Known as Contract Opportunities, beta.SAM.gov is now the authoritative location for finding federal business opportunities.
Beta.SAM.gov is now home to all current contract opportunities formerly posted to FBO.gov. This will be the official U.S. government website por entrepreneurs who make, receive, and manage federal awards. The new location offers a more efficient way to access all federal award data.
According to GSA, if you are interested in saving searches, following contract opportunities, requesting secure documents or signing up for an Interested Vendor List, you will need a login.gov account in beta.SAM.gov. It means that your previous account in FBO.gov will not automatically transfer from FBO to beta.SAM.
Why FBO.gov has been moved?
The transition to the new location will provide not only better security, data quality, and convenience for users, but will also reduce barriers for doing business with the government, reduce reporting burden, and increase transparency into federal spending.
The beta.SAM.gov domains contain data that has been migrated from our legacy systems. The domains support two distinct types of federal awards: acquisition and federal assistance.
- Acquisition awards are contracts awarded under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).
- Federal assistance awards are grant, cooperative, loan, insurance, service, and other agreements covered by the Code of Federal Regulations, specifically 2 CFR 200.
Beta.SAM.gov: New terminology
Keep in mind that you’ll still have the same functionality in beta.SAM, but some of the terminology will change as follow:
- Watchlist: Follow
- Search Agent: Saved Search
- Advanced Search: Change Filters
- Archived: Inactive
- Packages: Attachments
- Modification/Amendment: Updated
Besides, it is important for you to know that creating an account in beta.SAM is not the same as registering an entity, which you must still do at SAM.gov.
To prepare for the future, beta.SAM.gov encourage you to test the search, user accounts, saved searches, and provide feedback on the new location.
To know more on this transition, visit the Learning Center for videos and FAQs.
You can also review the GSA´s “Contractor Quick Start Guide” here.
Dr. Rafael Marrero
A nationally recognized expert in federal contracting, small business entrepreneurship, vendor, and project/program management. A graduate of the prestigious Stanford and Cornell Universities, Dr. Rafael Marrero is a former Fortune 500 procurement executive, two-time Inc. 500 honoree, network news commentator, and Amazon best-selling author.
