Month: April 2022

Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) to Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Transition Effective 4 Apr 2022

DEAMS Users will be impacted by the transition from Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) to Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) codes, which is currently expected to occur on 4 April 2022.  Those with DEAMS Supplier Maintenance and Creation Responsibility will be most impacted.

In DEAMS, the DUNS number has been a nine-digit non-indicative numbering sequence used to identify specific vendors, assigned and managed by Dun & Bradstreet since 1962. In October 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed a Government-wide transition from DUNS to UEI codes to be completed by April 2022. This transition impacts Government Information Systems that use or collect Supplier information, and streamlines how an entity (anyone who does business with the government) receives their ID. UEI codes are scheduled to be activated in DEAMS on 4 April 2022.

Entities already registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) were automatically transitioned from DUNS to UEIs. Information on creating a new UEI is available on the General Services Administration website at https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update.

“If your entity is registered in SAM.gov today, your Unique Entity ID (SAM) has already been assigned and is viewable in SAM.gov. This includes inactive registrations. The Unique Entity ID is currently located below the DUNS Number on your entity registration record.” 

For DEAMS Users, the biggest difference will be the number of characters in the field (9 DUNS/12 UEI). To assist Users in selecting the correct UEI site number for a vendor, DEAMS Job Aid “Supplier Record Research_SPD.docx” provides an overview of the process and references other job aids, depending on which responsibilities are being used for the actions. To help ease the transition from DUNS to UEI, a crosswalk will be made available at “go live” on the DEAMS Outreach Portal to help users identify correct vendor records in DEAMS. This crosswalk will only contain existing vendors; it will not capture new entities following the transition.

Our DFAS partners are responsible for creating and maintaining the UEI list in DEAMS, and in the event of interface errors, they may need to validate UEI codes in SAMs.  The SAMs site lists the UEI for a supplier right below the corresponding DUNS, simplifying the validation process. 

Questions should be addressed to users’ respective MAJCOM/CCMD SMEs, or the DEAMS Help Desk.

For any further messaging, access the DEAMS Users Group on milBook.