Key takeaways
- Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issues interim rule clarifying that companies competing for federal contracts must be registered in System for Award Management (SAM) only at proposal submission and contract award
- Continuous SAM registration is no longer required to be eligible for award
- Interim rule provides relief from harsh consequences of previous requirement, which made offerors ineligible after even a one-day lapse in SAM registration
Overview of interim rule
The FAR Council has issued an interim rule amending FAR 52.204-7(b)(1) to clarify SAM pre-award registration requirements. FAR 52.204-7(b)(1) formerly required offerors to continuously maintain an active SAM registration throughout the period between proposal submission and contract award to be eligible to receive the award. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Government Accountability Office both strictly enforced this previous requirement, often determining that offerors were ineligible for award if they failed to maintain an active SAM registration for the entire proposal and evaluation process. The interim rule, which took effect on November 12, 2024, provides that an offeror must be registered only at the time of proposal submission and contract award “but [is] not required to be registered at every moment in between those two points.”