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About This Site

What is SAM.gov?

The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is an official website of the U.S. Government. There is no cost to use SAM.gov. You can use this site to:

  • Register to do business with the U.S. Government
  • Update, renew, or check the status of your entity registration
  • Search for entity registration and exclusion records
  • Search for assistance listings (formerly CFDA.gov), wage determinations (formerly WDOL.gov), contract opportunities (formerly FBO.gov), and contract data reports (formerly part of FPDS.gov).
  • View and submit BioPreferred and Service Contract Reports
  • Access publicly available award data via data extracts and system accounts

What is the IAE?

The Integrated Award Environment (IAE) is a government-wide initiative administered by GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). We manage the suite of systems, including SAM.gov, that are an essential part of the federal awards lifecycle. The goal of the IAE is to continue to evolve and integrate the existing shared portfolio of multiple online systems used for awarding and administering federal financial assistance (i.e., grants, loans) and contracts.

What is an entity?

At SAM.gov, we use the term “entity” to refer to prime contractors, organizations or individuals applying for assistance awards, those receiving loans, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, and any U.S. federal government agencies desiring to do business with the government. Entity can also refer to a party that has been suspended or debarred, is covered by a prohibition or restriction, or is otherwise excluded from doing business with the government.

What are entity registrations?

You register your entity to do business with the U.S. federal government by completing the entity registration process at SAM.gov. Active registration in SAM.gov provides your entity the ability to apply for federal grants or loans or bid on government contracts.

What are exclusions?

An exclusion identifies a party excluded from receiving federal contracts, certain subcontracts, and certain types of federal financial and non-financial assistance and benefits. If your entity or any of its principals are subject to an active exclusion, it means your entity is currently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, or declared ineligible for the award of contracts by any federal agency. Awarding officials check SAM.gov to see if an exclusion exists for your entity. Always contact the issuing agency if you have questions about an exclusion record.

What is entity reporting?

Contractors may be required to submit periodic reports on contracts that meet certain criteria. Two examples are Service Contract Reporting (SCR) and BioPreferred Reporting. Under SCR, contractors awarded cost-reimbursement, time-and-materials, and labor hour service contracts and orders at or above the simplified acquisition threshold must report information about the amount invoiced, labor hours expended, and subcontractor labor hours to help build a governmentwide service contract inventory. Under the BioPreferred program, contractors awarded service or construction contracts must report purchases of biobased products in the execution of those contracts.

What are assistance listings?

The federal government provides assistance to the American public in the form of projects, services, and activities. It supports a broad range of assistance listings—such as education, health care, research, infrastructure, economic development, and other assistance listings—through grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of financial assistance.

SAM.gov provides detailed, public descriptions of federal assistance listings available to state and local governments (including the District of Columbia); federally recognized Indian tribal governments, territories (and possessions) of the United States; domestic public, quasi-public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions; specialized groups, and individuals.

As an entity looking for federal assistance, you can conduct your preliminary planning using SAM.gov. Browse assistance listings across all government agencies to form a “big picture” of your options.

Each assistance listing is associated with a unique five-digit AL (Assistance Listing) number. Once you identify a federal assistance listing that you’re interested in, you can link directly to grant opportunities on Grants.gov or follow up with that specific agency using the contact information provided.

What are wage determinations?

Wage determinations are legally mandated wage rates and fringe benefits that must be paid by federal contractors to their employees based on the county where the work is performed. The U.S. Department of Labor determines wage rates and fringe benefits in a given area and shall be the minimum paid by contractors and subcontractors to laborers and mechanics on federal contracts.

What are contract opportunities?

Contract opportunities are listings of federal business opportunities greater than $25,000, including synopses of proposed contract actions, solicitations, and associated information that can be accessed electronically by the public. Organizations registered inSAM.gov may compete to be awarded federal contracts.

What contract data reports are available?

Contract data reports provide detailed information on awarded contracts using data directly from the Federal Data Procurement System (FPDS). The report data can be aggregated by various attributes and can be downloaded for detailed analysis. There are four categories of contract data reports available:

  • Standard Reports contain information about contract activity and are formatted to meet the needs of both government and public users. Data in Standard Reports can be filtered and sorted to locate information of interest.

  • Static Reports are prepared on a fiscal year basis for the public and are available as prepared for download. There are currently four Static Reports for Contract Data represented in the Data Bank section.

  • Administrative Reports are configurable and available to Federal users assigned the appropriate roles.

  • Ad Hoc Reports offer the ability to select data fields from the database to run a query. Ad hoc reports are an advanced feature recommended for users who are familiar with the data parameters and knowledge of the sophisticated reporting tool.

What is the federal hierarchy?

The federal hierarchy is the authoritative source for managing and referencing federal funding and awarding organizations. It is a directory that organizes federal government users and establishes relationships between each department or independent agency’s sub-tiers and its offices.

What design standards have been used to create the user interface at SAM.gov?

The design of this site implements the most current U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) standards and best practices mandated by the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA). This site is continually updated and improved based on user feedback and federal requirements.