Goodbye, FBO. Hello, beta.SAM.gov! Your Checklist to Make the Switch
Have you heard?! FBO is no more! The government is transitioning to an entirely new website called Beta.SAM.gov. Don’t be left in the dust, be prepared for the transition happening November 8th, 2019.
The government is modernizing all of their government-wide acquisition systems in an effort to provide better security, data quality and user convenience. The new site also plans to increase transparency into federal spending and the ability to do business with the government.
We are here to help you navigate this transition with a simple to-do list and general website information listed below. Working on these items will be most beneficial if completed before the site transition date.
To-Do List – Deadline: November 8th, 2019
Create a new account in beta.SAM.gov: The government is using login.gov to access beta.SAM.gov as part of ongoing efforts to enhance security and have a single sign-on for all government-contracting applications.
Unless you have a login.gov account, you will need to create a new account. We have provided step-by-step instructions in the graphic at right. Note: For existing SAM.gov users (not to be confused with beta.SAM.gov users), you should use your existing SAM.gov email address. If you have an existing login.gov account go to Sign In on the toolbar, enter your email address and password for your existing account. You will receive an email to associate your existing login.gov account with beta.SAM.gov. You will now use this login.gov account to sign into beta.SAM.gov.
Recreate your “Search Agents”: Unfortunately, your “search agents,” from FBO will not be transferred. You will need to recreate all of these on beta.SAM.gov, which you can do under “Saved Searches.” We advise you print your search agents including the applicable filters from FBO to ensure you manually transfer each search correctly. This is a good opportunity to review your searches and update, delete or create new, as needed to best represent your current work interests and capabilities. To create a new search on beta.SAM.gov follow these steps: a. Click on Saved Searches b. Click on Search Result which is located at the top of the far-left side bar. c. Change the top drop down to the left of the top main search bar to Contract Opportunities d. Insert key words e. Customize your search on the left side bar to meet specific criteria related to your company or interests f. Click Search g. Click Save Search h. Go to Saved Searches and you will see your new search Note: To see your Saved Searches in
the future, navigate to My Workspace and click on Saved Searches.
Develop a new “Watch List”: Your current FBO “watch list” will not automatically transfer either. In the new beta.SAM.gov you will now “Follow” opportunities you want to continue watching. Once you have gone in and manually “Followed” an opportunity you will still be able to select email notification frequency to get updates. To “Follow” an opportunity simply search for the opportunity in the search bar, click on the correct opportunity, then click on the Follow button ( on the top right above the Opportunity Title) title of the opportunity.. You will be able to see all the opportunities you are following under My Workspace / My Profile / Followings.
Submit feedback to the government: Once you have created an account and played around with the website a bit, it’s a good idea to provide your comments using the Feedback button. All our suggestions will only help better the new website over time.
One thing that transfers from FBO is all the Interested Vendors Lists (IVL) for each opportunity. If you have added your company to an IVL within FBO, you should still see your company listed on the new beta.SAM.gov.
Now you can start navigating the site. When you log in the site will automatically take you to the My Workspace page, from this point you can review your profile, see your Following list, manage your Saved Searches and search for new opportunities. Meridian West has high hopes for this new website and crossing our fingers it is more user-friendly.
If you have any questions or need help with your transition, hit us up, we’ve been busy familiarizing ourselves and playing around with it a bit.
