In order to conduct business with or receive grants from the Federal Government, the organization/company/person must be registered in the System for Award Management. As with most government filings; the tools, information and applications are all online at no cost for those organizations who wish to handle this area internally. However, the government does not review paperwork or assist with the filing until after it is submitted. This almost always causes delays, especially as the registration procedures continue to change and be updated on a continuing basis. They also cannot assist you in ensuring your registration is correct and visible to the appropriate audiences (Contracting Officers, Prime Contractors, etc).

In June of 2018, the GSA (General Services Administration) put new security measures in place in order to file or update a SAM Registration. This was due to the security breach on the Government’s side earlier in 2018 along with the multiple misleading unethical and fraudulent activities by third-party registration firms and people. creating additional confusion and economic opportunities for themselves irrespective of what’s best for the SAM Registrant. USBRI offers solutions to avoid these issues along with many others.

Reasons for updating SAM Registration Security Protocols & New Filing Procedures:

****High Volume of Phone Calls & Emails that Sound & Look Official****

1. Third party firms misleading organizations with highly creative emails, websites and phone calls. (if an email address does not end with “.gov” or “.mil”, then most likely it did not come from the government)
2. Many third party organizations act as if you are speaking to the government itself and what they say IS MANDATORY.  Most third party marketing angles are based on some type of COMPLIANCE ISSUE, BOARDING PROCESS, ASSESSMENT of some sort, ERRORS, telling them their registration is wrong in one way or another or whatever else these kind of people come up with at the time.
3. If you are not speaking directly with a government employee (many third-parties say they ARE the government), then there is a 95% chance you are speaking with a “COMMISSION ONLY SALES CONSULTANT”.
4. ****BE CAREFUL TAKING ACTIONS WITHOUT DOING YOUR DUE DILIGENCE****

How do I find a real Registration Firm with a long & true credible history?

1. Make sure the organization has been around for awhile and has a good reputation. Major red flags would be a third-party government registration firm that is relatively new, has had many BBB complaints, especially watch out for patterns of a particular style of complaints.  Check the organization’s BBB (Better Business Bureau) profile prior to choosing a registration firm to facilitate any type of government registration or certification for your organization.
2. Utilize reputation sources that organization’s cannot alter or create their own reviews, the BBB cross references computer IP addresses to ensure organizations cannot do this.
3. How long has the company been in business?

United States Business Registration (USBRI) is the oldest and original third-party government registration firm. We are the ONLY third-party government registration firm to hold a grade “A” with the BBB. We are unaware of any third-party registration firm that DOES NOT USE commissioned sales people to answer incoming calls. A Certified Registration Specialist will answer all calls to USBRI as opposed to a commissioned sales person that you get at all these newer companies (less than 5 years we consideren ew). This ensures the information you receive does not have a chance to be slanted in someone else’s favor versus what’s best for YOUR organization (credibility of information received can be quite questionable from these types of companies). This goes the same for the type of information you receive from that person or organization over the phone (in conversation versus in writing).

United States Business Registration’s BBB profile can be seen by clicking here.

View any company’s Better Business Bureau profile at the BBB’s website:   https://www.bbb.org

*Remember, you must enter the companies name in full, acronyms do not work. If a company does not have a BBB profile or cannot be found, that is another major red flag. It should be east to view an organization’s BBB profile.