(a) General. Through a Federal awarding agency's implementation of the guidance in this part, this part applies to all applicants and recipients of Federal awards, other than those exempted by statute or exempted in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section that apply for or receive agency awards.
(b) Exceptions for individuals. None of the requirements in this part apply to an individual who applies for or receives Federal financial assistance as a natural person (i.e., unrelated to any business or nonprofit organization he or she may own or operate in his or her name).
(c) Other exceptions. (1) Under a condition identified in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, a Federal awarding agency may exempt an applicant or recipient from an applicable requirement to obtain a unique entity identifier and register in the SAM, or both.
(i) In that case, the Federal awarding agency must use a generic unique entity identifier in data it reports to USAspending.gov if reporting for a prime award to the recipient is required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Pub. L. 109-282, hereafter cited as “Transparency Act”).
(ii) Federal awarding agency use of a generic unique entity identifier should be used rarely for prime award reporting because it prevents prime awardees from being able to fulfill the subaward or executive compensation reporting required by the Transparency Act.
(2) The conditions under which a Federal awarding agency may exempt an applicant or recipient are—
(i) For any applicant or recipient, if the Federal awarding agency determines that it must protect information about the entity from disclosure if it is in the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States, or to avoid jeopardizing the personal safety of the applicant or recipient's staff or clients.
(ii) For a foreign organization or foreign public entity applying for or receiving a Federal award or subaward for a project or program performed outside the United States valued at less than $25,000, if the Federal awarding agency deems it to be impractical for the entity to comply with the requirement(s). This exemption must be determined by the Federal awarding agency on a case-by-case basis while utilizing a risk-based approach and does not apply if subawards are anticipated.
(iii) For an applicant, if the Federal awarding agency makes a determination that there are exigent circumstances that prohibit the applicant from receiving a unique entity identifier and completing SAM registration prior to receiving a Federal award. In these instances, Federal awarding agencies must require the recipient to obtain a unique entity identifier and complete SAM registration within 30 days of the Federal award date.
(3) Federal awarding agencies' use of generic unique entity identifier, as described in paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section, should be rare. Having a generic unique entity identifier limits a recipient's ability to use Governmentwide systems that are needed to comply with some reporting requirements.
(d) Class exceptions. OMB may allow exceptions for classes of Federal awards, applicants, and recipients subject to the requirements of this part when exceptions are not prohibited by statute.
