Independent · not SAM.gov

Grants use the same free SAM.gov record

Updated September 2026

A lot of “grants registration” ads pretend SAM.gov is a contracts-only database. It is the entity record for federal awards: contracts and assistance. The fee is still zero.

What the UEI is doing on a grant

Federal awarding agencies have to know who they are paying. For assistance, that identifier is the Unique Entity ID created inside SAM.gov. Uniform guidance for federal awards expects an active registration. You do not buy a “grant UEI.” You register once, for free, and keep the record current.

That is the same record a contracting officer sees. One entity, one UEI, still $0.

Grants.gov is not a second SAM.gov

Grants.gov is a notice and application board for many agencies. You can read opportunities there. You still need the SAM.gov entity to be awardable. A site that charges to “register you for grants.gov” is usually filling out the same free SAM.gov screens, or walking you through Grants.gov workspace. Neither government system charges a registration fee.

What people get sold

Search “SAM.gov for grants” and you will find packages that bundle a UEI, a CAGE code, and a “grant-ready” certificate. The first two come with a successful free registration. The third is a PDF they designed. If you want paid help, hire someone you already trust for the application — the narrative, the budget, the attachments — not a middleman for the identifier.

Keep it active

A grant that takes nine months to award still needs the entity Active on the day of award. Put the anniversary on a calendar. Renewal is free. A letter that invoices you to “keep grant eligibility” is the same renewal-fee scam with different stationery.

If the record is stuck on Submitted, read what the status words mean. If validation failed, start with the name-and-address match, not a paid “grants fixer.”