Dana Delano

"Make Sure Your SAM.gov Registration is Active with Multiple Entity Administrators"

There is no question that maintaining and keeping your SAM.gov registration active and up-to-date is sometimes daunting to say the least. It is an annual registration, which means it must be update each year based on the date you last completed the task. And the only people allowed to update your SAM account are the ones that have been given a Role Assignment to do so. Here lies the problem. 

Most companies only assign one Entity Administrator. In today’s business environment, people come and go from company to company with little to no notice. If your Entity Administrator decides to leave, your company is now vulnerable to missing the annual registration process and become inactive. And in some instances, access to the administrator account becomes lost for no reason at all. I have contacted the Federal Service Desk and they said, “it happens”. If you are a for-profit company, you are now unable to bid on federal opportunities. If you are a non-profile entity, you cannot apply for or receive funding from grant opportunities. Neither situation is a good one for a company that depends on said funding or contract awards. SAM.gov strongly recommends all companies add one or more Entity Administrators that have a role to make updates or edits to an entity registration data to ensure access to your registration will not be interrupted. 

It is not a difficult process to assign roles to additional personnel as a back-up so that your SAM.gov account does not go inactive. Your current Entity Administrator can simply ‘Assign a Role’ to another person in the organization. That person would have to create a ‘Login.gov’ account first and then accept the role request. It is that simple. Once completed, your company will have two or more people that can complete updates and manage your Sam.gov account.

Maine APEX is here to assist you with this process as well. It is not a time-consuming process if you are proactive before your Entity Administrator decides to leave, retire, go on vacation, or take time off due to illness. Just remember, if your Entity Administrator assigned to your SAM.gov decides to ‘leave’ for whatever reason, you will have to write an Entity Administrator Appointment Letter and wait for the Federal Service Desk to acknowledge the new Administrator before they can make necessary updates that could affect your federal status. Contact your Maine APEX counselor, it is what we do!

-Dana Delano, Procurement Counselor for Aroostook county

Jessica Crowley

"Do You Have A New And/Or Innovative Idea or Product?"

There are some funding opportunities that can be available if you have an idea or prototype that fits a need the government has. Have you ever heard of the SBIR/STTR programs? SBIR stands for Small Business Innovation Research and STTR stands for Small Business Technology Transfer. These programs are highly competitive, and they encourage small businesses to participate in Federal Research and Development with the potential of bringing new products or services to the market. The mission of SBIR/STTR programs is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy. 

SBIR/STTR are divided into three phases executed through Broad Agency Announcements and Commercial Solutions Opening processes resulting in contracts, grants or agreements. The Top 5 funding agencies for SBIRs and STTRs are the Department of Defense (DoD), National Institutes for Health (NIH), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Science Foundation (NSF). 

Here at Maine APEX, we assist businesses with the different stages of applying for SBIR and STTR funding streams. We work collaboratively with different organizations throughout Maine and different Federal agencies to help your business compete on SBIRs and STTRs.

--Jessica Crowley, Procurement Counselor for Washington County

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