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SAM/UEI Transition

Please review the following announcement from NSF and contact your assigned grants associate with any questions.

On April 4, 2022, the federal government stopped using the DUNS Number to uniquely identify entities. Now, entities doing business with the federal government use the Unique Entity ID created in SAM.gov. This transition allows the government to streamline the entity identification and validation process, making it easier and less burdensome for entities to do business with the federal government.  For all proposals, be sure to use JHU’s UEI, FTMTDMBR29C7.

Published: April 12, 2022

Previous related announcements are posted below in chronological order. 

Previous Related Announcements

Published January 25, 2022

Dear Colleague:

Effective February 28, 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will begin using the new System for Award Management (SAM) issued Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in Research.gov and FastLane. This update is being made in accordance with the government-wide transition by April 4, 2022, away from the use of the Dun & Bradstreet issued Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and toward the new SAM UEI as the primary means of entity identification for Federal awards.

The new SAM UEI process eliminates the requirement for organizations to obtain an identifier from a third-party website and streamlines entity registration, identification, validation, and ongoing management in one place, SAM.gov. For information about NSF’s SAM registration requirements for organizations with proposals for consideration and active awards, refer to the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Chapter I.G.2.

Here’s what to know about the SAM UEI implementation at NSF.

Prior to February 28th UEI Implementation

  • A DUNS number is required for registering in SAM.gov until April 4, 2022.
  • Organizations with expired SAM registrations must renew and revalidate the registration in SAM.gov with a valid DUNS number.
  • Organizations with deactivated DUNS numbers will not be available in SAM.gov and would require re-registering with SAM.gov with an active DUNS number and then also re-registering with NSF in Research.gov.
  • New organizations must continue to obtain a DUNS number and register in SAM.gov before registering with NSF in Research.gov. (A DUNS number must be obtained until April 4, 2022, at which time the DUNS number identifier will be replaced by the SAM UEI.)
  • Organizations currently registered in SAM.gov, including organizations with inactive registrations, have already been assigned a 12-character alpha-numeric SAM UEI.
  • In accordance with the PAPPG Chapter I.G.2., any subrecipients named in a proposal are still required to obtain a DUNS number, however, do not need to be registered in SAM.

UEI Updates Effective on or after February 28th

  • SAM.gov-assigned UEIs for organizations already registered with NSF will be pre-populated in NSF systems and will replace the associated DUNS numbers. NSF-registered organizations will not need to manually replace DUNS with their SAM UEI in NSF systems.
  • A SAM.gov-issued UEI is required for registering at NSF going forward.
    • New organizations will enter their SAM UEI to register with NSF in Research.gov beginning on February 28.
    • Although a DUNS number will be required to register in SAM.gov and to receive a SAM.gov-issued UEI until April 4, 2022, DUNS numbers will no longer be used at NSF.
  • A DUNS number is required for registering in SAM.gov until April 4, 2022.
    • Between the February 28th NSF UEI implementation date and April 4, 2022, organizations must still obtain a DUNS number in order to register in SAM.gov and to receive a SAM.gov-issued UEI.
  • Any subrecipients named in a proposal are also required to obtain a SAM UEI and register in Research.gov. Subrecipients named in the proposal, however, do not need to be registered in SAM. Refer to the PAPPG Chapter I.G.2.
  • All SAM Legal Business Name and SAM Physical Address updates will be made in SAM.gov going forward, and NSF will receive daily data extract updates directly from SAM.gov.
    • The SAM Physical Address will be the address of record for organizations registered with NSF.
    • Organizational address changes will no longer be accepted in FastLane.
  • The SAM Legal Business Name will display along with the NSF-managed Organization Name on Research.gov and FastLane proposal Cover Sheets, NSF Award Notices, Research.gov Project Reports, and NSF Award Search results. Proposal validation checks will verify the organization’s SAM UEI rather than DUNS number. The proposing organization must have an active SAM registration to submit a proposal to NSF.

UEI Updates Effective on or after April 4th

  • A SAM.gov-issued UEI is required for registering at NSF going forward, but organizations will no longer obtain a DUNS number as of April 4, 2022.
  • A DUNS number is not required for registering in SAM.gov or to obtain a SAM UEI as of April 4, 2022.
  • DUNS numbers cannot be used or displayed except for historical reference (e.g., the Cover Sheet for a proposal submitted prior to NSF’s SAM UEI implementation on February 28, 2022, will still display the organization’s DUNS number).

SAM UEI Help Resources

  • General Services Administration (GSA) UEI Fact Sheet
  • SAM.gov DUNS to Unique Entity ID (SAM) Transition page

Registering a New Organization with NSF
Guidance on registering a new organization with NSF is available in the Account Management Guide on the Research.gov About Account Management page. SAM UEI updates will be available in the posted resources after the SAM UEI implementation at NSF on February 28, 2022.

Questions?
If you have IT system-related questions regarding NSF’s transition to the SAM UEI, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM – 9:00 PM ET; Monday – Friday except federal holidays) or to rgov@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov.

Published: November 17, 2021

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Update-The Government Transition from DUNS Number to New Unique Entity Identifier Will Occur on April 4, 2022

By April of 2022, the federal government will stop using the DUNS number (00-191-0777) to uniquely identify entities. At that point, entities doing business with the federal government will use a Unique Entity Identifier (SAM) created in SAM.gov. They will no longer have to go to a third-party website to obtain their identifier. This transition allows the government to streamline the entity identification and validation process, making it easier and less burdensome for entities to do business with the federal government.

JHU will not be using the UEI until April 4, 2022. Please continue to use our DUNS number until that date or you are notified by JHURA to begin using the UEI.

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Email: jhura@jhu.eduSend an email to jhura@jhu.edu

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