The GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) is actively investigating alleged fraudulent third-party activity in GSA’s System for Award Management (SAM). At this time, a limited number of entities registered in SAM are suspected of being impacted by this illegal activity. GSA has taken proactive steps to address this issue and has notified the affected entities.
GSA Proactive Steps
GSA has taken proactive steps in response to this issue, including requiring an original signed and notarized letter identifying the authorized Entity Administrator for the entity associated with the DUNS number before a new SAM.gov entity registration will be activated. GSA will continue to work with the OIG and law enforcement to take appropriate action if required.
Deactivation Where Necessary
In the interim, GSA expired and deactivated any entity registrations that appeared to have been affected. GSA began notifying these entities on March 22nd, 2018 to validate their registration information in SAM, particularly their financial information and POCs.
What Next
All entities registered in SAM are advised to log into SAM and review their registration information. Entities are responsible for ensuring their information is correct in SAM in accordance with paragraph (b) of FAR clause 52.232-33 and should routinely review such information for accuracy. If an entity suspects a payment due them from a federal agency was paid to a bank account other than their own, or suspects any manner of fraudulent activity, they should contact the Federal Service Desk at www.fsd.gov, or by telephone at 866-606-8820 (toll free) or 334-206-7828 (internationally), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT for free assistance.
Additional Details From GSA
The Redstone team is committed to providing our clients with timely information which may affect government contractors. We offer consulting and training to help your organization manage contracts effectively, protecting your accounting system from fraudulent activity and auditing issues. For more information on the public statement from GSA please see https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/sam-update
Update From the APTAC Newsletter as of Thursday, April 12, 2018:
"Update on SAM hack: Expanded notarized letter requirement and new template coming GSA has just announced: "Beginning on April 27, 2018, entities renewing or updating their [SAM] registration will be required to submit an original, signed notarized letter confirming the authorized Entity Administrator associated with the DUNS number before the registration is activated." This comes in addition to the current requirement for new SAM registrants to submit such a letter."
Upon renewing or updating your vendor registration in SAM, instructions will be provided to vendors including a template and guidance for mailing the notarized letter to the Federal Service Desk. Do not mail the notarized letter until requested by SAM/FSD.
Jonas is a Managing Consultant for Special Projects for Redstone Government Consulting, Inc. Jonas works with the Redstone GCI client base on a variety of issues pertaining to government cost and compliance. His specialty areas include development of compliant cost volumes and proposal pricing, as well as assisting contractors after contract award with program control, financial, cost accounting and audit issues. Jonas works on incurred cost proposals, indirect rate calculation and analysis, proposals and project control issues for Redstone. Professional Experience During his over 20‐year career in the GovCon industry Jonas has worked for both large and small contractors in a variety of roles within program finance, contracts and accounting. A substantial portion of his experience included working with a small business contractor that grew into a $100M+ large business prime contractor. In this role he served in various positions where his responsibility progressed to the Business Operations Manager for the NASA and Army Programs Division. During his career he has also worked as a Controller for a large NASA prime contractor. Jonas has twenty‐plus years’ experience in virtually every aspect of corporate business management. He has extensive proposal experience, specializing in pricing and cost volumes. He has audit experience dealing with DCAA and DCMA. He has extensive experience working with both NASA and DoD government customers in program management and program control, across all contract types. Education Jonas earned a Masters of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University, and a BSBA in Finance from Athens State University.