Foreclosurepedia had stated, some years ago, that the requirement to obtain a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) account and a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number in order to participate in US government contracts unfairly forced a gauntlet of unsolicited marketing upon Contractors. The DUNS number is necessary to access the System for Award Management (SAM) which is the US government’s contract platform. While the DUNS number is free, the minute one applies for it, they are subjected to upselling which makes even used car salesmen blush. The DUNS number will be replaced by a SAM Managed Identifier (SAMMI). By April of 2022, the federal government will stop using the DUNS number to uniquely identify entities registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). At that point, entities doing business with the federal government will use a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) created in SAM.gov. They will no longer have to go to a third-party website to obtain their identifier. Active registrants will have their UEI assigned and viewable within SAM.gov; there is no action for registered entities to take at this time. This transition allows GSA to streamline the entity identification and validation process, making it easier and less burdensome for entities to do business with the federal government.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced the award of a $41.8 million-dollar five-year contract to Ernst and Young LLP (EY) that will replace the decades-long contract held by Dun & Bradstreet to provide entity validation services, currently known as the Data Universal Number System (DUNS®.)
This move will affect every federal agency and the hundreds of thousands of contractors, individuals, and other organizations registered to do business with or receive grants from the U.S. federal government in this all-encompassing transition away from the DUNS to a non-proprietary unique identity identifier.
This March 18 notification is a huge blow to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) which in just the last fiscal year was awarded over $68 million in 192 federal transactions across defense and civilian agencies. And in the last ten years, D&B realized over $639 million in federal revenues providing similar proprietary DUNS-related services to all federal agencies, according to USASpending.gov.
Foreclosurepedia will continue to monitor the situation and provide consultations to those firms conducting business with the US government.
