SAM.gov and Identity Proofing.pdf

NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU

OFFICE OF THE U.S. PROPERTY AND FISCAL OFFICER FOR MISSISSIPPI

144 MILITARY DRIVE

FLOWOOD, MISSISSIPPI 39232‐8861

April 15, 2021

NOTICE TO ALL CONTRACTORS

SUBJECT: Update on changes to SAM.gov and requirement for “Identity Proofing”

Dear Contractor:

This letter is to notify you of upcoming changes taking place with the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://sam.gov/. You must have an active registration in SAM to do business with the Federal Government. SAM is managed by the General Services Administration (GSA).

Starting May 24, 2021 (and mandated October 1, 2021), all vendors (Entity Administrators) in SAM will be required to have additional documentation in place in order to edit their corporate records on SAM.gov. The new security enhancements -called “Identity Proofing” - will be voluntary (and recommended) at first, and will become mandatory in Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22).

By introducing identity proofing, GSA is adding an additional layer of security that protects you, your entity, and the government by making it more difficult for someone to gain unauthorized access to your entity registration account. Your entity registration contains sensitive data that, if exposed, could cause harm or damage to your entity.

Verifying the identity of entity administrators helps everyone ensure that entity data remains in the right hands.

Identity proofing will be for users who manage SAM.gov registrations. GSA will begin validating the identity of each entity administrator in SAM.gov as an optional benefit at first. However, it is recommend that all existing entity administrators become familiar with and take advantage of this added level of security as soon as possible.

After May 24, 2021, users will be able to initiate the identity proofing process directly from SAM.gov. Those who verify early will be well prepared once identity proofing is fully required in FY22. Please consider starting this process early. Delays may prevent vendor awards in the 4th Quarter (Jul-Aug-Sep 2021).

The timeline for this transition is as follows:

Phase one, scheduled for April 26, 2021, will change the look and feel of beta.SAM.gov to prepare for the SAM.gov merge that will happen a few weeks later.

The new look and feel will remain when the two systems merge. Essentially, GSA is david.oglesby Highlight

-2-giving the current beta.SAM.gov users a head start and a chance to get used to the new design before SAM.gov functionality migrates over.

Phase two, scheduled for May 24, 2021, will migrate the functionality of

SAM.gov into beta.SAM.gov (keeping the new design). The term “beta” will be retired, and there will be only one SAM.gov. This change affects all SAM.gov users.

Phase three, starting in October 2021, will require Non-federal Entity

Administrators to complete identity proofing before being allowed to edit, renew, or start a registration.

More information for this requirement may be found at https://dodprocurementtoolbox.com/site-pages/entity-registrations.

Sincerely, David A. Oglesby Supervisory Contract Specialist