SAM system

I have been trying to get paid for a service I provided to the federal government awhile ago. Previously, I had an account on the CCR system. I have been trying to migrate it to the SAM system, without success. I have called the SAM help lines (there seem to be a few of them) many times. The main purpose of the representatives seems to be to upsell callers for a $599 service to facilitate the registration process. So, my suggestion would be to limit the ability of the contractor that supports SAM from charging additional fees. Their incentive is to be as UN-helpful as possible to increase the number of callers who buy extra service.

Here is an actual email sent by a SAM service representative with instructions -- I use that word loosely -- describing how to resolve my issue.

Mr. Howard called in today in regards to migrating his user account. Mr. Howard explained to the agent that he locked the online migration tool. The agent informed Mr. Howard that he would have to send in a notarized letter.

Knowledge article KB0011812:

SAM requires a notarized letter to give access to new Entity Administrators when the previous administrator is no longer with the organization and the new administrator cannot use the automated account migration tool. Your notarized letter needs to:

* Be on your company/organization letterhead, and be signed by your company President, CEO, or other authorized signature authority

* Contain your company/organization DUNS Number

* Contain the old CCR Primary and Alternate POCs' name (if you know it)

* Contain the new Entity Administrator’s name, phone number, address and email address

* Provide a justification for the change

* Contain this statement above the signature block of your letter and insert the appropriate names where noted:

The purpose of this notarized letter is to verify the identity of [insert name of Entity Administrator]. [Insert name of Entity Administrator] affirms that he or she is an authorized officer, agent, or representative of [insert entity name, or, for individuals not representing an entity, say him/herself]. This letter will authorize [Insert name of Entity Administrator] to have access to the System for Award Management (SAM). SAM is a computer system managed by the Federal Government, and it is only accessible by individuals who are either authorized to represent a particular entity, or by individuals representing themselves. Accessing or using SAM, or information contained therein, for any unauthorized or illegal purposes, may have civil and criminal penalties, and may negatively impact the status of the SAM registration maintained on this entity. I, the below-signed, attest to the accuracy of all information contained in this letter.

The letter must be notarized, scanned and attached to an open service ticket submitted to the Federal Service Desk (www.fsd.gov). The new Entity Administrator must have an individual SAM User Account created with the e-mail address provided in the notarized letter.

NOTE: Once your incident is put in a "Pending Customer" status - you will have three days to complete this process and attach your notarized letter to your incident through your account on www.fsd.gov.

Knowledge article KB0011956:

Escalating request to the Tier 2 queue for the associated service. The tier-1 agent is not authorized to address this particular issue, but is tasking a Tier-2 agent, who is authorized for this issue, to help you.