SAM.gov Role Change Will Affect Registration Administration

Entity Administrator Update

SAM.gov announced effective 16 September 2022, all Entity Administrators must hold a position within the company and cannot be a third party acting on the entity’s behalf. An “Entity Administrator” has overall authority on an entities registration information and can assign roles to others as needed.

Changes Increase Security

SAM.gov efforts are to ensure entities maintain top-level authority of their entity registrations and relegate non-entity positions are restricted to only “Data Entry” roles. It is believed that this change may be in response to the growing number of third-party SAM registration companies utilizing deceiving and questionable email campaigns and charging fees to facilitate SAM registrations. Coley wrote about deceptive campaigns alerting government contractors in past.  Since then, this practice has grown and typically involves online form entry and often does not require the entity to understand and accept key regulations that are required of SAM registration.

Over the years, the registration and updating process on SAM.gov has evolved to increase security and avoid fraudulent activity. Coley’s consultants routinely engage customers through screen sharing apps and help navigate these complicated and sometime frustrating steps. While our goal is to complete the requirements, we also ensure contractors have a clear understanding of clauses and terms within SAM.gov.

The SAM Announcement States:

To ensure entities are in control of who has permission to edit and maintain their information, individuals assigned a SAM.gov Entity Administrator role must hold a position within the entity (e.g., employees, officers, board members), and cannot be a third party acting on behalf of the entity. 

Effective September 16, 2022, Entity Administrators assigning new roles to third parties will only be able to assign a Data Entry role to third parties.  Entities assigning Entity Administrator roles using a notarized letter will no longer be able to assign the entity administrator role to a third party. Existing Entity Administrators who are third parties will retain those roles for now.

At a later date, Entity Administrator roles assigned to third parties will be converted to Data Entry roles.  With a Data Entry role, third parties can still create and manage entity registrations, but cannot manage roles.

Entities that do not use a third party to manage their SAM.gov registration are not affected. Remember, it is 100% free to use SAM.gov. You do not need to pay a fee to register your entity or to keep your entity registration active. SAM.gov does not endorse any third party firm.

 

What should I do as an entity?

If you have chosen to use a third party to assist with managing your SAM.gov registration, you will need to have an Entity Administrator from within your company.  An Entity Administrator within your company can then assign Data Entry roles to third parties through the role management tools in SAM.gov.

That’s what our clients do at Coley. They assigned us a Data Entry role so that we can continue to help them manage their registrations.  Our team of GSA consultants also work directly with our clients through screen sharing apps to actively coach them in the SAM renewal processes. We ensure clients understand the terms and regulations that are accepted by registering with SAM.

Coley has over 20 years’ experience helping thousands of companies grow in the government market. Our clients have won over 26 billion in contract awards over the past 20 years. Our expertise with GSA Schedules allows our consultants to take on the over 95% of the work to get you on Schedule. Contact us today at hello@coleygsa.com or 210-402-6766 to get started on obtaining your GSA Schedule—a critical step on your road to success in the government market.