System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
U.S. General Services Administration
SAM.gov Entity Validation
Integrated Award Environment
Stakeholder Forum
August 3, 2022
Katherine Rollins
Lead Program Manager SAM.gov,
Integrated Award Environment (IAE) Office
Technology Transformation Service (TTS)
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
2
● What is Entity Validation?
● How Does Entity Validation Work in SAM.gov?
● What Documentation is Required and Accepted, and What Isn’t?
● What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?
● Frequently Asked Questions about Validation
● Where Do I Get Help?
Agenda
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
3
What Is
Entity Validation?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
4
What Is Entity Validation? (1 of 2)
The validation process is a critical piece of the federal awards ecosystem. It
prevents improper payments, procurement fraud, and helps ensure the
integrity of government contracts and grants processes, representing
trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year.
SAM.gov uses an entity validation service (EVS) to independently verify the
existence and uniqueness of an entity.
● Validation is required when you
○ register an entity
○ renew your entity registration each year
○ get a Unique Entity ID, and
○ update or change your entity’s name or address
● Every entity must validate with the new provider’s databases and data
sources, even if you had an active registration.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
5
What Is Entity Validation? (2 of 2)
IAE Stakeholder Forum
As of April 4, 2022, the federal government stopped
using the DUNS Number to identify entities.
● The Unique Entity ID is now the authoritative
identifier. Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) used to provide
both the identifier and validation services. Now both
are provided in SAM.gov.
● Because you get a Unique Entity ID in SAM.gov, the
DUNS Number is no longer required for federal
award purposes
● If you need to update your legal business name,
address, etc. you now make the changes in SAM.gov
● This was the largest federal IT transition in decades.
It impacted each federal and entity award system.
At that same time, the SAM.gov entity validation
service, or EVS, database changed.
● Validating an entity’s unique legal business name and
physical address has always been required to get a
Unique Entity ID, register, and renew your registration.
● Before April 2022, it was done outside of the system. Now
it is done within SAM.gov. Part of this change allows the
government to own the validation data going forward.
● Some entities renewing or registering for the first time
discover they need to provide the EVS documentation to
verify their entity information.
● Once their information is in the new database, they do
not need to submit documents to validate again, unless
their information changes.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
6
How Does Entity Validation
Work in SAM.gov?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
7
How Does Entity Validation Work in SAM.gov?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
1 2 3 4
You are About to
Validate Your Entity
5
Enter Entity
Information
6
We are Searching
Millions of Records
7
Enter Incorporation
Information
8
Review Entity Details
(select entity)
9
Are All of Your Details
Correct?
Proceed to Core Data Registration
pages (if registering)
Receive Entity
Validation
10
Update Entity
Details
11
12
Document Your
Entity Details
Confirm Entity
Details
13
Entity Documents
Submitted
Get Unique Entity ID
At this point, your validation incident is
generated. The EVS has received your
documents and will conduct a review.
Processing and resolving new incidents
with correct documentation currently
will take 7 calendar days. Submitting
incorrect documents will delay incident
resolution timeframes.
No
Yes
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
8
What Documentation Is Required
and Accepted, and What Isn’t?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
9
What Documentation Is Required and Accepted, and What Isn’t?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
It is our duty to prevent fraud and ensure the integrity
of government contracts and grants awards and
payments. This is why we can only accept entity
documentation that is certified by authorized
sources.
If you don’t see your current, correct entity legal name
and physical address after entering it in SAM.gov, you
must submit documentation to SAM.gov to prove your
entity information. We will assign you an incident
number.
If the documents you submitted are not accepted, we
will send you an email requesting additional
documentation.
We understand that you may not always have easy
access to documentation on our comprehensive list.
If you submit documents not accepted, we will send
an email asking for additional documentation.
If you need to contact us, use the incident number
created in SAM.gov to communicate with the EVS
team.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
10
List of acceptable
validation documents
available at FSD.gov
https://go.usa.gov/xuSVt
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
11
● If you have reviewed the information presented in
SAM.gov and your details are not correct, you will be
prompted to provide documentation. Once you have
submitted your documentation, we will display your
incident number (INC-GSAFSD123456) on the screen.
● In your workspace, there will be an “FSD Incident”
link under the entity you are trying to validate. Use
the “View” button to open your issue.
● If you receive a request for additional documentation,
you must add it through the SAM.gov Workspace, not
FSD.gov.
What happens after I submit documents?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
12
● Check your email. An email with your
incident number was sent to your inbox
when you submitted your documentation.
Keep this email to reference your incident.
● Respond promptly to any emails from the
entity validation team handling your
incident.
● If you submit more documents in
SAM.gov, also respond to the email to let
us know you took action. We will auto-
close your incident if we do not hear from
you in five days.
How do I know if I need to send different
documents?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
13
● Add documents through your
Entities Workspace in SAM.gov. You
can attach more documentation in
your Entities Workspace.
● You will be able to add attachments
like you did when creating the initial
incident.
● Add a comment in FSD.gov when you
upload additional files in SAM.gov to
help us process your incident. Do NOT
attach documents to the FSD incident.
How do I add documents to my incident?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
14
● Sign in to FSD.gov to add a comment to
your validation incident. Your validation
incident from SAM.gov will be available
under “My Incidents.” Write a comment or
question at the top of your incident.
● Add documents in your Entities
Workspace in SAM.gov. Do NOT add
documents at FSD.gov.
How can I ask a question about my
entity validation?
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
15
● If sending a bank statement or utility bill, make
sure it is less than five years old.
