A proposal has been made to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify System for Award Management (SAM) vendor registration requirements. The proposed change to the FAR also will correct an inconsistency in representation and certification requirements.
The proposed changes were published in the May 20, 2016 edition of the Federal Register which may be seen here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-05-20/pdf/2016-11977.pdf. Comments on the proposed changes must be submitted not later than July 19, 2016 in order to be considered in the formation of the final rule. Instructions for submitting comments appear in the Federal Register notice.
The clarification called for by the proposed FAR amendment is driven by the fact that current language in the FAR is not consistent in terms of whether offerors need to be registered in SAM prior to submitting an offer or prior to award.
- FAR clause 52.204–7 states that an offeror is not ‘‘registered in the SAM database’’ unless an offeror has completed its online annual representations and certifications.
- FAR 52.204–8(b) and (d) state that if clause 52.204–7 is included in the solicitation, then the offeror verifies by submission of the offer that the representations and certifications in SAM are current and accurate.
- FAR 4.1102 states that SAM registration (which includes online reps and certs) must be completed by the time of award.
In order to correct the inconsistency cited above, amendments to FAR 4.1102 and 4.1103 are proposed in order to require vendor registration in SAM prior to submission of an offer.
In addition, the proposed rule will require contracting officers to use the name and physical address from the contractor’s SAM registration for the provided Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS).
The proposed rule also changes the references to the SAM web site from ‘‘acquisition.gov’’ to ‘‘SAM.gov’’ to be consistent with the rest of the FAR. The word ‘‘database’’ is also added to ‘‘SAM’’ so that in the FAR it is clearly understood that the reference is to the ‘‘SAM database.”
Vendors are reminded that assistance with registering in SAM is available at no cost through any Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). To find a nearby PTAC office, consult http://www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac.
