The General Services Administration (GSA) on April 4 will switch to using new Unique Entity ID (SAM) as the authoritative government entity identifier in its SAM.gov and other systems. This means SAM.gov and other GSA systems will no longer use the DUNS number for identifying entities.
The transition is part of a long-planned transition away from use of DUNS Numbers. That system has been managed by Dun & Bradstreet since it was created in 1962, and through a contract with GSA since 1998 when DUNS became part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
“We’re bringing the entity identification process in-house and getting rid of an extra step,” said Meredith Whitehead, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of GSA’s Integrated Award Environment, which manages SAM.gov., in a press release. “This is just one way GSA is modernizing our systems to support government-wide technology modernization initiatives.”
In 2019, GSA made the first move in the transition when it awarded a $41.8 million contract to Ernst & Young, who will manage the transition to the new system. Dun & Bradstreet will continue to collaborate with GSA along with Ernst & Young to bring the 20-year system to an end.
Before the transition on April 4, GSA is warning users that:
- .gov will be down for maintenance the weekend of April 1;
- Other GSA systems will be down that weekend as well, and said more information will be shared on Interact; and
- Users currently registered in SAM.gov will already have a SAM. Users can visit SAM.gov to view it now.
GSA also explained that before April 4, system users also need to update saved searches in SAM.gov, update ad hoc reports in SAM.gov, and make sure that sub-awardees get their SAM.
