Unique Entity Identifier
Government Transition to Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Has Been Postponed. Now What?
The government announced the deadline extension of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) transition. Originally set for December 2020, the transition deadline has been postponed to April 2022, as told in the GSA Unique Entity Identifier webpage. A Q&A session was held on July, 2019 regarding the transition from DUNS number to UEI and below are the main points.
What was DUNS number and what will UEI be?
The DUNS number and UEI ultimately serve a same purpose: uniquely identify companies registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).
What is a Unique Entity?
An entity, or part of an entity, whose identifying information has no equal match with any other entity in business with the federal government.
What happens to the DUNS number?
As of April 2022, the DUNS number will no longer be the primary identifier and will continue to be utilized for historical purposes only. After the cutover, the new entities registering in SAM will not have a DUNS number associated with their registration.
How to obtain a UEI:
Existent SAM registrants will be assigned a UEI automatically prior to April 2022. They will receive a notification with their new unique identifier. On the other hand, new registrants will be assigned a UEI as part of their SAM registration. Lastly, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) codes that are associated with a SAM registration will also be assigned a UEI and will receive a notification accordingly.
The entities do not have to request the UEI or complete any action, as it will be done automatically via SAM.
Important notes:
1. CAGE codes that are active at CAGE, but are not registered in SAM, will NOT be assigned a UEI.
2. The entities registered in SAM will not be validated/re-evaluated for uniqueness as they have already been done so by Dun & Bradstreet.
3. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) will migrate to utilize UEIs for sub-awardee reporting.
4. Entities that are not located within the US, its territories, and outlying areas, will continue to first obtain an NCAGE prior to completing a registration in SAM. The latter is required to do business with the federal government.
5. The transition from DUNS number to UEI will most likely affect federal payment systems (where you perform drawdowns).
a. Be in touch with those system owners about how any change will be implemented
6. Sub-awardees must adhere to the transition from DUNS number to UEI. However, they will not be required to complete the entity registration process in SAM in order to be assigned a UEI.
a. After the transition to SAM-generated UEI, sub-awardees will be able to request their UEI from SAM (without completing a SAM registration)
b. Prime awardees will use the sub awardee’s UEI when reporting in FSRS
