General. Through an agency's implementation of the guidance in this part, this part applies to all entities, other than those exempted in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section, that—

Apply for or receive agency awards; or

Receive subawards directly from recipients of those agency awards.

Exemptions 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 non-profit organization he or she may own or operate in his or her name).

Exemptions for Federal agencies. The requirement in this part to maintain a current registration in the SAM does not apply to an agency of the Federal Government that receives an award from another agency.

Other exemptions. (1) Under a condition identified in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, an agency may exempt an entity from an applicable requirement to obtain a unique entity identifier, register in the SAM, or both.

In that case, the agency must use a generic unique entity identifier in data it reports to USASpending.gov if reporting for a prime award to the entity is required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Pub. L. 109-282, hereafter cited as “Transparency Act”).

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 subward or executive compensation reporting required by the Transparency Act.

The conditions under which an agency may exempt an entity are—

For any entity, if the agency determines that it must protect information about the entity from disclosure, to avoid compromising classified information or national security or jeopardizing the personal safety of the entity's clients.

For a foreign entity applying for or receiving an award or subaward for a project or program performed outside the United States valued at less than $25,000, if the agency deems it to be impractical for the entity to comply with the requirement(s).

Agencies' use of generic unique entity identifier, as described in paragraphs (d)(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.