about eligibility for grants and federal assistance select “Yes.”

Only U.S. Federal Government entities will be able to select that they wish to perform Intra-Governmental Transactions (IGT). Since I have selected “Business or Organization” as my entity type, the IGT question is not applicable to my registration. Click “Next.”

On the Confirm Purpose of Registration page, you are shown sections that you need to complete and your registration purpose. Since you are registering for “Federal Assistance Awards Only” you must complete: “Core Data,” and “Points of Contact.”

Before I begin with the actual data entry, I would like to call your attention to the “Content Glossary” located on the right side of the page.

The glossary will dynamically generate based on the page you are viewing. It will provide definitions for the various terms, as well as links to resources pertaining to the information on the page.

The first step to entering Core Data is to enter a DUNS number, Name and Address then click “Next” The system will validate the information you entered with Dun &

Bradstreet and return a match, if available.

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You should verify that the information returned from D&B is correct as that will be the name and address associated with the entity record in SAM. If you disagree with the information returned from D&B, you will need to contact them to make any necessary changes.

Once you have saved and verified the results, a draft record will be created in SAM for your entity. Please note that if you do not verify the DUNS number you will not be able to continue with the registration process. At this point you will also become the administrator of the record which gives you the ability to give other users in your organization access to view and edit this record. If you log out after clicking save and continue and prior to completing all mandatory fields, SAM will save your draft record and you can come back to it later to complete.

Next, I’ll enter the “Business Information” such as the Business Start Date, Fiscal Year End Close Date and Mailing Address

Next I will create a Marketing Partner Identification Number (MPIN).

The MPIN will be used to provide you access to other systems, such as Grants.gov and Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).

Your MPIN acts as your password in these systems so you should guard it as such. This will be used in the next page as your signature to release your Taxpayer ID number, or TIN, to the IRS for validation.

A mailing address is mandatory but you may use the “Copy Physical Address” button to enter this information if your entity only uses one address

Next I’ll enter the “Taxpayer Identification Information” for the entity. If you are a non-U.S. entity this information will not be mandatory.

On this page, I will complete the TIN Consent section which will submit the TIN information to the IRS for validation.

I will need to enter the “Taxpayer Name” and address exactly as the information that the IRS has on file. It is not always the same as the D&B name you saw on the previous screen. We recommend that you use the entity’s most recent tax return for this information.

Once you click “Save and Continue” this TIN information will be sent to the IRS for validation so you will not be able to edit it until a response from IRS (match or no match) has been received.

Once you have completed the Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information, you can now jump to any step in the process by clicking the areas listed on the left side of the page. You do not need to complete the sections in order. However you will need to complete every step before you can

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submit your registration. For the purposes of this webinar we will continue the steps in order

Next, enter your Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code (U.S.- Based Organizations). Your CAGE code is a unique five-character ID number assigned by the Department of Defense automatically via your SAM registration process. If you think you may have a CAGE code already you can click on the “search cage code” link.

If you are a non-U.S. entity, you will require an “NCAGE code” in order to complete your registration. If you do not have an NCAGE code you can click the link displayed on the page to acquire one. For more information on NCAGE codes please see the FAQs.

Next, you must enter “General Information,” about your entity. These questions provide you with the opportunity to further identify the type of business\organization you are. Each business type is further defined in the Content Glossary on the right of your screen. If you have a question about whether your entity qualifies as one of the business types, you should contact your company officers or a government contracting officer for guidance.

First you will select your country and state of incorporation. These fields are defaulted to the country and state that your DUNS address has been set for. If your entity is incorporated in a different country and state, then you can change them as needed.

Then you may enter your company’s security level and the security level of your highest clearance employee. Having a security clearance level may be a requirement to participate in certain government opportunities.

Responses for these fields are optional.

Next you can enter your entity’s business types. Be sure to read the definitions for each of these types to ensure you are correctly selecting the right identifiers for your organization. You should only select the identifiers that match your entity’s status.

Since I had selected “Business or Organization” on the Purpose of

Registration step, this is already prefilled.

You can also choose if your entity qualifies for one of the values listed in the next drop down such as a Foundation, Hospital, or Educational Institution.

Selecting “Educational Institution” displays a list of different types of educational institutions. You will then need to select a specific sub-type, such as Private University and College or Veterinary College and add it to your list.

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If you incorrectly selected a type you can remove it by selecting it and clicking remove.

Next you can select if your business is certified as a Department of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DOT DBE).

If your entity is a Federally Recognized Native American Entity select the type that applies.

Next, indicate if your business or organization is Foreign Owned and

Located, a Small Agricultural Cooperative, Limited Liability Company, Subchapter S Corporation, or Manufacture of Goods.

Next, you must indicate the form of your Business or Organization as defined by the IRS. If you are a non-U.S. entity you may choose International Organization or Other.

