SAM.gov (System for Award Management) is the federal government's vendor registry. Registration is required to bid federal contracts as a prime — and it is completely free. The single most important thing to know: never pay anyone to register you.
The registration scam to avoid
Businesses that touch SAM.gov get flooded with official-looking emails and calls offering "registration assistance" or "renewal processing" for $300–$900. These are private companies, not the government. Everything they charge for, you can do yourself at sam.gov at no cost. The government never charges for SAM registration or renewal.
What you actually do
- Create a login.gov account, then start the entity registration at sam.gov.
- You'll get a UEI (Unique Entity ID) — the 12-character identifier that replaced the old DUNS number. This is issued during registration, free.
- Have ready: your legal business name exactly as registered with your state, EIN, bank details for federal payments, and your NAICS codes (for facilities work: 561720 janitorial, 561730 landscaping, 561210 facilities support, 561790 other building services, 562111 waste collection).
- Processing takes days to a few weeks. Renewal is required every 12 months — also free, also a scam-call magnet.
Do subcontractors need SAM?
No. If you only work as a subcontractor to a prime, SAM registration is optional. It helps — primes search SAM and SBA's DSBS database to find partners, so an active registration is free marketing — but you can subcontract for years without one. Register when you want visibility or plan to prime your own bids.