As discussed in a prior bulletin, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) issued an interim rule in November clarifying that offerors are not required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database from the moment of bid/proposal submission through contract award. The FAR Council stated that this change was intended to correct misinterpretations surrounding the September 2018 amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which required contractors to have "continuous, uninterrupted" active registration through the entire contractual pre-award process.
On Aug. 6, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issued a final rule that fully adopts the interim rule. Federal contractors are not required to be continuously registered in SAM between the date of bid/proposal submission and contract award to be eligible for award.
Although the FAR Council had intended for businesses to be registered at the time they submitted their bid and at the time of contract award, the Government Accountability Office and judges at the Court of Federal Claims have interpreted the 2018 FAR amendment to require continuous registration between contract offer and award. Not only did this interpretation create confusion for contractors, it also served as a disqualifier for those businesses that had any lapse in their SAM registration during the pre-award period.
The FAR Council acknowledged this interpretation prevented the government from issuing awards to "otherwise successful small business offerors." It expects that this final rule will alleviate such issues and confusion moving forward.
The final rule went into effect on Aug. 7, continuing the interim rule that has been effective since November 2024.
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