GSA announced earlier this year they would be moving away from the proprietary Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) in favor of an internally developed and managed Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
GSA has been extracting itself from commercial proprietary handcuffs over the years, beginning with the Open Ratings requirement, which is now only necessary when a company lacks sufficient CPARS. These moves provide GSA with greater control across all agencies and will allow vendors to compete to provide the entity validation services, rather than provide a direct award to D&B. GSA’s plan is to phase the release of the UEI through December 2020.
Beginning December 2020, Federal contractors will obtain UEI through beta.sam.gov (or sam.gov by that time) registrations and annual maintenance. The new UEI will be twelve characters long and assigned based to separate legal entities or separate physical addresses. All contractors currently registered in SAM will automatically be assigned an UEI by December 2020.
You can learn more at GSA: https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update
Coley GCS will be following up on this issue. Follow our blog for future updates.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
