The registrations you need before applying for a federal grant
What do I need to register for before applying for a federal grant?
Every federal grant applicant needs a Login.gov account, an active SAM.gov registration with a Unique Entity ID, and a Grants.gov account. NIH applicants also need eRA Commons, and SBIR and STTR applicants need a company registration on SBIR.gov. Do them in that order, because each one goes more smoothly after the one before. SAM.gov is the slow step and can take several weeks, so start before you have a deadline in front of you. A quiet month is ideal.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026.
The order that works
1. Login.gov
SAM.gov signs you in through Login.gov, which checks your identity first. It is quick. Each person who will work on the registration needs an account of their own, because Login.gov accounts belong to people rather than to organizations.
2. SAM.gov and your UEI
This registers your organization with the federal government and issues the Unique Entity ID that every federal grant and contract application will ask you for. It is free. Entity validation is where the weeks go. How SAM.gov registration works.
3. Grants.gov
Create a Grants.gov account and add your UEI to your profile. Your organization's E-Business Point of Contact, named in SAM.gov, then approves who may submit on its behalf. Submission fails without that role, so sort it out before deadline week.
4. eRA Commons, for NIH and some other HHS programs
Your organization registers once, and then each principal investigator gets an account. NIH checks that the PI's Commons ID is on the application, and a missing one is a common reason for a rejected submission.
5. SBIR.gov, for SBIR and STTR
Small businesses register in the SBIR.gov company registry and attach the registration record to the proposal. This one takes minutes.
How long to allow
Grants.gov tells applicants that registration can take several weeks, and NIH asks new applicants to allow at least six weeks for everything. Nearly all of that time is SAM.gov. Everything else is fast: the other steps take minutes to a few days once SAM.gov is active.
Registration is a one-time job with a yearly renewal. Once it is done, every federal deadline after that is open to you, so it pays to do it in a quiet month.
Who does not need them
Private foundations do not use SAM.gov or Grants.gov. Most state and local programs do not either, though some state portals have a registration of their own. Money that reaches you from a state but started as federal money often carries the federal requirements with it.
Find the deadline early, and the registration fits
The fix for a weeks-long registration is lead time. Quillify searches 4,300+ open grants and 12,000+ open contract opportunities, so you see a deadline months out instead of days. Ask "Am I qualified?" on any of them, and Quillify reads the full announcement and tells you where you stand before you start. See how finding funding works.
Who asks this most
The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.
Related
- SAM.gov registration and your UEIHow long does SAM.gov registration take, and do I need it?
- Why your SAM.gov registration is stuck, and how to unstick itWhy is my SAM.gov registration taking so long?
- Can you apply for a grant while your SAM.gov registration is pending?Can I apply for a federal grant while my SAM.gov registration is still pending?
- Avoiding Grants.gov submission errorsWhy was my Grants.gov application rejected, and how do I avoid it?
- SBIR and STTRWhat are SBIR and STTR grants and who can apply?
- Federal grant databases: Grants.gov, SAM.gov and SBIR.govWhere do I search for federal grants?
- Is your organization ready to apply for grants?What does my organization need before it can apply for grants?
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