SAM.gov registration: getting your UEI and staying active

SAM.gov (the System for Award Management) is the federal government's master list of organizations that do business with it. If you want to apply for a federal grant directly, your nonprofit must have an active SAM.gov registration. If you receive federal money through a state or another nonprofit, you'll almost always need at least a Unique Entity ID (UEI) from SAM.gov.

It's not hard, but it's fussy, and it's the step that most often derails first-time federal applicants. This guide covers what to gather, how to register, how to renew, and how to fix the problems that cause delays. Details are current as of October 2026. GSA changes SAM.gov screens fairly often, so follow the on-screen prompts where they differ from what's described here.

The short version

• It's free. Always. Registration, renewal, and updates.
• You get a UEI. A 12-character alphanumeric ID that replaced the DUNS number in April 2022. It never expires.
• Registration expires every year. Your UEI stays, but your registration goes inactive if you don't renew.
• Allow real time. Grants.gov says up to 10 business days once you submit, and weeks or months if your information needs validation. NIH budgets three or more weeks. NSF recommends starting at least 90 days before you plan to submit.

UEI only vs. full registration

SAM.gov offers two paths, and choosing the right one saves time.

Under the federal rules for UEIs (2 CFR part 25), subrecipients must have a UEI but aren't required to complete full SAM.gov registration, and the 2024 Uniform Guidance revisions removed the UEI requirement for contractors under federal awards. Your pass-through entity may still ask for full registration as its own policy, so check your subaward. See subawards and pass-through funding.

Before you start: gather this

Have these ready before you log in. Most delays trace back to one of them.

1. Your exact legal name and physical address. Use the name on your IRS determination letter and state incorporation records, character for character. "Riverside Literacy Project, Inc." and "Riverside Literacy Project" are different names to a validation system.
2. Your EIN (IRS taxpayer ID). SAM.gov checks your name and EIN against IRS records. If you've changed your name or address with the state but not the IRS, fix the IRS side first.
3. Incorporation documents and IRS determination letter. You may need them for validation.
4. Bank account information for electronic funds transfer: routing number and account number for the account that will receive federal payments.
5. Points of contact. At minimum, an E-Business Point of Contact (EBiz POC) and a Government Business POC. The EBiz POC also controls your Grants.gov profile.
6. A Login.gov account for the person registering.
7. Fiscal year end date, number of employees, and annual revenue (rough figures are asked in some sections).

Registering, step by step

The screens change, but the logic stays the same.

1. Sign in to SAM.gov with Login.gov and choose to register an entity.
2. Choose the purpose of registration. Nonprofits seeking grants usually choose financial assistance awards only (grants, cooperative agreements, loans). Choose "all awards" only if you also plan to bid on federal contracts, which brings additional representations.
3. Validate your entity. SAM.gov checks your legal name and address against its entity validation service. If it matches, you move on. If not, see "Fixing entity validation," below.
4. Enter core data: taxpayer information, banking for electronic funds transfer, fiscal year, entity type (for most nonprofits, a 501(c)(3)), and so on.
5. Complete assertions and points of contact. Name your EBiz POC carefully. This person must be an employee, officer, or board member to serve as Entity Administrator. Since March 2023, outside service providers can't hold that role, though they can be given a data-entry role.
6. Agree to the financial assistance representations and certifications. These are binding certifications that apply to your federal awards. Read them. See "Certifications are changing," below.
7. Submit. You'll get a confirmation. SAM.gov then runs IRS TIN matching and other checks. Watch your email.
8. Confirm active status. When your registration is active, your UEI and expiration date appear on your entity record. Write the expiration date down in three places.

Appointing Entity Administrators

The Entity Administrator manages your SAM.gov record and assigns roles to other users. Two practical rules:

• Have at least two internal Entity Administrators. SAM.gov itself recommends a backup. When your only administrator leaves, you lose control of your record and have to go through the notarized-letter process to regain it.
• Keep your consultant in a data-entry role. They can help with entry, but the administrator role belongs to your staff, officers, or board members.

The notarized letter: when you still need one

Notarized letters used to be a major source of delay. As of 2025, GSA describes a risk-based approach: a notarized Entity Administrator appointment letter is required mainly when there is no Entity Administrator appointed for the entity in the system. The typical case is a new person trying to take over an existing record after the previous administrator left. You prepare the letter on letterhead, have it notarized, and upload it through the Federal Service Desk (FSD.gov) according to SAM.gov's instructions.

