The federal government is now using a new non-proprietary identifier, the Unique Entity Identifier, UEI in place of the DUNS number. As of April 4, 2022, the federal government stopped using the DUNS number to uniquely identify entities registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). Entities doing business with the federal government must use a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) created in SAM.gov. 

For details on why this transition is happening, please refer to the GSA website, gsa.gov/entityid.

To support this federal transition, HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) processes moved to the UEI as of March 24, 2022. The EHBs are being updated to enhance all fields labeled as DUNS number to UEI.

This transition in the EHBs is expected to be completed by October 2022. 

The Unique Entity Identifier is the new 12-digit alphanumeric identifier that will be provided by SAM.gov registration to all entities who register to do business with the federal government (including the existing entities). This is the identifier which is replacing the use of the DUNS.

UEI Example: 23ABC4567DEF