U.S. General Services Administration

SAM.gov – A Case Study

Meredith “Memi” Whitehead Lead Program Manager, Business Operations Integrated Award Environment

World Codification Forum

May 25, 2017

Agenda

• What is SAM?

• Getting Started

• International Registrants

• Reported Challenges

2

What is SAM?

Understanding the Context

3

Overview

Portfolio of Mandated U.S. Government-Wide Systems

For people who make, receive, or track federal awards

4

Driving Business Outcomes

Part of a government-wide infrastructure that:

• Protects Tax Dollars

• Reduces Duplication in Federal IT

• Reduces Burden

o on Federal Officials

o on Federal Awardees

• Increases Transparency

5

What is SAM?

The System for Award Management (SAM) is an official website of the U.S. government.

There is no cost to use SAM. Use this site for FREE to:

• Register to do business with the U.S. government

• Update or renew your entity registration

• Check status of an entity registration

• Search for entity registration & exclusion records

• Get help through our supporting service desk at www.fsd.gov

6

SAM “By the Numbers”

• Over 450,000 registered users

• More than 5 million searches monthly

• More than 1.3 million visits monthly

• Over 600,000 active entities registered to do business with the U.S. government

o Over 25,000 active entities (4%) outside the U.S.

o Process an average of:

▪ 7,000 new registrations activated monthly

▪ 52,000 registrations updated/renewed monthly

• Almost 147,000 active exclusion records to inform government award decisions

7

Getting Started

Registering to do business with the U.S. Government

8

Why register in SAM?

Procurement (FAR Subpart 4.11)

o Increase visibility of vendor sources (including their geographical locations) for specific supplies and services; and

oEstablish a common source of vendor data for the Government

Federal Assistance (2 CFR Part 25)

oProvide a repository for standard information about applicants and recipients

9

To get started, international entities need:

• NATO Commercial And Government Entity (NCAGE) Code, Organization Name, and Physical Address from your NCAGE record

o If you don't already have one, you can request an NCAGE Code online for FREE

• DUNS Number, Legal Business Name, and Physical Address from your Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) record

• If you don't already have one, you can request a DUNS Number for FREE from D&B

• Make sure your DUNS information and NCAGE information match

10

Getting Started

Request an NCAGE Code

11

Request a DUNS Number

12

13

https://www.sam.gov

14

Easily Check Status

Getting FREE Help (1 of 2)

Go to the SAM > Help page for User Guides and searchable FAQs:

15

Getting FREE Help (2 of 2)

Quick Start Guide for International Registrants

ohttps://www.sam.gov/sam/transcript/Quick_Guide_for_International_Entity_Registration.pdf

Visit our supporting Federal Service Desk at www.fsd.gov to:

oSubmit a live chat request for help

oSubmit a web form request for help

oOr call 1-334-206-7828 to speak with an agent Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Eastern Time)

16

International Registrants

Who is registering in SAM and why?

17

International Registrants

A recent snapshot:

• 602,713 active entity registrations in SAM

• 25,358 (4%) registrations had a physical address outside of the United States

18

577,355

25,358

ActiveRegistrations(USA)

ActiveRegistrations(International)

COUNTRY TOTAL

CANADA 2,150

JAPAN 1,657

UNITED KINGDOM 1,526

GERMANY 1,543

KOREA, SOUTH 1,296

ITALY 1,104

AFGHANISTAN 998

INDIA 460

IRAQ 425

SPAIN 435

UKRAINE 380

AUSTRALIA 373

PAKISTAN 329

SOUTH AFRICA 315

NETHERLANDS 319

International “Top 15”

19

COUNTRY TOTAL

CANADA 1,940

JAPAN 1,548

GERMANY 1,335

KOREA, SOUTH 1,264

UNITED KINGDOM 1,225

ITALY 984

AFGHANISTAN 919

IRAQ 408

SPAIN 325

AUSTRALIA 258

INDIA 236

NETHERLANDS 218

PAKISTAN 186

SOUTH AFRICA 141

UKRAINE 124

All Awards “Top 15”

20

ALL AWARDS

CANADA

JAPAN

GERMANY

KOREA, SOUTH

UNITED KINGDOM

ITALY

AFGHANISTAN

IRAQ

SPAIN

AUSTRALIA

INDIA

NETHERLANDS

PAKISTAN

SOUTH AFRICA

UKRAINE

COUNTRY TOTAL

UNITED KINGDOM 301

UKRAINE 256

INDIA 224

CANADA 210

GERMANY 208

SOUTH AFRICA 174

PAKISTAN 143

ITALY 120

AUSTRALIA 115

SPAIN 110

JAPAN 109

NETHERLANDS 101

AFGHANISTAN 79

KOREA, SOUTH 32

IRAQ 17

Federal Assistance “Top 15”

21

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

UNITED KINGDOM

UKRAINE

INDIA

CANADA

GERMANY

SOUTH AFRICA

PAKISTAN

ITALY

AUSTRALIA

SPAIN

JAPAN

NETHERLANDS

AFGHANISTAN

KOREA, SOUTH

IRAQ

Reported Challenges

What challenges do international registrants face?

22

What are the challenges?

We’ve heard from U.S. officials and registrants overseas:

• Registration process is difficult

• Required information is hard to obtain

• Software formatting challenges exist

• Want more from help desk support

23

1. Process Difficult

“Registering to do business with the U.S. government is too hard.”

• New registrants don’t understand the steps

• Current registrants have problems managing users

• Policy requirements feel intrusive

• Can’t enter non-U.S. banking information

• Request a section for non-U.S. entities

• Wish there was a translation tool

24

2. Multiple Data Sources

“How do I get my address to match between these different system? Who is right?”

• New registrants don’t know where to start

o Do I get my DUNS Number first?

o Do I get my NCAGE Code first?

o If there is a difference, which is right?

• Current registrants don’t know how to make updates

o Updating DUNS Number information

o Updating NCAGE Code information

25

3. Formatting Challenges

“I tried to put my address in, but the website won’t accept the formatting.”

• Issues accurately capturing international addresses

• Issues formatting international phone numbers

• Problems representing entity names with non-English or Latin characters

26

4. Getting Help

“I can’t get help when I need it. And when I do get answers, I don’t understand them.”

• SAM’s supporting help desk call center is only open from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time

• Help desk agents don’t understand my questions

• Need faster responses to reported issues

• Multiple help desks add to the confusion, i.e. “Who do I talk to for which kind of question?”

27

What can we do?

Most importantly, continue engagement with the international community.

In addition, we can:

• Revise current Quick Start Guide for International Registrants

• Consider a Help section for international registrants

• Coordinate with NSPA to update detailed instructions

• Analyze data limitations between systems

• Look for new and better ways to communicate

• Create “role matrix” for getting help

28

DISCUSSION

Questions, discussion, and your great ideas.

29