If you keep two administrators current, you'll seldom need one. If you do, follow the template and instructions on SAM.gov exactly. Letters get rejected for small mismatches in the entity name, UEI, or signer.

Renewing every year

Registrations expire 365 days after activation. Renewing is mostly re-confirming your information, but it's not a rubber stamp. The renewal can trigger revalidation of your name and address.

• Watch for reminder emails. Entity administrators are generally emailed at 60, 30, and 15 days before expiration.
• Start at least 45–60 days before expiration. The Federal Service Desk has advised starting at least 45 days ahead because processing can take weeks.
• Update anything that changed before you renew: new address, new bank, new executive director as a point of contact.
• Don't let it lapse during an active award. An inactive registration can delay drawdowns and new funding actions, and some agencies won't make awards to entities without an active registration.

Fixing the most common delays

Entity validation failures

Since April 2022, every new entity must validate its legal name and address. If SAM.gov can't find a match, you'll be asked to submit documentation.

What GSA says works:

1. Open an incident in SAM.gov (not by emailing documents to FSD.gov).
2. Attach documents that prove your legal name and address, such as articles of incorporation, a certificate of formation, tax filings, bylaws, or a bank statement or utility bill showing the address.
3. Describe the problem clearly and submit only one incident per issue.
4. Wait. GSA says tickets are handled in the order received and take at least several days. Contacting the help desk won't speed it up.

Common causes: a P.O. box listed as your address; a recent move; a legal name that includes or omits "Inc." or "The"; and a nonprofit that operates under a "doing business as" name different from its legal name.

IRS TIN mismatch

SAM.gov compares your legal name and EIN with IRS records. If your nonprofit changed its name and never told the IRS, or your EIN was issued under an old name, the match fails. Fix the record with the IRS, then retry. This can take weeks, so start early.

Banking information

The account must be in your organization's name. Typos in routing or account numbers create delays later when you try to get paid.

Expired registration discovered at deadline

If your SAM.gov registration expired and a deadline is days away, renew immediately, document every step, and read the NOFO's late-application policy. Some agencies make allowances when applicants can show SAM.gov system problems, but none will excuse a renewal you simply forgot.

Certifications are changing: read before you click

When you register or renew, you agree to financial assistance representations and certifications. These apply to every federal grant you receive, and making a false certification can carry serious consequences, including potential False Claims Act liability.

On January 28, 2026, GSA published a proposal (Federal Register document 2026-01676) to revise the certifications financial assistance recipients make in SAM.gov. As summarized by law firms tracking it, the proposed language would have recipients certify that they don't operate programs that violate federal anti-discrimination laws (including specific practices involving race-based preferences), and would add certifications related to immigration and to funding of violence or terrorism. Comments closed March 30, 2026. As of the sources we could verify, GSA had not announced an effective date.

What to do:

• Check what you're certifying each time you renew. Read the current text on SAM.gov rather than relying on a summary.
• Talk to your attorney if you have questions about how a certification applies to your programs. This is a legal question, not a form-filling one.
• For context on related executive orders and litigation, see the federal funding landscape.

SAM.gov after award: subaward reporting

If you make subawards of $30,000 or more under a federal award, federal transparency rules (FFATA) require you to report them. GSA retired the old FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS.gov) on March 6, 2025, and that reporting now happens in SAM.gov. Reports are due by the end of the month after the subaward is made. Your Entity Administrator will need to assign the right role to whoever files.

Beware of SAM.gov scams

GSA is blunt about this: "Registration in SAM.gov is always free." Yet nonprofits regularly receive official-looking letters and emails warning that their "SAM registration is expiring" and offering to renew it for a fee. Some are legitimate but overpriced services, others are outright impostors.

Red flags:

• The sender isn't a .gov address, or the link goes to something like "sam-gov.com" or "gov.com"
• A fee, gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency payment is requested
• Pressure to act within hours
• Offers to get you "priority" processing (there's no such thing for a fee)

If you get one, go directly to SAM.gov by typing the address yourself. Report impostors to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov) or the FTC. For broader grant-related fraud, see our guide to grant scams.

Your SAM.gov maintenance checklist

• Legal name and address match IRS and state records exactly
• Two internal Entity Administrators, each with a working Login.gov account
• EBiz POC is a current staff member or officer (and knows they control Grants.gov roles)
• Expiration date on the grants calendar with reminders at 60, 45, and 15 days
• Banking information current
• Certifications reread at each renewal
• A one-page runbook stored where your successor will find it

With SAM.gov active, you're ready for the next step: setting up your organization on Grants.gov. Our Grants.gov guide picks up from here.