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PAYMENT DELAYS
Absence of Shipment Number on Invoice
The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations (DFARS) Appendix F Part 3 outlines
instructions for preparing the Defense Department (DD) Form 250 Material Inspection
Receiving Report (MIRR). Included in this section are procedures for constructing the
shipment number; consequently, the prime contractor is responsible for assigning and
controlling the shipment number prefix throughout the life of the contract, in accordance
with these instructions. Although the shipment number is placed in Block 2 of the DD Form
250, it also must be included on the invoice. This is especially important for contracts paid
via the MOCAS and Enterprise Business Systems (EBS) that rely on the shipment number
to match invoices to DD 250 documents. Invoices that do not reference the shipment
number will be rejected to the contractor, and shall result in payment delays.
Non-compliance with contractual billing terms
Contractors and vendors are responsible for submitting invoices in accordance with
contractual billing terms. Common errors include the submission of bills with the following
errors: (1) incorrect ACRN, (2) missing ACRN, (3) incorrect CLIN, (4) missing CLIN. The
contractor must review the contractual terms and submit a corrected invoice for payment.
Invoices that do not reference the correct contract billing information will be rejected to the
contractor or vendor for correction, and shall result in payment delays.
Lapse of System for Award Management
The federal government requires every business to renew its SAM registration at least
once a year. The SAM registration will nifty registered users 15 days, 30 days, and 60 days
prior to expiration. Procurement officers recommend that a business renew its SAM
registration 1 to 2 months in advance, to avoid any inconsistencies or complications. The
SAM registration update can be accomplished by following the steps below:
1. Go to www.sam.gov and login with your SAM username and password.
2. On the My SAM page, select Entity Registrations and then Existing Entity
Registrations from the sub-navigation menu.
3. Select the Legal Business Name of the entity you want to update from the Entity
List.
4. Select Update Entity from the Registration Details panel.
5. Please note, you may not update a registration in Submitted status. You may only
update registrations that are Active, Expired, or a Work in Progress.
6. You may delete a Work in Progress if necessary. This will not affect your Active or
Expired entity registration.
7. Select what you would like to update: Purpose of Registration and remaining
entity registration, all sections applicable to the registration besides the Purpose
of Registration, or Point of Contacts only (skip to step 9).
8. Update the Core Data section.
9. Update the Assertions section (not required if registering for Federal Assistance
opportunities only).
10. Update the Representations and Certifications section (not required if registering
for Federal Assistance opportunities only).
11. Update the Points of Contact section, including optional POCs. You may remove
optional POCs if they are no longer relevant.