[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 9, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62168-62169]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24485]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-0317; Docket No. 2021-0001; Sequence No. 7]


Submission for OMB Review; Notarized Document Submittal for 
System for Award Management Registration

AGENCY: Office of Acquisition Policy, General Services Administration 
(GSA).

[[Page 62169]]


ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding an extension to an 
existing OMB clearance.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an existing 
OMB clearance regarding a notarized document submittal for System for 
Award Management (SAM) Registration.

DATES: Submit comments on or before December 9, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for Public 
Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Goode, Integrated Award 
Environment, GSA, 703-605-2175, or via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Acquisition Regulation and Code 
of Federal Regulation prescribe the policies and procedures requiring 
registration in the System for Award Management database. Federal 
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 4.11 prescribes policies and 
procedures for requiring registration in the System for Award 
Management (SAM) database to: (1) Increase visibility of vendor sources 
(including their geographical locations) for specific supplies and 
services; and (2) establish a common source of vendor data for the 
Government. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 2 CFR 25.200 
prescribes policies and procedures for requiring recipient registration 
in the System for Award Management (SAM) database.
    In the past, the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an 
investigation into fraudulent activities discovered within SAM. Certain 
bad actors have, through electronic means, used public information to 
impersonate legitimate entities and established new entity 
registrations for those entities in SAM. By establishing fraudulent 
entity registrations, bad actors submitted bids in certain U.S. 
Government procurement systems or shipped deficient or counterfeit 
goods to the U.S. Government.
    GSA established an Information Collection Request (ICR) to collect 
additional information to support increased validation of entities 
registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). This additional 
information is contained in a notarized letter in which an officer or 
other signatory authority of the entity formally appoints the 
administrator for the entity when an administrator is not available to 
perform that function for that entity. The original, signed letter is 
submitted electronically to the Federal Service Desk (FSD) for SAM when 
an administrator needs to be appointed for an existing entity.
    The new ICR expires December 31, 2021. GSA is actively pursuing 
technical alternatives to the collection of this information for all 
non-federal entities. GSA seeks to refine the requirement and adopt a 
risk-based approach. This notice for an extension of the ICR lays the 
groundwork for the authority to continue collection of the information 
provided GSA is still pursuing the technical alternative beyond the ICR 
expiration date. In the interim, the collection of the notarized letter 
information is essential to GSA's acquisition mission to meet the needs 
of all federal agencies, as well as the needs of the grant community. A 
key element of GSA's mission is to provide efficient and effective 
acquisition solutions across the Federal Government. SAM is essential 
to the accomplishment of that mission. In addition to federal 
contracts, federal assistance programs also rely upon the integrity and 
security of the information in SAM. Without assurances that the 
information in SAM is protected and is at minimal risk of compromise, 
GSA would risk losing the confidence of the federal acquisition and 
assistance communities which it serves. As a result, some entities may 
prefer not to do business with the Federal Government.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Respondents: 686,400.
    Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Total Annual Responses: 686,400.
    Hours per Response: 2.25.
    Total Burden Hours: 1,544,400.
    The information collection allows GSA to request the notarized 
letter and apply this approach to new registrants (an average of 7,200 
per month) and to existing SAM registrants (an average of 50,000 re-
register per month).
    Entities registered and registering in SAM are provided the 
template for the requirements of the notarized letter. It is estimated 
that the Entity Administrator will take on average 0.5 hour to create 
the letter and 0.25 hour to submit an electronic copy of the letter to 
FSD. GSA proposes that an Entity Administrator equivalent to a GS-5, 
Step 5 Administrative Support person within the Government would 
perform these tasks. The estimated hourly rate of $24.70 (Base + 
Locality + Fringe) was used for the calculation.
    Based on historical data of the ratio of small entities to other 
than small entities registering in SAM, GSA approximates 32,200 of the 
57,200 new and existing entities (re-registrants) will have in-house 
resources to notarize documents. GSA proposes that the entities with 
in-house notaries will typically be large businesses where the 
projected salary of the executive or officer responsible for signing 
the notarized letter is on average approximately $150 per hour. The 
projected time for signature and notarizing the letter internally is 
0.5 hour.
    The other remaining 25,000 new and existing entities (re-
registrants) per month are estimated to be small entities where the 
projected salary of the executive or officer responsible signing the 
notarized letter is on average approximately $100 per hour. These 
entities will more than likely have to obtain notary services from an 
outside source. The projected time for signature and notarizing the 
letter externally is 1 hour. The estimate includes a nominal fee 
($5.00) usually charged by third- party notaries.

C. Public Comments

    A notice was published in the Federal Register at 86 FR 47110 on 
August 23, 2021. No comments were received.
    Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the 
information collection documents from the Regulatory Secretariat 
Division by calling 202-501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please 
cite OMB Control No. 3090-0317, Notarized Document Submittal for System 
for Award Management Registration, in all correspondence.

Beth Anne Killoran,
Deputy Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-24485 Filed 11-8-21; 8:45 am]
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