DUNS Numbers Transition to Unique Entity ID’s
The federal System for Award Management is shutting down temporary April 1st at 5pm Pacific Time to transition from DUNS numbers to 12-digit Unique Entity Identifiers as the authoritative/official identifier for federal contractors. Furthermore, DUNS is no longer accepting applications for DUNS numbers for the purposes of registering to sell to the federal government. SAM will be back up and running April 4th at 6am Pacific Time.
What can you expect?
If you’re already registered in SAM, you’ve been issued a 12-digit UEI you will now use wherever you used to use a DUNS. If you’re not in SAM, you’ll be assigned a UEI during the registration process. You’ll notice that many federal contracting systems will have also made the transition the same weekend. These include Federal Procurement Data Systems, Electronic Subcontracting Reporting Systems, Federal Subcontracting Reporting Systems, FAPIIS and CPARS. Other systems not managed by GSA were asked to make the transition by April 4th (i.e. Small Business Administration’s Dynamic Small Business Search, Invoicing systems, etc).
Why did this happen?
It’s part of a streamlining effort. Businesses will no longer need to go to a third party to obtain an identifier; that process has been brought “in-house” and is now managed by General Services Administration.
What do I need to do?
Probably nothing other than making note of your UEI if you haven’t already done so. However, if you have saved searches or Ad Hoc reports saved in SAM.gov that include DUNS field as a search criteria. You will need to update those manually. If you were “in progress” during the 4 day shut down of SAM.gov, you will be asked to “validate entity.” And lastly, if you used DUNS +4 for an electronic funds transfer indicator, you need to check on with the connecting agency.
Where can go for help?
SAM.gov is the only official website. Do not pay or use .com website to attempt to access SAM.gov. If you get stuck, SAM.gov has a help desk, guides, and FAQ’s. You can also contact your local PTAC for assistance.
