How to renew your SAM.gov registration for free: steps, timeline and fees

Renewal is free — always

Registering, renewing and maintaining a SAM.gov registration costs nothing. The U.S. Export-Import Bank puts it plainly: obtaining a UEI, the initial SAM.gov registration and the annual renewal are "entirely FREE." No government office will ask you to pay to renew.

What "SAM renewal services" charge for

Private companies sell SAM registration and renewal as a paid service. What you pay them for is their time filling in the same free form on sam.gov — not faster processing, not priority, and not an official status. Their fee is not a government fee.

Some of these firms have drawn warnings for looking like the government. Two quick checks: official SAM.gov email comes from a .gov address, and no message from SAM.gov asks you for money. If a letter or email about your SAM renewal names a price, it is not from SAM.gov.

Paying someone can still make sense if nobody on your team has the time — just know that the renewal itself is free and that you remain responsible for what is submitted in your name.

When to start — and why two weeks is too late

A registration is valid for one year after it is submitted. SAM.gov emails the Entity Administrator at 60, 30 and 15 days before the expiration date.

After you submit, activation can take up to ten business days — about two calendar weeks. Waiting for the 15-day reminder therefore leaves almost no margin. Start when the 60-day reminder arrives; if SAM.gov asks for supporting documents to validate your entity, that margin is what keeps you active.

Steps to renew at sam.gov

1. Sign in at sam.gov with the Login.gov account tied to your entity.

2. Open your Workspace, go to Entity Management and select the registration that is expiring.

3. Choose Update/Renew and step through each section: core data, assertions (NAICS and PSC codes), representations and certifications, and points of contact.

4. Check that banking and points of contact are current — the renewal reminders go to the people listed there — then submit.

5. After submitting, confirm the registration shows as active with a new expiration date.

If the reminders go to an inbox nobody reads

SAM.gov's reminders go to the Entity Administrator on the registration. If that person has left, or the address is a shared inbox nobody checks, the 60/30/15-day warnings arrive and nobody sees them. Some agencies add their own reminders for exactly this reason: EXIM also emails its own contacts at 45, 20 and 10 days before a borrower's SAM registration expires.

You can check the expiration date of any registration here with a UEI, CAGE code or company name, and opt in to a free email reminder that goes to whatever address you choose.

What happens if it lapses

An expired registration makes the entity ineligible for new federal awards and can hold up payments until it is renewed and active again. There is no penalty fee — you renew through the same free process — but the time without an active registration is the cost.