Is SAM Ready to Replace Old Excluded Parties List System?

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Problems with a newly installed information system called SAM forced the General Services Administration to allow FHA lenders to use an old system to check the federal government’s “Excluded Parties List.”

It appears IBM has finally resolved most of the problems with SAM. And a GSA governance board will consider shutting down the old EPL system soon, according to GSA spokeswoman Mafara Hobson.

“EPLS is still up at the request of our governance board and its continued presence will be re-evaluated in the next week or so. We encourage everyone to use SAM,” Hobson told NMN.

SAM stands for System for Award Management.

Bud Carter, a consultant with Potomac Partners, noted the FHA lenders have reverted back to using the old EPLS since SAM runs so slowly.

“They hope EPLS remains available until SAM is running smoothly,” Carter said.

The Federal Housing Administration requires lenders to check GSA’s website before approving a loan to make sure the borrower, their real estate agent or loan officer has not been debarred from doing business with the federal government.

A notice on the SAM website indicates that the new system is close to taking over the old EPL system’s functions.

“Due to the traffic volume at SAM, EPLS is available for a short time for searching the excluded parties list only. New exclusions, and updates to existing exclusions, should be entered at www.sam.gov. Those changes are provided to this searchable database at this time on a nightly basis,” the website says.