# System for Award Management *U.S. federal-procurement registration system operated through SAM.gov* The System for Award Management (SAM, also SAM.gov) is the federal e-procurement system in which entities seeking federal contracts or grants register. It gathers supplier information, validates and stores it, and distributes it to government acquisition agencies.[^1][^2] SAM.gov appears in this project's catalogue of validated claim:link pairs as a "federal-procurement public registry". The entry is filed under the theory heading for 42 U.S.C. §1981, the federal guarantee of an equal right to contract regardless of race.[^1] The sources in the record describe the system's function and lineage. They do not document any Minnesota-specific registration, award or finding involving SAM.[^1][^2] ## Users and registrants SAM serves the public as well as contracting officials, contractors, and grant-makers.[^2] Vendors doing business with the federal government must register. So must grant applicants and grantees, for whom an active registration is a precondition of submitting a grant application.[^2] Registration is free and must be renewed every year.[^2] ## History SAM replaced the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). CCR remained the federal government's main supplier database through July 30, 2012.[^2] CCR's origins lie in an October 1993 memorandum from President Bill Clinton requiring the government to reform its acquisition processes.[^2] The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 followed and called for a "single face to industry". The Department of Defense then designated CCR as the single electronic point of entry for vendors seeking DoD business.[^2] Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Subpart 204.7300 made CCR registration a condition of doing business with the Department.[^2] A Federal Acquisition Regulation policy published October 1, 2003 (Circular 2003-016, FAR case 2002-018) extended the requirement to all federal contractors. Each had to be registered in CCR before any contract or purchase agreement could be awarded.[^2] Contractors providing services to the Department of Defense report separately, through the ECMRA website, on funding source, contracting vehicle, organization supported, mission and function, and labor hours and costs.[^2] Phase I of the consolidation of federal contracting systems into SAM began on July 24, 2012.[^2] From that date, users could no longer enter new information into CCR or the other Phase I systems, which allowed their data to be migrated.[^2] After July 30, 2012, visitors to the CCR, ORCA and EPLS websites were redirected automatically to SAM.gov.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - SAM.gov is catalogued as a "federal-procurement public registry" in the project's validated claim:link pairs, under Theory 5, 42 U.S.C. §1981 (Equal Right to Contract Regardless of Race).[^1] ## Notes [^1]: System for Award Management, *SAM.gov* (undated; catalogued as claim:link pair 37) — the federal-procurement public registry, listed under Theory 5 (42 U.S.C. §1981). https://sam.gov/ [^2]: Wikipedia, *System for Award Management* (revision 1374906800, retrieved 2026-10-26) — the system's users, registration requirements, the CCR history, the 2003 FAR policy, ECMRA reporting, and the July 2012 transition to SAM. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_for_Award_Management