SAM.gov Is Free. Here’s Why Veteran Business Owners Keep Paying for It.

By Aaron Hurlburt

If you’re a veteran who started a business, someone has probably told you to register in SAM.gov. It’s the federal government’s System for Award Management, and you need an active registration before an agency can award you a contract. Many veteran owners also apply for the Small Business Administration’s veteran certification, known as VetCert, so they can compete for set-aside work.

Here is the part that gets lost: you can do all of it yourself, and the government doesn’t charge you a dime. The General Services Administration (GSA), which runs SAM.gov, says plainly that you don’t need to pay a third party to register. The SBA doesn’t charge to apply for VetCert either.

Yet a lot of veteran owners pay anyway. Usually it starts with an email or letter that looks official and warns that something is about to expire.

Why the Notices Find You

When you register in SAM.gov, much of your business information can become public. That includes your company name, your address, and the date your registration expires. That’s by design, so contracting officers can find you. But marketers can see it, too.

So a few weeks before your renewal date, the messages start. They have names that sound like a government office. Some use an eagle or a seal. Most share three things: a deadline, a warning that you’ll lose eligibility for contracts, and a link or phone number to “take care of it” for a fee.

Some of these come from real companies that offer paid help with registration. That isn’t illegal. A busy owner may decide that paying someone to handle the paperwork is worth it, and that’s a fair choice to make with open eyes. The problem is the notices that make you think the fee is required, or that the sender is the government. And some aren’t companies at all. They’re scammers who take the money and do nothing, or who are really after your login.

What GSA Says

GSA has been clear about this. In a 2023 bulletin titled “Don’t Take the Bait,” GSA said that registration in SAM.gov is always free. It also said, “The government will never ask you to pay to register, update your registration, or renew.” Any email or website that asks for money, “no matter how official it looks,” is not a government message or site.

The same bulletin notes that SAM.gov does send renewal reminders before your registration expires. Those come from a .gov email address. They don’t ask you to call or text anyone, and they don’t send you to a link that doesn’t end in .gov.

On July 31, 2026, GSA’s Office of Inspector General warned that scammers were posing as GSA contracting officials and emailing companies registered in SAM.gov. Being in the system makes you a target. That doesn’t mean you should stay out. It means you should know what a real message looks like.

How Often You Really Need to Renew

This is where the pressure works, so it helps to know the real schedule.

SAM.gov: You must renew your registration every 365 days to keep it active. You can update it anytime. If you let it lapse, you can’t receive new federal awards until it’s active again, so do put the date on your calendar.

VetCert: SBA certification as a veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran-owned small business lasts three years. You can apply to recertify starting 120 days before it expires.

Neither one requires a middleman. If you know the dates, an “urgent” notice loses most of its power.

Warning Signs of a Misleading Notice

Before you click or pay, check for these:

• The sender’s address doesn’t end in .gov.
• It asks for payment, especially by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. GSA says the government won’t ask for fees that way.
• It asks for your Login.gov password or wants you to share your login. GSA’s security policy doesn’t allow anyone to use another person’s login to access SAM.gov, even a paid helper.
• The deadline is tighter than your real expiration date. Log in to SAM.gov yourself and check.
• The fine print says the sender isn’t affiliated with the government.

Don’t use the link in the message. Type sam.gov into your browser and log in to check your status.

Where to Get Free Help

The forms ask for codes and details that most new owners haven’t dealt with before. But free, legitimate help exists.

• APEX Accelerators (once called PTACs) help small businesses get ready for government contracting and register in the right places. The SAM.gov registration page links to them, and the SBA lists them as a resource. They don’t charge for this help.
• Veterans Business Outreach Centers, run through the SBA, serve veterans, service members, Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses who are starting or growing a business.
• The Federal Service Desk at fsd.gov is GSA’s help desk for SAM.gov problems.

If you’d rather pay a company to do it, that’s your call. Just make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for, keep your own login, and never hand over your password.

If You Already Paid

Don’t be embarrassed. These notices are built to look real. Here’s what to do:

1. Log in to SAM.gov and confirm your registration status and expiration date.
2. If you shared your Login.gov password, change it right away.
3. If you paid by credit card and didn’t get what you were promised, call your card issuer and ask about a dispute.
4. Report it. You can file with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If someone posed as GSA, you can report it to the GSA Office of Inspector General hotline.
5. Tell other veteran owners you know. A short heads-up in a local veteran business group can save someone else the same money.

The Bottom Line

Registering to do business with the government is free. Renewing it is free. Getting help with it can be free, too. If a message claims a government fee is required, slow down, check the sender, and log in yourself. Most of what these notices sell is already yours for nothing.

Sources

• “Don’t Take the Bait: Beware of Misleading Marketing, Imposters, and Phishing,” by the General Services Administration (GSA), May 4, 2023. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USGSA/bulletins/358af1f
• “Get Started with Registration and the Unique Entity ID,” by SAM.gov (General Services Administration). https://sam.gov/entity-registration
• “Register Your Business,” by the General Services Administration (GSA). https://www.gsa.gov/small-business/find-opportunities/register-your-business
• “Scam Alert: Scammers Impersonating GSA Contracting Officials to Target Vendors and Contractors,” by the GSA Office of Inspector General (GSA), July 31, 2026. https://www.gsaig.gov/news/scam-alert-scammers-impersonating-gsa-contracting-officials-target-vendors-and-contractors
• “When Does Certification as an SDVOSB or VOSB Through the SBA Veteran Small Business Certification Expire?” by the Small Business Administration (VetCert Knowledge Base). https://sbaone.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VCKB/pages/2863006077
• “Veteran Small Business Certification,” by the Small Business Administration (SBA). https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/
• “Targeted Support and Services,” by the Small Business Administration (SBA). https://www.sba.gov/counseling/local-assistance/targeted-support-and-services/
• “Resource Partners,” by the Small Business Administration (SBA). https://www.sba.gov/counseling/local-assistance/resource-partners/

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Aaron Hurlburt is a Navy veteran and the owner of VSF Marketing, a small firm in the Tampa Bay area that helps veteran-owned and other small businesses with their websites and online presence.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.