What Is a UEI Number? The Unique Entity ID, Explained

If you've started looking into selling to the federal government, you've probably run into a new piece of jargon: the UEI, or Unique Entity ID. It shows up on registration screens, in contract solicitations, and on grant applications — usually with the assumption that you already know what it is. You don't need to. This guide explains it in plain English.

By the end you'll know exactly what a UEI is, how it's assigned, where to find yours, what the format looks like, how it differs from the old DUNS number, and why it quietly underpins every federal contract and grant you'll ever pursue.

What is a UEI number?

The Unique Entity ID (UEI) is the official, government-issued identifier for any organization that wants to do business with the U.S. federal government. Think of it as your business's federal fingerprint: a single code that ties together your legal name, your address, your registration, and your eligibility for awards. Every entity registered in SAM.gov — the System for Award Management — has one.

The UEI is a 12-character alphanumeric value (letters and numbers, no special characters). It is generated and assigned by SAM.gov, not chosen by you, and it stays with your entity over time. Wherever a federal form asks contractors or grant recipients to identify themselves, the UEI is the number it's looking for.

UEI vs. DUNS: what changed in 2022

For decades, the government identified businesses using the DUNS number, a nine-digit code issued by a private third party (Dun & Bradstreet). That ended on April 4, 2022, when the federal government officially retired DUNS and replaced it with the Unique Entity ID. The big difference: the UEI is generated directly within SAM.gov by the government itself, so there's no longer a separate company or separate request involved.

If your business registered before the switch, your DUNS was converted to a UEI automatically — you didn't have to do anything to get one. If you're registering for the first time, you never deal with DUNS at all; you simply receive a UEI as part of the SAM.gov process.

• Issuer: DUNS came from a private company; the UEI is issued by the government inside SAM.gov.
• Format: DUNS was 9 digits; the UEI is 12 alphanumeric characters.
• Cost: Getting a UEI through SAM.gov is free — there is no fee to obtain one.
• Process: No separate application to a third party; the UEI is part of SAM.gov registration.

How a UEI is assigned by SAM.gov

You request a UEI through SAM.gov as part of getting your business into the system. There are two paths: you can get only a UEI (useful if you just need to be identified, for example as a sub-recipient on a grant), or you can complete a full registration so you can actually receive awards. Either way, the steps look like this:

1. 1Create a Login.gov account and use it to sign in to SAM.gov — it's the secure sign-in the government uses across its sites.
2. 2Start the entity flow and enter your legal business name and physical address exactly as they appear on your official records.
3. 3Complete entity validation, where SAM.gov confirms your name and address against authoritative records. This is the step that most often causes delays.
4. 4Receive your UEI, which SAM.gov generates and assigns to your validated entity.
5. 5Finish full registration (core data, NAICS codes, EFT/banking info, and your Representations and Certifications) if you intend to win contracts or most federal grants.

A standalone UEI can be issued fairly quickly once validation passes, but a full active registration commonly takes a couple of weeks — and longer if your records don't match cleanly. For the complete walkthrough, see our guide on how to register on SAM.gov.

Where to find your UEI

Once your entity exists in SAM.gov, your UEI is easy to locate:

• In your SAM.gov account — it appears on your entity's dashboard and registration summary.
• Via SAM.gov entity search — if your record is public, you (or anyone) can look it up by your business name.
• On past awards and forms — once you've been registered, your UEI is recorded on contracts, grant documents, and federal applications.

Keep your UEI somewhere handy. You'll be asked for it constantly — on solicitations, teaming agreements, and grant portals — and it's the fastest way for a contracting officer to pull up your business.

Why your UEI matters for contracts and grants

The UEI isn't just paperwork — it's the key that unlocks eligibility. Without an active SAM.gov registration (and the UEI that comes with it), you cannot be awarded a federal contract or most federal grants, period. It's also how the government links everything about you together: your NAICS codes, your set-aside certifications, your performance history, and your payment information all hang off that one identifier.

That's why getting it right early pays off. With an active registration and a UEI in hand, you can search live federal opportunities that match your business, pursue small-business set-asides like 8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, and HUBZone, and start competing for the share of federal dollars Congress reserves for small businesses. The government carries a statutory goal of awarding 23% of prime contract dollars to small businesses — but you can't claim any of it until your entity is identified and active.