● Send documents that match your current,
correct name and address you have provided to
SAM.gov.
Document Rules for Successful Validation
This is the documentation playbook!
Documentation submitted without following these
guidelines will be rejected and you will be asked to
send additional documents.
● If your documents are in a language other than
English, send both non-English-language
originals and a certified English translation.
● Make sure your scans or photos do not obscure
or cut off information, and are not low contrast
or out of focus.
● Sorry, we can’t accept an original application or
typed document, or screenshots of a form
where you entered data on a website.
● Sorry, P.O. boxes are not accepted for your
physical address!
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
16
IAE Stakeholder Forum
● Only the EVS provider receiving incident tickets
from SAM.gov can validate your entity. They will
communicate with you via your incident ticket
only.
● Federal Service Desk agents cannot address
validation issues over the phone or chat.
● Do not submit multiple validation incidents for
the same issue. Creating multiple incidents
does not expedite our handling of your incident
and actually slows down the overall process.
Incidents are processed in the order received.
We are closely monitoring the situation and
are working to address each incident as
quickly and efficiently as possible.
This is our top priority and will continue to
be so until incident resolution times are
stabilized.
What Can I Do Now?
If you have an open incident:
● Check your documentation
● Monitor your email
● Respond to messages about your
incident promptly
If your registration renewal is upcoming:
● Start early
● Prepare entity documents, if needed
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
17
What Do I Do Next after
My Entity Is Validated?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
18
What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?
You will receive an email
notifying you when your
entity is validated. At that
time, you may continue
registering, renewing, or
getting your Unique Entity
ID.
Go to SAM.gov and select the
“Entities” widget.
Your next action will depend
on your entity’s status. If you
manage multiple entities, go
to the entities workspace to
select the entity referenced
in the email.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
19
What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?
If your entity is in the
Pending ID Assignment
status, select “Get Started”
from your Entities
Workspace.
Enter your entity
information. This time, you
should see an exact match
for your entity’s name and
physical address.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
20
What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?
If your entity is in the ID
Assigned status, go to your
Entities Workspace by
selecting the ID Assigned
bubble.
If your entity has a
“Validation Required” alert,
select “Validate Entity” from
the Actions menu (the three
vertical dots) to complete
the Entity Validation process.
You should find an exact
match for your entity’s name
and physical address.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
21
What Do I Do Next After My Entity is Validated?
If your entity is in the
Work in Progress
Registration (WIP)
status, you can continue
your registration where
you left off. Select
“Update” from the
Actions menu (the three
vertical dots) to continue
Note: If your WIP displays
an incorrect entity name
or physical address, you
must delete it and start a
new update.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
22
Frequently Asked Questions
about Validation
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
23
Due to a change in EVS service providers, we no
longer use the same database. The data from
the previous provider could not be shared with
the new provider. In certain cases, the
database will not have a match or will have
different data than your SAM registration.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
If I already had a registration,
why can’t I find a match to
the name and address in my
registration?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
24
We check against millions of records pulled
from hundreds of official sources, such as
government databases, to find a match to the
information you enter in SAM.gov. In some
cases, an exact match will not be found. When
this happens, we use the verifiable
documentation you submit to establish the
correct information.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
Why can’t I find a match to
the name and address I
entered in SAM.gov?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
25
CAGE code reviews are handled by the Defense
Logistics Agency (DLA). SAM.gov provides them
with your name and address and they run a
separate validation against their database.
Resolution of CAGE code issues is handled
directly with DLA.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
Why am I getting rejected at
CAGE if I am validated in
SAM.gov?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
26
The Federal Service Desk (FSD) is available to
answer user questions about how to use
SAM.gov and other IAE systems. The FSD
agents you talk to on the phone or chat do not
have access to the validation documents you
submit and are not involved in the validation
process. All communications around validation
will come from our EVS team.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
Why can’t FSD agents provide
answers about my
documentation?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
27
Validation is required when you renew your
entity registration each year, when you update
or change your entity’s name or address, and
when you first register an entity or get a
Unique Entity ID.
If your entity's information hasn't changed
since the last time you validated, you will not
have to open an incident or submit
documentation to validate.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
Will I need to validate
anytime I update my SAM.gov
registration?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
28
Go to SAM.gov if you need to change your
information. Navigate to your entity workspace
to update with your new information. FSD.gov
has step-by-step instructions and guides with
screenshots to help walk you through how to
update.
IAE Stakeholder Forum
Answer
What do I do if I need to
change my name or address?
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
29
Where to Get Help
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
Help for Validation Incidents
If you are waiting for your incident to be resolved, the EVS provider
will reach out to you and request clarification and additional
documentation, if needed.
The most important action an entity can take if their current, correct
information is not found during validation is to submit acceptable
documentation to avoid further delay.
30
IAE Stakeholder Forum
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
31
Where to Get Help
The Help page on SAM.gov now
includes a list of help topic
trends, including validation
help, FAQs and a menu to
navigate through help topics.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
32
We will also continue to update our FSD
help pages for all the latest information
around validation and other changes
impacting any IAE system.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
33
Feature and Enhancement Requests
IAE Stakeholder Forum
We want site enhancement feedback and feature
requests! This helps us as we continually plan and
deliver future enhancements to SAM.gov.
The best way to provide these feature requests is
to use the feedback form on SAM.gov.
This feedback is reviewed daily and delivered to
decision makers. IAE directly consults our user
feedback when deciding what improvements to
work on next.
Please do not report
technical problems here.
System for Award Management | For People Who Make, Receive, and Manage Federal Awards
35
Questions?
Thank you!
