Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Richard Arnholt authored an article for Washington Technology discussing the recent final rule published by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council clarifying that an offeror must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) when submitting an offer and when the contract is awarded, and how the rule change affects businesses trying to acquire federal contracts.
Every federal contractor, such as technology vendors, must register to do business with the government and receive federal funds, but previous rule clarifications in 2018 caused confusion as they required that companies be continuously registered in SAM from the time of submission to award, with even a temporary registration lapse between the dates of submission and award rendering a contractor ineligible. The latest update clarified that the offeror must be registered at the time of submission and contract, but not every moment between those two points.
This revision removed the risk of disqualification for brief lapses in registration. The change is especially beneficial for vendors that move fast, restructure often and manage complex team arrangements such as software, as well as emerging-tech firms that experience frequent corporate and banking updates, M&A activity and key-person changes, all of which would require SAM edits or renewals. These routine changes could have derailed otherwise competitive bids under the former rule, but the risk has now been lowered substantially.
Although the process is now simpler, vendors must still ensure they have active registration at two-points in the contract acquisition process.
“Contractors should proactively monitor account expirations and renewal issues, coordinate corporate changes to avoid collisions with live procurements, and document status at each registration point,” recommended Richard. “Done well, this ‘two-point’ discipline converts regulatory clarity into operational certainty.”
The full article, “What You Need To Know About the New SAM.gov Registration Requirements,” was published by Washington Technology on September 5 and is available online. Richard also authored a GovCon & Trade blog post about this topic in August, “FAR Final Rule Clarifies SAM Registration.”