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FAQ’s

What is the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)?

The UEI is an entity’s unique identifier assigned by the 

System for Award Management (SAM) when a vendor 

registers with SAM to do business with the federal 

government. The UEI is managed, granted, and owned 

by the federal government. The UEI replaced the Data 

Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S®) Number 

managed, granted, and owned by Dun & Bradstreet.

How many characters is the UEI?

The UEI is a 12-character alphanumeric value.

Why is the change from DUNS to UEI happening?

Because DUNS is issued by a third-party company, 

entities are required to register separately for their 

identifier. With this transition, entities received their UEI 

when they registered in SAM, streamlining the entity 

registration process and making it easier for entities to 

do business with the federal government.

How did current and new entities receive their 

UEI?

Entities currently registered in SAM were automatically 

assigned a UEI (viewable on SAM.gov). New entities 

were assigned a UEI during registration without the need 

to go to a third party.

When did this change happening?

The UEI was added as a data element in the SAM 

Exclusion Records data source in the DNP Portal with 

Release 7.4 on October 2, 2021. The DUNS Number was 

the authoritative identifier used by the federal 

government until April 3, 2022. On April 4, 2022, the 

federal government stopped using the DUNS Number to 

identify entities and the UEI became the authoritative 

unique entity identifier used by the federal government. 

Please see the Release Schedule table to the right of this 

page for more details.

What if an entity is a subawardee that is not 

registered in SAM.gov but uses the DUNS Number 

for subaward reporting?

In Q1 FY 2022, subawardees could request a UEI in 

SAM.gov, registration will not be required. The DUNS 

Number stopped being used on April 3, 2022, on April 4, 

2022, the UEI became the authoritative unique entity 

identifier used by the federal government.

When searching for entities and contract award 

information, should I use the DUNS Number or the 

UEI?

You can only use the UEI to search entities after April 4, 

2022, only the UEI will be searchable.

Did the DUNS + 4 also change?

Yes, the DUNS + 4 is was replaced by the Electronic Funds 

Transfer (EFT) Indicator.

What should I do if I have further questions?

There are three avenues available to you:

• Contact your Agency Lead or Agency Specialist

• Call the DNP Agency Support Center at

(855) 837-4391

• Email DNP at donotpay@fiscal.treasury.gov

Important Links

UEI: https://www.gsa.gov/

cdnstatic_UEI_Stakeholder_Meeting_August_

12_2021.pdf

Do Not Pay

FAQs:

https://fiscal.treasury.gov/dnp/faqs.html

Release Schedule

Release UEI

7.4

October 2, 

2021

UEI was added to Online Search and 

Application Programming Interface (API). 

This enabled searches by UEI with SAM 

Exclusion Records (Public and Restricted) 

matches. UEI will be added in Batch 

Matching and Continuous Monitoring 

user interface and reports for SAM 

Exclusion Records matches.

7.5

January 8, 

2022

UEI was added to Online Search and API. 

This enabled searches by UEI with SAM 

Entity Registration Records matches. UEI 

will also be added in Batch Matching and 

Continuous Monitoring user interface 

and reports for SAM Entity Records 

matches.

7.6

March 5, 

2022

UEI was added to Batch Matching and 

Continuous Monitoring standard input/

output file layouts. This enabled bulk file 

matching by UEI.

UEI and EFT Indicator in Online Search