FBO is Moving - a beta.SAM Update

GSA’s Other Consolidation Project

Consolidation has been recurring theme over the past several years at GSA. While you’ve probably heard a lot about the upcoming GSA Schedules Consolidation, GSA’s Integrated Award Environment (IAE) has been working on another major consolidation for several years now.

The launch of the System for Award Management (SAM) in 2012 marked phase one of a long-term plan to consolidate several government systems into a single platform. The end goal is for SAM.gov to serve as a central website for people who make, receive, and manage federal awards. At its initial release, SAM.gov incorporated three government systems: 1) Central Contractor Registration (CCR), 2) Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), and 3) Excluded Parties List System (EPLS). By the end of fiscal year 2020, IAE plans to complete the project with the migration of the ten additional government systems detailed below.

Federal Systems Moving to beta.SAM

1. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) database of all assistance programs, including grants and loans
2. Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) documents contractor performance
3. Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) subcontracting reporting data
4. Federal Awardee Performance & Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) integrity and performance information
5. Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) postings of federal contract opportunities
6. Federal Funding Accountability & Transparency Act (FFATA) Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) subcontract award information in compliance with the FFATA
7. Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG) detailed information on federal contract actions valued at $10,000 or more
8. Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) repository for contractor performance information
9. System for Award Management (SAM) contractor registration, online representations and certifications, and Excluded Parties List
10. Wage Determinations OnLine (WDOL) Service Contract Act & Davis-Bacon Act wage determinations required for contract actions

beta.SAM in the Making

IAE kicked off the second phase of the consolidation project around two years ago with the introduction of beta.SAM.gov. Last March, we wrote about beta.SAM and the consolidation plan. To recap, beta.SAM is serving as the production site, which means IAE is transitioning data from the legacy systems to beta.SAM. During this time, SAM.gov will still be accessible to users and will remain the primary website for registering to do business with the federal government. Once all of the legacy systems are migrated to beta.SAM, the SAM.gov that we know today will be dropped and beta.SAM.gov will become SAM.gov.

Since last March, GSA has officially decommissioned the CFDA and WDOL websites after migrating their data to beta.SAM. While PPIRS has also been decommissioned, the PPIRS data is currently merged with CPARS and will eventually make its way to beta.SAM.gov.

FBO.gov, also known as FedBizOpps, is next up on the migration agenda. FBO.gov will remain the authoritative source for federal business opportunities until the site is officially decommission on November 8. However, in the meantime, FBO data has been migrated into beta.SAM.

Notes on the FBO Transition to beta.SAM:

Below are a few notes and preparation tips for FBO’s transition to beta.SAM. You can also review GSA’s “Contractor Quick Start Guide” here.

• Your account will not automatically transfer from FBO to beta.SAM.
• Any search agents or watched notices in FBO.gov will not transfer over, however you can set these up now in beta.SAM.
• Creating an account in beta.SAM is not the same as registering an entity, which you must still do at SAM.gov at this time.
• Unless you’re a federal user, you’ll need to have an account tied to an entity to use the Interested Vendor List (IVL) in beta.SAM.
• You’ll still have the same functionality in beta.SAM, but some of the terminology will change:
  • Watchlist → Follow
  • Search Agent → Saved Search
  • Advanced Search → Change Filters
  • Archived → Inactive
  • Packages → Attachments
  • Modification/Amendment → Updated

Notes and Recommendations for beta.SAM:

• Data from the legacy systems will be categorized by domains in beta.SAM.
• Keep your registration and password up to date in each legacy system until it’s retired, this will help you transition roles, if applicable, to beta.SAM.
• While SAM.gov is still the official website for entity registration, take the time to register on beta.SAM now. Get to know the new layout, setup searches, and follow opportunities.
• SAM uses login.gov –if you already have a login.gov account you will not need a new one.
• Non-federal users will need to register as an “entity” user account in order to save searches, follow records, and run reports.

beta.SAM Transition Status

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