No longer a Small Business but showing up in SAM.gov as Such

[LeighHar]

In renewing the SAM.gov registration for the entity I work for, I noticed that under clause FAR 52.212-3: Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2021) and specifically (c)(1), the box in sam.gov is checked as “is” a small business concern.  The box is greyed out and thus uneditable.  The company was previously a small business but have since grown to other than small several years ago.  We have 13 NAICS codes listed and one of those has us marked as a small business based on the number of employees (1,000 employees being the threshold which we have about half that number).  All other 12 NAICS codes (including the one listed as our primary code) has us listed as not small based on our annual revenue.

Does anyone have a better understanding of how sam.gov works? Would this one NAICS code cause us to be defaulted to "small" in the system?  Can this be updated?  Should I try to get it updated?  I double checked in SBA's Dynamic Small Business Search and we show up there but I understand after doing a bit more research that it pulls from sam.gov.  I appreciate any thoughts on this topic.  

[Jacques]

1 hour ago, LeighHar said:

We have 13 NAICS codes listed and one of those has us marked as a small business based on the number of employees (1,000 employees being the threshold which we have about half that number).  All other 12 NAICS codes (including the one listed as our primary code) has us listed as not small based on our annual revenue.

The topic of the thread states, "no longer a small business," but then the body of your post indicates for at least one of the NAICS listed in your submission, you are.  The completed provision in your annual reps & certs at FAR 52.212-3, immediately before (c)(1) lists out all the NAICS codes you've included and whether you qualify as a small business under a given NAICS code's size standard.  No one is going to be misled.

As a mechanical matter, I encourage you to take a look at the "Entity Registration Checklist" linked at the following FSD.gov Q&A.  Page 11 of the checklist notes:

Quote

If you have selected at least one small business NAICS code, you will be provided a link to the SBA Supplemental Page.  If you would like to provide additional information for market research, or are applying for SBA's HUB zone or 8(a) programs, use that link to complete the SBA profile.

 

[joel hoffman]

17 hours ago, Jacques said:

The topic of the thread states, "no longer a small business," but then the body of your post indicates for at least one of the NAICS listed in your submission, you are.  The completed provision in your annual reps & certs at FAR 52.212-3, immediately before (c)(1) lists out all the NAICS codes you've included and whether you qualify as a small business under a given NAICS code's size standard.  No one is going to be misled.

As a mechanical matter, I encourage you to take a look at the "Entity Registration Checklist" linked at the following FSD.gov Q&A.  Page 11 of the checklist notes:

 

Jacques, I think that LeighHar is trying to figure out how to update their reps status to remove the single NAIC code SB designation. 

[formerfed]

LeighHar, the only thing I can think of is you, might not be authorized to make changes.  Are you the entity administrator?  Maybe your predecessor that set up the account didn’t appoint you or someone else.  If you don’t have luck changing that, contact these people at GSA.  They will help.  www.fsd.gov

I also remembered something.  When SAM was under development, several public comments addressed the restriction of  identifying business size by only one chosen NAICS.  I don’t know how SAM works now but I think originally companies just put size status in regardless of all the NAICS they operate under.
                                                                                                                               

[LeighHar]

I appreciate the responses to much! To clarify, I do have access as an administrator to our SAM registration.  And a bit more context, my entity was previously fully considered a small business based on annual receipts/revenues and have since grown to exceed the revenue thresholds to all of our NAICS codes so we consider ourselves as and represent ourselves to the federal government and potential partners as NOT small so it is concerning that we show up as "small" in SAM.gov but it seems this may be the case because of one NAICS code.  The also came up based on a recent solicitation in which we are not small for the NAICS code (541611) and the solicitation stated the following:  

The Offeror and each proposed subcontractor must complete and sign all the Representations, Certification, and Other Statements as described in Section K. Online submission of Annual Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements via www.sam.gov is sufficient if the Offeror chose paragraph (d) of the provision under FAR 52.204-8. Please indicate in your proposal if online certifications and other statements were submitted.

We are not small based on the NAICS code (541611) for this solicitation but will complete and fill out section K because I don't think we can reference our SAM registration because we are listed as small (but maybe I'm not understanding correctly?).  In the future, we would like to use our online certs/reps/assertions if possible instead of filing out Section K included in solicitations but based on the issue I described, I don't think we will be able to because it seems that the system marks you down as a small business if you qualify under one NAICS code as small.  We were wondering if the issue and next step would be to reach out to SBA to resolve the issue, but I think the information on SBA's dynamic small business search page pulls directly from SAM.gov 

[Jacques]

9 hours ago, LeighHar said:

We are not small based on the NAICS code (541611) for this solicitation but will complete and fill out section K because I don't think we can reference our SAM registration because we are listed as small (but maybe I'm not understanding correctly?).  In the future, we would like to use our online certs/reps/assertions if possible instead of filing out Section K included in solicitations but based on the issue I described, I don't think we will be able to because it seems that the system marks you down as a small business if you qualify under one NAICS code as small.  We were wondering if the issue and next step would be to reach out to SBA to resolve the issue, but I think the information on SBA's dynamic small business search page pulls directly from SAM.gov 

You have a particular solicitation in mind.  Is it set aside for small businesses under a NAICS code whose size standard you don't qualify as small?  If so, don't submit a proposal.  If the solicitation isn't set aside (or you qualify as small under the NAICS code listed in the solicitation), I don't understand why you can't rely on your annual reps & certs.

