Basics www.sam.gov To receive a grant from ONR Global, whether it be...

How to Get Registered in www.sam.gov
Basics
To receive a grant from ONR Global, whether it be a Collaborative Science Program (CSP) grant or a
Naval International Cooperative Opportunities in Science and Technology Program (NICOP) grant, the
recipient organization must be registered in www.sam.gov, a website for recipients of grants and
financing from the US Government. Below is information that represents successful submissions to
SAM. Nevertheless, changes may occur and are best resolved with the contact info below. Before
starting the registration, please be aware of the following information:
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You must have a “DUNS” number from Duns and Bradstreet, which can be requested at:
http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. If the number is simply to receive grants from the US
government, it should be free and only take about three days. You do not need to purchase any
sort of analytics package or anything else from DNB.
You must have a CAGE code, which can be requested at:
https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx.
In both cases, please make sure that your organization doesn’t already have one or the other
codes. For the CAGE code you will be required to search for your organization prior to
requesting a new code; for the DUNS number, it will suggest already-available options after you
input basic data. You can also search for DUNS numbers at: http://mycredit.dnb.com/searchfor-duns-number/. But this search tool does not always work well.
The addresses for both the CAGE code and the DUNS number need to be same or the
registration will eventually be rejected. Both should have zipcodes. If your country does not use
zipcodes, enter 00000 or 99999. For some reason, SAM works better with zipcodes.
Problems with SAM are best resolved by calling +1 866 606 8220. Wait times can sometimes be
long (30-60 minutes), so to avoid international dialing costs it’s best to use a VOIP service or to
have an ONRG Associate Director set up the phone call.
Step 1
Go to www.sam.gov and create an account. You will then be able to sign in as a user.
Step 2
Create an individual user account. On the first page you will be required to input name, email, phone
number, and country. Changing the country will adjust the phone field to accept non-US numbers. The
number, however you write it, requires a dash after the first four numbers. IE, a Chilean cell can be
written as 0981-919293 or 8181-9293 (for those not in Chile- the 09 is the mobile number code). On a
second page you will create a user name, password, and three security questions. On a third page you
review and submit the information. SAM will send a confirmation email to the email account you listed
in the registration; it contains a link that must be clicked with 48 hours.
Step 3
After accepting the usage agreement, you will be sent to a home page. If your organization was
previously registered in CCR, you can “migrate a legacy system account”. If this is a new registration,
click “Register New Entity” below “Register/Update Entity”. The rest of the guide will follow this new
option.
Step 4
Click “Start Registration” at the bottom of the page.
Step 5
To receive a grant from ONRG, select the options below, and click “next”.
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What type of entity are you? Business or Organization
Do you wish to bid on contracts? No
Do you want to be eligible for grants and other federal assistance? Yes
Step 6
Click “next”.
Step 7
Put in the DUNS number, legal name and address. Please make sure to select the country correctly, as
this will toggle address lines. It is at this stage that three challenges often occur after inputting the data:
1. You receive a message that “Although DUNS Number XXXXX is correctly formatted, the
information you input did not sufficiently match what is on file at D&B for this DUNS Number”.
This can occur if you try to register in SAM immediately after receiving your DUNS number. If it
does not resolve itself, confirm exactly what address information is registered at DNB for your
DUNS number and use that info for the registration. If you don’t have a zipcode, make sure to
enter 00000 or 99999 instead (zipcodes are important for SAM). If that doesn’t work, call SAM
at the number above or DNB at: http://www.dandb.com/international/ (note: if your country is
not listed, select the region. Alternatively, go to the UK site, and use the drop-down at the
bottom to find other countries [especially European] not listed at the DNB international site).
2. You get the message that the organization is already registered and active in SAM. This is a
good error- it means someone else has already registered your organization. The only thing you
might need to do is confirm the CAGE code associated with the DUNS number, especially if you
received a new one. This can be done either at the CAGE website or by calling SAM.
3. You get the message that the DUNS number is associated with an organization already in SAM,
but it does not indicate that the registration is active. In this case, you must call the SAM phone
number above and ask that your user account be associated with the particular DUNS number.
