I wonder if your problems are related to the message below (if you are a state owned higher ed institution.) We found this to be our problem and it appears the fix is supposed to be pushed out in the next update on Friday.

This issue has kept agencies from being able to search for us in the SAM system, and could potentially be causing some of the other problems you are experiencing as well. I know that we have registered and updated about three separate times trying to figure out the problem. We finally got an email from SAM saying our registration was completed and have provided that to agencies that were having problems finding us in the system. That seemed to pacify them and our awards have gone through pending this update.

*****

From: COGR [mailto:xxxxxx@usc.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 11:19 AM
To: COGR Email List
Subject: COGR: SAM and State-Assisted Institutions

As many of you know, the System for Awards Management (SAM) is the "gatekeeper" for Federal agency access to institutional data.  It combines the federal procurement systems and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance into one system that includes the Central Contractor Registry (CCR); Federal Agency Registration (Fedreg); Online Representations and Certifications Application and Excluded Parties List System (EPLS).  The General Services Administration (GSA) manages the system which is designed, primarily, to be used by Federal acquisition officers, however, it is the database that provides CCR information to you as prime awardees and your prime sponsors as well.  Thus, the public search functionality is critical.

GSA informed us  it has "a known issue with state government entities when someone performs a public search.  When a public search is performed, state government entities will not be returned.  This problem is scheduled to be addressed in the next release of SAM on 4/12/13.  Once fixed, [state-assisted universities] will be available in a public search, unless they have opted out during their registration.   All Federal grants and contracting officers have access to all entities and can see this entity when logged in to SAM as a government user. "

Thus, state colleges and universities are considered state government entities (we believe in all cases) and are not currently available in a public search.   Some institutions have worked to assist sponsors by going into SAM with their log-in and making a copy of the registration which is dated and then sending it to the sponsor.

We are aware of intermittent problems with SAM including the announced  security vulnerability which could allow some existing users in the system to view certain registration information.  GSA implemented a software patch and  is undergoing a full review of the system and investigating any potential additional impacts to registrants in SAM. Some functionalities may be temporarily unavailable (FAQs at: http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/167855).

Problems with SAM should be reported to the SAM help desk.

Carol J. Blum
Director, Research Compliance and Administration
Council on Governmental Relations - COGR
1200 New York Ave., NW, Suite 750
202.289.6655, ext. 117
202.289.6698 - Fax
xxxxxx@cogr.edu

*****

Thank you,
Corey
S. Corey Burger
Contract Administrator, Sponsored Programs
Office of Research and Graduate Studies
Utah State University

(435) 797-1661 - xxxxxx@usu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Athey, Rochelle R [VPRED]
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 3:18 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] SAM.GOV

Haven't had that experience yet; trying to avoid it by updating early but still can't seem to get our registration accepted by SAM.

We're zero for two.  We followed the updating process as required by SAM (no jumping around between sections) and yet still, we have DLA contacting us about our CAGE code and a name change.  I suspect this is occurring because there is some mismatch between what DLA has on file (in their dataset) concerning the name associated with the CAGE code and what SAM provided.  There has been no name change recently - we did one more than a year ago though and I am beginning to wonder if that data didn't make it somewhere it needed to be in this conversion to SAM.  We did our last successful CCR update after the name change though.

I am quite frustrated with SAM.  I'll let you all know what DLA says about our CAGE code.

Rochelle R. Athey, CRA
Director
Office of Sponsored Programs Administration Iowa State University
1138 Pearson Hall
Ames Iowa 50011-2207
Phone:  515-294-7723
Fax:  515-294-8000

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Francis Kornacki
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 4:03 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] SAM.GOV

While our institution was able to complete the update of SAM before noon on Monday, all proposals submitted via Grants.gov were rejected, the reason given that our SAM registration had expired and that any update might not be in sync with Grants.gov for up to 48 hours. Everything is fine now-- < 48 hours later -- but this has apparently cost us at least one submission to the US Department of State, who despite even sending the given contact an email attachment of the kit after the Grants.gov submission failed, and before the deadline of midnight, have been unmoved by our plight and copied their guidelines that state it must be submitted via Grants.gov and before the deadline, and since it was rejected by Grants.gov it would not be considered in any other format. NIH, while not guaranteeing any further consideration of the rejected proposal form Monday night, at least has a mechanism in place for us to re-submit. Anyone have similar experiences?

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Giammarco, Victoria
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 8:07 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] SAM.GOV

Sherrie,

If you wouldn't mind sharing, we would be most grateful for the specific directions.

Many thanks,

Vicki Giammarco
Ursinus College

________________________________________
From: Research Administration List [xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Wagoner, Sherrie L [xxxxxx@PEPPERDINE.EDU]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 5:07 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] SAM.GOV

I was able to complete the SAM registration before noon today without problems.

I have an email with specific directions which were very helpful. I'm happy to forward that to you if you will send me your email address (xxxxxx@pepperdine.edu).

Sherrie Wagoner, MA
Sponsored Programs Officer
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
P: 310-506-6996; F 310-506-7233
E: xxxxxx@pepperdine.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Laura Kubec
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 9:46 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: [RESADM-L] SAM.GOV

I am still getting a message that SAM.Gov is unavailable and today is the due date to renew the CCR.
I have been unable to reach SAM.Gov by phone or e-mail.
Has anyone else still had this situation and have an update?
Thanks so much.
Laura

Laura L. Kubec
Director of Sponsored Research Services
Keck Graduate Institute
535 Watson Drive
Claremont, CA  91711
909-607-9313

[Description: Description: cid:image001.jpg@01CCCED6.37E13110]

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 A link directly to helpful tips:  http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ======================================================================

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 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the
 "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner)

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