The VIPR/SAM Interconnection

In order to do business with the Government, vendors MUST have an active SAM account. For vendors who use VIPR, they MUST also ensure certain company information they provide in VIPR matches the same type of information that is found in their SAM record. To ensure the company information shared across both systems is in sync, VIPR is now interconnected with SAM. Ensuring the company information matches in both systems is critical in order for payments to be made to vendors.

VIPR will pull the following company information from the SAM record associated with a vendor's UEI into the VIPR account (in the vendor application).

• UEI
• Company Name
• Company DBA
• Company Address
• Mailing Address

Once this information is pulled into the vendor application, either through the vendor application registration process or by the vendor using the "View/Import from SAM" button on the My Company page in the vendor application, the company fields listed above cannot be edited by the vendor in the vendor application. If a vendor has changes to the above company information, the vendor will need to make their changes in their SAM record and then use the "View/Import from SAM" button to import the updates from SAM into VIPR.

All other VIPR company information (i.e. vendor e-mail address, contact name, phone numbers, Business status, LSA status, etc.) is not interconnected with SAM and can still be edited in the vendor application by the vendor.

To assist vendors with keeping their VIPR company information in sync with SAM and ensuring their SAM record status is active, VIPR will validate that the company name, DBA, company address, and mailing address in VIPR match what is in the SAM record that is associated with the vendor's UEI. VIPR will provide warning messages about data discrepancies and expired accounts throughout various phases of the VIPR procurement process:

• Vendor Registration: When a vendor registers in the VIPR vendor application, VIPR will check that the UEI is a valid UEI in SAM.
  • If the UEI entered in the vendor app is not found in SAM, the vendor can re-enter their UEI. f the vendor does not have a UEI, the vendor will still be able to proceed through the registration; however, the vendor will be warned that until they have an active SAM record, they will be ineligible to receive awards. VIPR will do another validation check for the active SAM account and the correctly associated UEI in SAM at the time of awards.

  IMPORTANT - If a vendor has a new SAM record that is "In Progress" or "Submitted," VIPR is NOT receiving that status from SAM, so VIPR must treat this as if the UEI is not associated with a SAM record, and the vendor will get a "UEI not found in SAM" error message when registering in the VIPR vendor application. The vendor will still be able to proceed through the vendor application registration despite their SAM record status. - Note that SAM will send an email notifying the vendor when their SAM record is "Active." Once the vendor receives the SAM email, the vendor will need to wait an additional 24 hours before their SAM information will be available to VIPR. Then, the vendor should be able to complete their registration in the vendor application.

  • If the UEI entered in the vendor app is found in SAM, but the SAM record associated with the UEI is expired, the vendor can continue with the registration; however, the vendor will be warned that until their SAM record is active, they will be ineligible to receive awards. Despite the SAM record being expired in SAM, VIPR will still pull in the company name and DBA from the expired SAM record associated with the UEI entered by the vendor.
  • If the UEI entered in the vendor app is found in SAM, but the company name and DBA displayed are incorrect, the vendor can re-enter their UEI. If the UEI entered is correct and the company name and DBA displayed is still incorrect, the vendor will need to exit the registration and work with their SAM record to correct their UEI/company information issues.
  • If SAM is unavailable at the time when the vendor does their registration, then VIPR will be unable to do a validation check. Vendors will be able to proceed with a manual registration, but they will be ineligible to receive an award until VIPR is able to do a validation check against SAM to ensure the vendor's SAM record is active and the vendor's company information in VIPR is in sync with SAM. In this case, VIPR would perform the SAM validation check at the time of award.
    