This scenario can sometimes occur if you have started a registration and the system glitches or
you log off to finish later. In this case, the solution is the same- call SAM to have them
reassociate your user account. To do this, you will need the DUNS number, user name, full
name of the registered user, and the email used by the user.
Step 8
If you make it to this stage, it should be fairly smooth sailing from now on. The SAM site will have found
the DUNS number and organization showing you a screen below. A key point is that the address, city,
and country must match the name and DUNS number for the record to appear. At this point, click “Save
and Continue”.
Step 9
At this stage you will do the following:
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Estimate the start date of your organization. The system does not check for accuracy, so a
reasonable guess is OK. A year can be chosen back to the birth of Christ, so even old institutions
can register.
Select an “MPIN”. This is basically a PIN number, or password. It MUST be 9 characters,
including at least one number and no special characters.
Step 9b
To continue with this page:
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Simply “Copy Physical Address” unless you have another mailing address you prefer.
Oddly, a zipcode is required. If you don’t have one, use 00000 or 99999.
A “Tax ID Number” (TIN) is for US institutions only. This is not a required field and should be left
blank if you are a non-US institution.
Step 10
Input your CAGE code and select “Save and Continue”.
Step 11
Unfortunately the business information section is geared towards US institutions. The following must be
selected:
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Country of incorporation is typically where you are located.
Select the type of institution in the drop down box, then they more specific category from the
check boxes (click “add” to move your selection to the right box).
Sometimes the check boxes don’t load, and you must hit “Save and Continue” before it brings you back
to this screen to ask you again.
Step 11b
Select the following:
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Is your business certified by a state certifying agency as a Department of Transportation (DOT)
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)? No
Is your organization one of the following? Foreign Owned and Located
Please indicate the form of your Business or Organization as identified by the IRS: Other
What is your organization’s profit structure? Nonprofit (if you are a research institution)
Then select “Save and Continue”.
Step 12
The financial information page is unclear. To get through it, follow these selections:
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Do you accept credit cards as a method of payment? No
Leave all Electronic Funds Transfer information blank
Fill in the Remittance Address, likely the address of your DUNS number.
Select “Save and Continue”.
Step 13
For executive compensation, select “No”. If you are a foreign organization, particularly an education or
a research institution, you almost certainly don’t receive most of income from the US Federal
government.
Select “Save and Continue”.
Step 14
This section is related to crime and financial waste. If your organization receives over US$10M per year
AND in the last five years your organization has lost a criminal case related to fraud, then you should
select yes. Otherwise no.
Click “Save and Continue”.
Step 15
This section is about visibility of your organization in SAM. If you authorize your entity’s information to
be “publicly available”, it means that anyone at all can see it. If you do not authorize, this means that
you must create a user account to see the information. In other words, it makes no difference to US
government agencies and their ability to provide a grant. One exception is that the operator on the
SAM help line cannot see information that has not been authorized.
Select “Save and Continue”.
Step 16
Review the data and select “Save and Continue” if there are no changes. Otherwise select “Edit” for the
appropriate section.
Step 17
Select “Yes” for POCs, then click “next”. If you select “No”, you will simply be sent back to the beginning
and won’t be able to complete the registration until you identify POCs.
Step 18
Enter Name, Email, and Phone for POCs. Use the Copy function if it is the same person. Some of the
POC information requires physical address information, so make sure to double check that. Also, the
country field must be selected properly. Lastly, the accounts receivable POC requires a fax number for
some reason. If you don’t have a fax, use an office number.
Select “Save and Continue”.
Step 19
Review the information (again) and click “Submit”.
Step 20
At this point your submission is done. You will receive an email confirming the reservation after it is
checked against the information in the CAGE system.
Step 21
If there is a problem, the email will identify it. One typical problem is that the address (or registered
name) in the CAGE system is even slightly different than that of the DUNS system. To solve this, change
the information in one of the systems, either CAGE or DNB. Then re-enter SAM with your username and
password and navigate to the Register/Update Entity selection on the left. There you will be able to
select “Incomplete Registrations” now, where you can update the address information and resubmit.