Good day!
Marijke Visser, Deb Clark, and I are working with Elaine Bissonnette at Maine State Library to get an FAQ webpage available to you all around the ARPA/DECD grants.
In the meantime, a couple of questions have arisen that might warrant some timely action from you:
1. The documentation that might be required to establish your entity in the system: If you are not able to find your entity in the system, you might be asked to provide documentation that establishes your library’s physical address and year of incorporation. This is the most likely scenario for 501c3 libraries [as opposed to municipal departments]. The University of Alaska Anchorage has put together a helpful document that lists what SAM.gov will be asking for and what to do if you run into an issue with the system: https://ptacalaska.org/2022/06/a-few-basics-about-the-new-entity-validation-process-in-sam-gov/ If you need a certified copy of your Articles of Incorporation from the Secretary of State’s office, you can obtain one here for about $8: https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/corp/nonprofit.html Bear in mind that you are likely to already have a set on file at your library, but we all know that these things have a way of hiding when you need them!
2. If you are a municipal library: There is a fair chance that you will be considered a “child” entity of a “parent” entity [the “parent” being your town/city]. You will still need your own Unique Entity ID, as the entities are based on physical addresses. From the Federal Service Desk’s website, you might see this message: “’You are trying to register an entity that is part of a larger organization. We sent your request to an administrator in that organization. They must review and approve your request before you can register this entity. You will receive an email notification from SAM.gov when the organization administrator makes their decision. Until then, you cannot proceed.’
“SAM now enables parent level entities the ability to approve the entity administrators for their child level entities. At the moment, you will not be able to approve yourself to register for a new child entity, even as the administrator for the parent level entity.
• You may grant another valid user from your organization the administrator role for the parent level entity. They will then be able to approve your request to register the child entity.
• You may create a second user account using a different email address, to register child entities. SAM will send notifications to your parent level account for approval. As long as you maintain the account with the entity administrator role for the active parent, you can manage requests to register a child entity.
“You can contact our supporting Federal Service Desk at www.fsd.gov<http://www.fsd.gov/>, or by telephone at 866-606-8220 (toll free) or 334-206-7828 (internationally), for FREE help.”
I suggest trying it first with your library’s physical address, because that is what they ask for and what differentiates you from a parent organization. If you run into an issue like the one above, your town’s administrator may then need to grant you an administrative role for the parent company so that you, in turn, can approve the request for your library as a child entity.
Bear in mind that you only need a Unique Entity ID; you do NOT need to do a full registration [unless you plan on applying directly for federal grants in the future].
If anyone has their own experiences with this process that they would like to share, please feel free, either to be to share out anonymously or be replying to the listserv or by whatever means you choose.
Thank you for all your questions and for your efforts to make your library a stronger resource for your respective communities!
We are here to help!
Lisa M. Shaw
(Pronouns: she/elle/ella/lei/hun/вона/ye/sí/그녀)
Maine State Library – Library Development
Rural & Small Libraries/Workforce Development Specialist
64 State House Station
Augusta ME 04333-0064
(207) 747-8717 (mobile)
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https://www.maine.gov/msl/libs/index.shtml
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisanealshaw/
https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/workforce
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