A UEI, or Unique Entity ID, is the twelve-character identifier the U.S. government assigns to an organization registered in SAM.gov, the System for Award Management. Any entity that wants to do business with the federal government (bid on contracts or receive grants) must register in SAM.gov and receive a UEI. In 2022 the UEI replaced the older DUNS number as the government's official entity identifier.
The UEI is a strong, government-issued identifier, which makes it valuable for joining data. Federal contract awards, grants, and exclusion records all reference a UEI, so it reliably ties a company to its federal footprint. Unlike a company name, a UEI is unique and stable, which is exactly what entity resolution needs to link records without guessing.
SAM.gov holds the registration record behind each UEI: legal name, address, and business details for entities eligible for federal awards. Paired with federal spending data, it connects who a company is to what the government has paid it, which is the backbone of vendor vetting and government-spending analysis.
Related on Amalgament: Government spending API · Business records API
Yes. As of April 2022, the federal government stopped using the third-party DUNS number and adopted the UEI, generated directly in SAM.gov, as its official entity identifier.
Core entity registration and federal award data are public. This is what makes it possible to look up a company's federal contracts and grants by its UEI.
More terms: KYB (Know Your Business) · UCC filing (UCC-1) · APN (Assessor's Parcel Number) · MCP server · Entity resolution · Business registry (Secretary of State filing) · Non-FCRA (business-purpose) data · Context layer (for AI)