Standards
Unique Entity ID (UEI)
The entity identifier generated by SAM.gov for U.S. federal awards.
- Kind
- Identifiers
- Steward
- U.S. General Services Administration, SAM.gov
- Official source
- https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration
What it describes
The Unique Entity ID is assigned through SAM.gov to identify an entity in U.S. federal award processes. It replaced the D-U-N-S Number as the federal government identifier in April 2022. A UEI can be used to connect registrations, award records, and related government references without treating a vendor-issued identifier as the federal key.
A UEI and a current SAM registration are different facts. An entity may have a UEI without an active registration or a particular eligibility determination. Government data can also contain historical names and addresses. Records should preserve the SAM.gov source, registration status, and observation date separately from the identifier so eligibility claims are not inferred from the code alone.
Structure
Twelve-character alphanumeric identifier generated in SAM.gov.
Useful for
- Join federal award records.
- Reconcile supplier registrations.
- Bridge historical D-U-N-S references.
Limits
- UEI alone does not establish active registration.
- Does not prove award eligibility.
- Historical D-U-N-S crosswalks need source evidence.
How it is used in practice
Anyone who wants to be awarded U.S. federal contracts or grants registers in SAM.gov, and the registration process produces the UEI. Procurement and spending data published by the government is keyed on it, so it is the natural join key for questions such as which awards went to a given entity, or which registrations list a given parent. The identifier is generated by the government's system and is not tied to a commercial vendor, which is the main reason for the change from the D-U-N-S Number.
A UEI is attached to an entity's SAM.gov record, and the record carries more than the identifier: the legal business name, physical address, registration status, expiration date, and the declarations the entity has made. An entity can hold a UEI whose registration has lapsed, so the identifier alone answers who, not whether the entity is currently registered.
A worked example
A fictional research institute, the Halden Research Institute, holds a grant. A reviewer wants to confirm that the institute was registered when an award was made. The award record gives a UEI. The reviewer retrieves the SAM.gov entity record and reads the registration status and its dates.
Three outcomes are possible and each is recorded differently. If the record shows an active registration covering the award date, the claim is supported by that page on that retrieval date. If it shows an expired registration, the claim is not supported at the retrieval date, and the reviewer notes that the status on the award date requires a historical source. If the entity record cannot be retrieved, the status is declared unknown with the date of the attempt. In none of these cases is the UEI itself treated as proof of eligibility.
Evaluating a claim that rests on a UEI
Keep three facts apart: the identifier, the registration status and the eligibility to receive a particular award. The first is a code, the second a state with dates, and the third a determination that depends on rules outside the identifier. A record that merges them into a single field called "valid vendor" loses the ability to say which of the three was checked.
When crosswalking older records, remember that the D-U-N-S Number was the federal identifier before April 2022. A pre-transition award with a D-U-N-S Number and a post-transition award with a UEI belong to the same entity only if a dated source ties the two, such as the registration that carried both. Treat name similarity as grounds for investigation. Keep the original identifiers in the record, because a mapping that replaces them loses the evidence by which the mapping could be checked.
Confusions to avoid
The UEI is not a registration, an award identifier or a DUNS-derived code. It is an entity identifier issued in SAM.gov. The award identifier belongs to a transaction. The registration is a record with dates and representations that can lapse. Treating an active award as proof of an active registration, or an old registration as proof of current eligibility, mixes three different facts.
It is also not unique across levels of an organization in the sense that people sometimes expect. An entity registration is for the entity that registers; related entities, such as a parent or a subsidiary, appear through declared relationships in the registration rather than through the identifier. A claim about a corporate family built from UEIs should cite those declared relationships and their dates.
Questions a reviewer can ask
Which SAM.gov record was read, and on what date? Was the registration active at the date of the award or only at the date of the check? Which source links the UEI to any earlier D-U-N-S Number? Does the claim concern identity, registration or eligibility, and is each supported by its own evidence? If the entity is part of a corporate family, which declared relationships were used? If the registry could not be reached, how is the gap recorded?
Related terms
Found an error on this page? See corrections for what counts as one, how to report it and the dated log.
Enquiry
Which of your sources carry Unique Entity ID (UEI)?
Tell us which sources carry it, which key the same entity some other way and who may read which. We reply with whether and how a first record would use this identifier.
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