As we previously reported, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made some material changes to the EEO-1 Report. 

One of these changes mandates that federal contractors provide their Unique Entity ID (UEI), which is a twelve-character alpha-numeric identification assigned by the federal government via the System for Award Management. The UEI replaced the DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number, and as of April 4, 2022, all entities receiving federal funds should have a UEI.

When completing the EEO-1 Report, federal contractors must now provide their UEI. A multi-establishment employer must also identify whether each establishment is a federal contractor and, if so, provide the UEI associated with that entity or establishment. 

How to Obtain a UEI

Check with the appropriate personnel in your organization, such as accounting or procurement, to determine whether your organization already has a UEI. If the entity is registered in www.sam.gov, it should have one.

If the organization does not have a UEI, this video link provides information regarding how to obtain one.  Get a Unique Entity ID in SAM.gov - YouTube

To complete this process, contractors will need the legal business name, physical address, start year or year of incorporation, and state of incorporation. In addition, for entities based outside of the United States, the national identifier is also needed. 

If the entity is not found or if information about the entity’s legal name is not located, the contractor may need to provide documents for validation purposes. The video provides a list of acceptable documents if validation is required.

Once documents are submitted, the system will provide a reference number and an estimate regarding when the UEI will be assigned. Note that additional information may be needed before a UEI is assigned.  

The process of obtaining a UEI can take several weeks, so we recommend that contractors act now to ensure their UEI is available before the EEO-1 Reporting deadline on December 5.

For assistance, please contact any member of Constangy’s Affirmative Action/OFCCP Compliance practice group.