LOC News
Immediate Action Required to Receive Second Round of ARPA Funds
Smaller cities are receiving their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds through the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and are referred to by the U.S. Treasury as NEUs, or non-entitlement units of local government. These cities received the first half of their ARPA allocation last summer and DAS plans to release the second half of funds the first week of August. DAS emailed all NEUs on June 17 to confirm their contact information and request the city’s new Unique Entity ID (UEI) from SAM.gov. NEUs must reply to DAS with the requested information by July 8 to receive the second half of their ARPA funds.
Cities can confirm the current contact information on file with DAS here. If the city contact has changed you must send updated contact information to Coronavirus.ReliefFund.DAS@das.oregon.gov. DAS requires the updated contact name, title, phone number and email.
All NEUs will need to send DAS their newly issued Unique Entity ID (UEI) from SAM.gov. Instructions on how to find the UEI are here. Having an active SAM registration is a requirement for receiving ARPA funds and the U.S. Treasury is requiring that the state use the UEI during the reporting for the disbursement of the second round. All entities that were actively registered with SAM.gov at the time of the conversion were automatically issued a UEI so this should be a simple process for most cities but please see the additional information below if you are having problems.
Registration and renewal on SAM.gov is a free service through the U.S. General Services Administration. Some cities have reported receiving scam emails asking for payment to renew their registration. Cities may always renew for free by going directly to SAM.gov.
Additional Information for Cities Having Registration Issues
The LOC is aware that due to new registration requirements some cities have had issues renewing their SAM registration or reactivating a registration that has lapsed. There also may not be a UEI assigned if there were multiple SAM registrations with overlapping information (like the entity name or address).
Information on how to validate your account if you are having issues is here, and the National League of Cities (NLC) has shared the following guidance for cities that still have an active registration:
If the entity name and physical address have not changed since the last renewal and the registration is still active, there is an available option to select, “I affirm this is my entity's current, correct legal business name and address” on the incident form. This allows the user to be able to proceed with renewing their registration. To be clear, the user will still need to attach documentation that proves the current, correct business information, and submit the incident, but it won't hold up the registration. I have also been advised that a new system change implemented later this month will allow state and local entities to continue with their registration if they cannot get a match for their year of incorporation. We hope this helps alleviate this issue.
There appears to be a large backlog of account issues from the transition and the LOC is aware of examples where cities have not had issues resolved after more than two months of having an “incident” created in the system. This message is currently appearing at the top of the website:
Entity Validation Processing Delays
May 19, 2022
Due to high demand, entity legal business name and address validation tickets are taking longer than expected to process. We are working on tickets in the order received. You can find resources related to this process here. Please do not create multiple incidents for the same request.
The LOC is working to make sure every city receives the second half of their ARPA funds and we are communicating with DAS, the NLC, and our federal delegation on this issue. We expect more information will become available as we get closer to the August distribution. Please contact the LOC at the email below if your city is unable to access your UEI or renew your SAM.gov registration so that we can understand the scope of the problem.
Contact: Mark Gharst, Lobbyist - mgharst@orcities.org or 503-991-2192
Last Updated 6/24/22