The U.S. General Services Administration currently has two sites running simultaneously that sound similar in name but are not yet similar in function. Until transition, SAM.gov and beta.SAM.gov exist for different reasons hence serve different functions. The new platform will allow SAM.gov and beta.SAM.gov to co-exist.

Users will continue SAM.gov if they want to register with the U.S. government to do business. You can update or renew, check your registration status, or search for entity registrations and exclusion records on SAM.gov in addition to initial registration.

At some point in the future, the new website beta.SAM.gov will integrate all of SAM.gov’s features with those of nine other existing websites. In the name of the site, they use the word “beta” to differentiate it from SAM.Gov. The “beta” moniker will go away once SAM.gov transitions into the new site, and there will be only one SAM.gov.

The features of CFDA.gov (the old site used to search for assistance lists such as grants and loans) will be turned into the new beta.SAM.gov in May. Users of CFDA.gov are now redirected to beta.SAM.gov for an improved assistance search interface. The conversion of CFDA into beta.SAM.gov has not updated or influenced SAM.gov.

Update and Additions

GSA is also in the process of updating the security for logging-in to the SAM.gov website. Along with a new and improved website with a multitude of user features. GSA is requiring users to create a Login.gov user account and set up a multi-factor authentication beginning June 29th; this will help protect and secure user information. The upgrade followed an investigation into suspected illegal third-party behavior on the SAM.gov platform by the GSA Office of Inspector General. 

Make sure you know and have access to the address linked with your new SAM.gov user account to guarantee that you are eligible for these security updates.

All in all, IT Modernization’s wave is beginning to take hold of the GSA, bringing with it a multitude of changes. 

Schedule for the Consolidation

It will take a minimum of two years to complete the overall transition plan, which will begin late in the 2020 fiscal year. CFDA.gov was the first existing website to make the transition to beta. SAM.gov with a May 25th start date. The transition of the site was also accompanied by several new features and significant improvements. WDOL.gov and FBO.gov will be joining CFDA.gov in FY2018.

Dates for their official transfer have not yet been set in stone, but GSA expects them in FY 2019. The rest of the legacy websites will move to the new site throughout 2020. The beta will be improving constantly until the end of the overall transition period.

Visitors to the beta site can now use a single search area for assistance, job opportunities, contract details, agency information, federal hierarchy, and wage determinations. And a new account model outlined on the beta site would finally provide customers with a single sign-on to access all the integrated websites.

SAM.gov’s changes represent a larger trend among federal agencies to simplify and streamline federal award discovery, process, analysis, and leadership divisions.