AMS reminds current and potential USDA Foods vendors the System for Award Management (SAM) is a free-to-use federal website. The first step in government contracting is to register your company on the SAM website.
There is no cost to register in SAM and it is completely free to get help with your registration. If you need help updating your registration, are having problems accessing the registration pages in SAM, or need some additional training, you can find Quick Start Guides, Frequently Asked Questions, and other training material on the Help tab on SAM.gov. You may also contact your local Procurement Technical Assistance Centers or the Federal Service Desk for assistance at no cost.
Your SAM registration contains sensitive business information, including your banking information and other sensitive information; therefore, login ID’s and password should not be shared with anyone outside your company. It is highly recommended that only company employees be responsible for the modification and updating of data in SAM. CPP does not recommend using a paid service to complete your SAM registration.
Also be aware of scam emails offering to help start the renewal process online or suggesting, “Your Federal Profile is Almost Complete. Immediate Action Required!” If you receive an email from a company claiming to represent SAM asking you to contact them and pay them money, be cautious. These messages are not from the federal government. SAM requires an annual recertification and sends out email reminders prior to the expiration. Again, updates should be handled by company employees. Furthermore, if your registration is not complete, you may log into SAM to make that determination for yourself.
Information about contracting opportunities and contracts awards can be found on SAM.gov at no cost, as well as on the Commodity Procurement webpage.
Please note that SAM.gov is a federal government website administered by the General Services Administration, not USDA.