As you may know, one of the prerequisites for doing business with the federal government is registering in SAM — the System for Award Management. Among other things, SAM is the government’s vendor data base — a way for government buyers (and prime contractors) to find you and pay you once you’re under contract. The SAM database also serves many other purposes, all important to the acquisition process.
When SAM was created about a year ago, it aggressively combined several large, stand-alone databases and merged them into one. The “data migration” challenge was great, and glitches emerged. As a result, many vendors have experienced problems both in getting existing vendor files to move over to SAM (i.e., migrate) as well as with creating a new vendor registration from scratch.
Since SAM’s launch, the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) and GTPAC’s counterparts across the country have spent countless hours assisting businesses with SAM. Our professional development association, the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC), has drawn upon what we’ve learned nationally and has created a new video that explains the SAM registration process.
The SAM instructional video is now available for viewing at: https://netforum.avectra.com/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=APTAC&WebCode=SAM.
If you are tackling SAM anytime soon, you’ll want to view the video for many helpful hints and tips. For further help, contact a GTPAC counselor. If you are located outside Georgia, contact a counselor with a procurement technical assistance center (PTAC) near you. To find the nearest PTAC, please visit: http://www.aptac-us.org/new/Govt_Contracting/find.php.