    
• Vendor Submitting Quotes: Once a vendor has successfully registered in the vendor application, they will be able to submit quotes to VIPR solicitations, regardless of their SAM status. However, if their SAM record is in a state of "In Progress, Submitted, or Expired" and/or their company information in VIPR does not match what is in SAM, then the vendor will be ineligible to receive awards by COs. The vendor's SAM record MUST have an "Active" status and their company information in VIPR MUST match their SAM record BEFORE the vendor will be eligible to receive an award. (The vendor application provides vendors with a “View/Import from SAM” button to get their VIPR company information in sync with SAM, but vendors will need to work directly with SAM to reactivate their expired SAM record. Vendors will need to allow enough time for SAM to process the vendor's SAM record to change the status from "In Progress" or "Submitted" to "Active.")
  • For open solicitations:
    • If the vendor activates their SAM account, they will NOT need to resubmit their quote. If the vendor uses the "View/Import from SAM" button to get their company information in sync with SAM, they will NOT need to resubmit their quote.
    • The vendor (and CO) will need to click on the View Quote.PDF to regenerate the quote with the company changes incorporated.
  • For closed solicitations:
    • If the vendor activates their SAM account, they will NOT need to resubmit their quote, but the vendor should let the CO know that the vendor has activated their SAM record.
    • If the vendor uses the "View/Import from SAM" button to get their company information in sync with SAM, they will NOT need to resubmit their quote, but the vendor should let the CO know that the vendor has corrected the out-of-sync issue.
    • In both cases mentioned above, the vendor (and CO) will need to click on the View Quote.PDF to regenerate the quote with the company changes incorporated.
• CO Awarding Agreements: COs will be unable to award agreements to a vendor if their SAM record has expired and/or if their company information in VIPR does not match the company information in the vendor's SAM record.
  • Depending on the SAM issue, a vendor will need to re-active their SAM account through SAM or use the "View/Import from SAM” button in the vendor application to import their SAM data into VIPR before the vendor will be eligible to receive an award.
  • If the vendor refuses to correct the SAM issue, then the CO can use the "Do Not Award" option when finalizing the vendor's response.
  • If SAM is unavailable at the time when the CO is awarding agreements, the CO will be unable to award agreements since VIPR will be unable to do the VIPR/SAM validation. However, if the CO is NOT awarding an agreement to a vendor, there is no VIPR/SAM validation check that needs to be done, so the CO will be able to complete the finalizing process for that vendor's response.
• Vendor Responding to a Modification: When the CO sends a bilateral modification (i.e. Standard/Extend modification, Rollover modification, Inspection Correction modification, or Novation modification) to a vendor for their response...
  • If a vendor has changed their company information in SAM and they have not updated that company information in VIPR to reflect those changes, then the vendor will be unable to respond to the modification to their agreement until they import their updated company information from SAM into VIPR. (The vendor application provides vendors with a "View/Import from SAM” button on the My Company page.)
  • If a vendor has changed their company information in SAM AFTER they submitted a modification response in VIPR, then the vendor will need to click the "View/Import from SAM" button to get their VIPR company information in sync with SAM before a CO will be able to sign the modification. Note that vendors will NOT need to resubmit their modification responses after they click the "View/Import from SAM" button.
  • If a vendor’s SAM record has expired since receiving their award, then the vendor will be unable to respond to a modification to their agreement until they get their SAM record re-activated.
  • If the vendor refuses to correct the SAM issue, then the CO has the option of canceling the bilateral modification and issuing an Expire Agreement modification or Cancel Agreement modification.
  • If SAM is unavailable at the time when the vendor submits their modification response, then VIPR will be unable to do a VIPR/SAM validation check at time of the vendor response. The vendor will still be able to submit their response, but the CO will be unable to sign the modification until VIPR is able to do a validation check against SAM to ensure the vendor's SAM record is active and that the vendor's company information in VIPR is in sync with SAM.
• CO Signing a Modification: For all modification types, EXCEPT Global modifications, VIPR will do a validation check against SAM to ensure that a vendor has an active SAM record and that the company information in VIPR matches the company information in the vendor's SAM record. Depending on the type of modification issued, the CO will have these options:
  • Bilateral modification (Standard/Extend, Rollover, Inspection Correction, and Novation) and Administrative modification:
    • If a vendor has changed their company information in SAM and they have not updated that company information in VIPR to reflect those changes, then the CO will be unable to sign the bilateral modification or Administrative modification until the vendor imports their updated company information from SAM into VIPR. (The vendor application provides vendors with a "View/Import from SAM” button.)
    • If a vendor’s SAM record has expired since receiving their award, then the CO will be unable to sign the bilateral modification or Administrative modification until the vendor gets their SAM record re-activated.
    • If the vendor refuses to correct the SAM issue, then the CO has the option of canceling the modification and issuing an Expire Agreement modification or Cancel Agreement modification, which the CO can sign despite the SAM issues.
    • If SAM is unavailable at the time when the CO tries to sign the modification, VIPR will be unable to do a VIPR/SAM validation check. The CO will be unable to sign the modification until VIPR is able to do a validation check against SAM to ensure the vendor's SAM record is active and the vendor's company information in VIPR is in sync with SAM. The CO will have to try again later to sign the modification when SAM is available.
  • Unilateral modification, excluding Administrative modification (Suspend/Resume Resources, Suspend/Resume Agreements, Terminate/Reinstate Resources, Expire Agreement, Cancel Agreement)
    • If a vendor has changed their company information in SAM and they have not updated that company information in VIPR to reflect those changes, a warning message about the SAM discrepancy appears. While the CO will still be able to sign the modification despite the discrepancy, it is not recommended. Preferably, the CO should have the vendor resolve their SAM issues BEFORE the CO signs the modification. Remember that the CO will still need to complete an FPDS-NG modification record for the signed modification, so the SAM issues may still need to be resolved.
    • If the vendor refuses to correct the SAM issue and the CO does not wish to sign the modification, then the CO has the option of canceling the modification and issuing an Expire Agreement modification or Cancel Agreement modification.
    • To address the expired SAM record issue and changing the FPDS-NG status for signed expire agreement modifications and signed cancel agreement modifications only, the CO can request the VIPR Functional Administrator (FA) change the FPDS-NG status for the agreement from Draft to Final.
    • If SAM is unavailable at the time when the CO tries to sign the modification, then VIPR will be unable to do a VIPR/SAM validation check. While the CO will still be able to sign the modification despite SAM being unavailable, it is not recommended. Preferably, the CO should wait until SAM is available, so VIPR can do a validation check against SAM to ensure the vendor's SAM record is active and the vendor's company information in VIPR is in sync with SAM.