You must also select your entity’s profit structure.

Next you can select the socio economic categories that apply to your entity. Be sure that you are correctly identifying your entity based on the definitions provided in the glossary. In some cases, the selection you choose may provide you with additional categories to select. You can also select multiple categories.

You must also enter your entity’s financial information so that the government can provide you the grant or financial assistance funds.

It is required for all to select a response to the question that your entity accepts credit cards as a form of payment.

You are required to select your account type and enter your account information for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). EFT information is not mandatory if you are a non-U.S. entity.

Enter your “ABA Routing Number” and “Account Number.” The name of the financial institution will be derived based on the ABA Routing number that you provide.

You must also provide the Automated Clearing House (ACH) of your bank. This is necessary should problems occur with your EFT. You can contact your bank for this information if you do not have it.

Finally, if you wish, you can also include your Remittance Information. This information will allow the government to mail you a check in case your EFT does not work.

In the Executive Compensation section you are asked to provide information which supports Recovery Act reporting requirements.

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If eighty percent or more of your annual gross revenue and twenty five million dollars or more in your annual gross revenue comes from U.S.

federal contracts, subcontracts, loans, grants, subgrants, and/or cooperative agreements, answer yes to the first question.

By answering yes to the first question you must answer the second question regarding whether the public has access to the salary information for the five highest paid senior executives in your business or organization (this is often made available in your Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) filings). If “Yes” you do not need to enter this information again here. If “No” you must enter the Name, Title and Compensation for each executive here.

You must also answer if you have any criminal proceedings against your entity. SAM will ask you a series of qualifier questions:

Are you bidding on a solicitation that contains the FAR provision

52.209-7 or have you been awarded a contract that contains FAR clause 52.209-8? If so select “Yes”

If you answered “Yes” to the first question then you must answer if your business or organization has more than ten million dollars in active Federal contracts and/or grants.

If you have answered “Yes” to the first two questions, you must provide and answer to the third question concerning any proceeding against your entity in the last five years. If you select “Yes,” you must provide additional information about each proceeding.

For each proceeding, you must enter the “Date,” “Instrument,” “Instrument Number,” “State,” “Type of Proceeding,” “Disposition,” and the “Description of the Proceeding.” Click “Save and Continue” when you have entered the information.

The final step in Core data is to indicate whether or not you agree to have your entity’s information publicly searchable on SAM. If you select to “opt-out” of public search, your record will not come up during searches of SAM’s public website. Please note that your information will still be available upon a Freedom of Information Act request as well as to government users. Upon completion of the Core data section, you will be presented with a “Review” page. If you wish to make any changes, you can click on an “Edit” button to return to the desired section.

Please note: Once you click “Save And Continue” at this point your entity’s record will be considered a “Work in Progress” and will be publicly available, unless you decided to opt-out of public display.

However, your record is not considered “Active” until you complete all

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the remaining sections of your SAM registration, submit it, and your registration has been verified. I will highlight that point when we get to it.

On this page, you are asked if you want to complete the “Points of Contact” section at this time. To continue select “Yes” and click “Next.”

Before you can submit your entity’s registration, you must enter “Points of Contact.”

The Accounts Receivable, Electronic Business and the Government

Business Point of Contact are mandatory for all registrations. In addition, the system will determine other types of POCs that are required based on the information entered in the registration.

In addition, you may optionally enter an alternate POC for some of the mandatory types.

These will help the government know whom to contact for various questions or issues.

If you have one person serving as multiple POC types, you can copy that information for the other POC types.

The record must be reviewed in its entirety before you can submit it.

You must complete all mandatory fields before you can submit your registration.

If you wish to make any changes, you can click on an “Edit” button to return to the desired section.

Click “Submit” to submit your record.

Upon submission, the “Annual Renewal Date” for the entity registration will be set. Entity registrations must be renewed every 365 days.

Your entity will now be in the “Submitted” state. It is important to note that your entity will not be considered active until the IRS has successfully validated the TIN, if you were required to provide one, and a CAGE Code has been assigned by DoD. As the “Entity Administrator,” you will receive an email notification once the registration has been activated. It should take no more than 4 days to activate your record. If it has been more than 4 days since you submitted and you have not received an Activation email, please contact our help desk at 866-606-8220 or www.fsd.gov.

If you fail to recertify your registration every 365 days your entity will be listed as “Expired.” You can reactivate it by recertifying the information.

http://www.fsd.gov/

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You can view your completed and incomplete registrations by using the links on the left side of your “My SAM” page.

When you wish to update your record, click the “Update” button to start a new draft of your record.

That concludes this demonstration. If you have questions about the registration process or your record in SAM, you can contact the Federal Service Desk at www.fsd.gov.

Thank you for viewing this demonstration of the Entity Management Registration process.

Watch video:

http://www.fsd.gov/

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