A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The king is dead—long live the king. The more things change—the more they stay the same. Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence.
OK, I’m out of steam. No one goes there anymore—it’s too crowded? Nah, that doesn’t work. Never mind. The point is this: Very soon the federal government will be moving on from the DUNS number to something very similar to a DUNS number.
In approximately six weeks, the transition from Data Universal Numbering System, or “DUNS,” to a System for Award Management-generated Unique Entity Identifier, or “UEI,” will be complete. According to GSA, by April 4 the government will no long use the long-standing identifier.
For many contractors, this is an anxiety-inducing change. The DUNS number has been the functional equivalent of a Social Security number for federal contractors. For years and years, the nine-digit number, generated by the publicly traded company, Dun & Bradstreet, let the government know—regardless of d/b/as, trade names, branch offices, or the like—precisely who it is doing business with.
For new contractors entering the marketplace, getting a DUNS number has been one of those barriers to entry that—even if it wasn’t really difficult, and it wasn’t—could seem daunting, along with registering for SAM.gov, getting a Taxpayer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service, and generally getting set up to earn money off Uncle Sam.
So, it makes sense that the replacement of a thing that has been so important for so long would be a cause for concern. But there’s nothing to it.
If you’re an existing contractor who is already registered in SAM, you already have a UEI. The system generated one for you, even if your registration is inactive. In fact, if you’re curious and want to take a look, pull up your SAM registration and right there under “Core Data” you’ll see a box with the word “SAM” in it and “Unique Identity ID” beside it. Below will be a 12-character identifier made up of numbers and capital letters. That’s your UEI.
Yes, it uses numbers and letters. That’s probably the biggest difference from DUNS. That, and it’s 12 characters long as opposed to nine. Presumably this makes them harder to fake.
The change from DUNS to UEI isn’t just about moving from a private entity generated number to a federal one, it is also part of the ongoing streamlining of the federal government’s contracting websites. GSA used to operate 10 different websites (including the much-maligned FedBizOpps) known collectively as the Integrated Award Environment (“IAE”).
Quick aside: Do you ever wonder whether the federal government has ever done anything without assigning an acronym to it? Probably not, since it named itself the U.S.A. If the Declaration of Independence happened today, Thomas Jefferson would have written “Dear King George, here is a link to download America’s Declaration of Independence (“DOI”). Create a Share Envisage and Read Declaration (or “SHREAD”) account for full DOI access. See attached PDF for instructions.”
GSA currently runs six IAE websites: SAM.gov, the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (“CPARS”), the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (“eSRS”), the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (“FAPIIS”), the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (“FPDS-NG”), and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (“FFATA”) Subaward Reporting System (“FSRS”).
Like FedBizOpps before it, all these websites will eventually be housed under the SAM umbrella. All IEA websites will, according to the GSA, display, accept, and or be able to assign entities a new UEI.
DUNS numbers will continue to exist, they will just no longer be relied on by the federal government. In fact, if you’re a new contractor, you will need a DUNS number for the next six weeks or so to register in SAM and for subcontractor reporting. Since the official changeover is not happening until April 4, if you are beginning to do business with the government today, even though SAM will generate a UEI for you, you still need a DUNS number for now.
If it goes smoothly, not much will change for contractors. That’s a big “if” of course when talking about the federal government and technology. Stay tuned.
This post was originally published on JD Supra. If you have any questions about DUNS numbers, UEIs, or other acronyms, please contact us.