Why this matters
Public money has a gate: registration. Federal grants and contracts require an active SAM.gov registration; states run their own grant and vendor portals. Registration is free but not instant — validation can take days or longer — and a missing registration can disqualify an otherwise-winning application at the deadline.
What "done" looks like
- You have a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and an active SAM.gov registration if federal money is in scope
- You're registered on your state's grant or vendor portal for state programs
- The annual SAM renewal date is on your calendar
- You've never paid a third party for a registration that is free
How to do it
- Register at SAM.gov (free) — you'll receive a Unique Entity ID, the 12-character identifier that replaced the DUNS number in April 2022.
- Start early — don't begin the week of a grant deadline.
- Find your state's portal — most states run separate registration for grants and vendor payments; your state commerce site links to them.
- Match details exactly — legal name, address, and EIN must match your IRS and formation records; mismatches stall validation.
- Calendar the annual renewal — SAM registrations expire yearly; a lapse blocks awards and payments.
Common mistakes
- Paying "registration services" for what SAM.gov does free
- Starting registration the same week as an application deadline
- Letting the annual renewal lapse and discovering it mid-award
Real-world examples
- SAM.gov's Unique Entity ID replaced the third-party DUNS number in April 2022 — a documented federal transition; registration is free and required for federal grants and contracts.
- Federal agency grant guides consistently list an active SAM registration as a hard prerequisite for applying and getting paid.
From a founder's point of view
Registration is bureaucratic table stakes — zero strategy, pure calendar. Doing it while still researching programs, instead of the week a deadline hits, turns a known bottleneck into a non-event.
Rule of thumb
Register before you need it: if public money is even a maybe this year, do the free registrations now and calendar the renewal.