I believe ANNUAL representations and certifications came about after the provision on small business certification, which is probably why paragraph (c)(1) reads in the binary, "on-off" way that it does.  (When the provision was originally drafted, the provision only applied to a single solicitation.)  The fact that (c)(1) doesn't really account for annual reps doesn't change the fact that the list of NAICS codes and the vendor's representation of size status relative to those NAICS codes is listed right there in the completed provision.  The provision, when read as a whole, does not amount to a representation that the vendor universally qualifies as small.

In other words, I think you CAN rely on the annual representations rather than filling out on a solicitation-by-solicitation basis.  If I were you, I still would not submit bids, proposals or quotations for contracts that have been set aside for small business if you don't qualify as small under the NAICS code listed in the solicitation.  (If you do, protest the set aside prior to deadline for receipt of proposals.)

[joel hoffman]

Jacques, it is clear from the above posts that the OP does not qualify as a small business and does not want to represent itself as a small business for any solicitations. He/she simply wants to edit/update the SAM entity registration data. [EDIT: The OP doesn’t want to be mistakenly considered an SB under non-set asides for small businesses under the specific NAICS code. ]

LeighHar, have you tried calling the contact at: fsd.gov?

There is a Q&A page on updating your entity registration but apparently you said the NAICS code wasn’t editable…

https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0016307&sys_kb_id=e999c3f71b806590fe314000f54bcb53&spa=1

 

[C Culham]

On 1/6/2023 at 11:54 AM, LeighHar said:

renewing the SAM.gov

Okay a thought that I have not researched.  It seems that if I recollect my SAM efforts rightly it could be that you if don't check the box for annual cert/rep but indicate that shall do it on individual solicitations it might solve your dilemma.  But my strongest suggestion is to call the SAM helpline.

[LeighHar]

Joel, your summary is correct.  We do not want to show up as a small business, but when looking at our current registration, we do (see screen shot in my message above) and I am not able to edit the box.  As more context, we were previously a small business but have now grown and based on annual revenue/receipts, we do not qualify as small.  I was trying to understand or ask if anyone knew why or how to fix it.  I had previously reached to FSD help desk who referred me to PTAC.  I started the process with them but then stopped because it was taking too long and I needed to get our registration active and also I think I recall PTAC prompting for payment for assistance which I did not have the authority to do.  I'll go back and revisit this issue.  I do get a sense that if you are checked as small in any of the NAICS codes you chose, you are automatically listed as small.  Again, noting that of the 12-13 NAICS codes we list in our SAM registration, under one of those, which is based on number of employees and not receipts/revenue, we are listed as small because we do not exceed 1,000 employees.  We have been completing certs-n-reps for individual solicitations, but if there's options to do it from our SAM.gov registration that would be preferable.  For now, we will continue to complete Section K on a case by case basis.  Thanks for your insights!

[REA'n Maker]

FWIW, we were notified a couple weeks ago that one of our impending awardees (a non-profit) was not able to update their SAM registration through no fault of their own and not because of any technical glitches.  Apparently, them new-fangled cyphering boxes the SAM administrators use to process registrations and update existing records on the interwebs are unable to keep up, and they have a "backlog" they are working through.   I suspect one of the internet tubes is blocked up.

Your government; marching boldly forward into the digital future. Said no one ever.  

[LSUTish]

As a fellow member of the "sometimes we are small and sometimes are not" community, SAM is very confusing!

If you are small for some of the revenue-based NAICS codes, that box showing you are a small business will always be checked. It doesn't get unchecked by the system until you are no longer small in all of your NAICS Codes. However, the government is supposed to verify your size using the table that shows your business size against your registered NAICS codes and compare it to the solicitation's NAICS Code. If the box says "N," they ignore the rest of that section even if "small business" is checked as yes in the narrative non-table section. So, it's ok that it's still checked! It's part of the problem of being a growing small business! You aren't doing anything wrong by having that box checked, even if you submit a proposal under a NAICS Code where you are other than a small business.

As a fellow small business, there are a couple of places where you need to update your size and any applicable socioeconomic status. One place is under Core Data in the General Information section. This is where you initially tell it if you have any socioeconomic categories (WOSB, disadvantaged, SDVOSB, etc.). Another place is under the Size Metrics, where you enter your 5-year average revenue and the 12-month average number of employees*. Once these two areas are updated, the "Y/N" will be changed in the NAICS Code table. All you can do in the section with the NAICS Code table is verify that it has been updated correctly.

I hope this helps! It's taken me years to figure this out! When we switched from being Woman-Owned to only a small business with no additional socioeconomic categories, I had to go line by line through SAM to figure out where I needed to remove the WOSB check box! I finally realized I had to do it earlier in the process than I thought.

 

* NOTE: The 12-month average number of employees may now be 24 months. I know there was talk about changing it, but since we don't typically deal with these types of NAICS Codes, I haven't paid much attention to it.