As of Nov. 12, 2024, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has issued an interim rule, FAC 2025-01, FAR Case 2023-018, clarifying that federal contractors are not required to be registered in the federal System for Award Management, or SAM, database from the moment of bid submission through contract award.

The interim rule intends to correct misinterpretations surrounding the prior amendment, which required contractors to have “continuous, uninterrupted” active registration through the entire contractual pre-award process.

The previous 2018 amendment was only intended to notify companies that they must be registered at the time they submitted their bid and at the time of contract award. The FAR Council stated they never intended to introduce severe ramifications for offerors whose registration may lapse between bid submission and award.

However, since early 2023, judges at the Court of Federal Claims (COFC), in a series of decisions, interpreted the amendment to mean contractors must maintain SAM registration continuously from bid submission through the contract award. In April 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) adopted COFC’s interpretation.

This judicial interpretation negatively impacted companies who, but for the SAM interpretation, would have been the successful awardee. Unsuccessful offerors had an almost certain win in protests where the awardee’s SAM registration lapsed even when it was quickly reinstated and always reinstated before the award.

Challenged awardees and agencies alike argued that any interim lapses in SAM registration should be considered minor, correctable issues within the agencies’ discretion to resolve. The Department of Energy went so far as to implement a class deviation as a workaround to the COFC/GAO’s position. Other agencies have also sought similar workarounds for the same reason.

The FAR Council noted the interim rule is expected to mitigate the risk of mission delays and more litigation. It added the costs and disruptions associated with these issues caused the council to opt for an immediately effective interim rule as opposed to a proposed rule.

The FAR Council believes this interim rule is more aligned with the standard practice of contracting officers only checking registration status at the time of bidding and again at the time of award.

To be clear, contractors are no longer required to maintain “continuous” SAM registration; they still must be registered in SAM when they submit their bid/proposal and at the time of contract award.

The interim rule was issued and effective on Nov. 12, 2024. Should anyone wish to suggest a return to the confusion, the FAR Council is accepting comments until Jan. 11, 2025.