If you haven't applied for a federal grant this year you may not have heard about the transition to the UEI number in April. But ignorance is not bliss! Knowing your UEI and having it be up to date is ESSENTIAL to federal grant readiness.
What's a UEI number?
The UEI (unique entity identifier) is a 12-character unique number assigned to all entities (public and private companies, individuals, institutions, or organizations) who must register to do business with the federal government in SAM (system of award management)
Why do I need it?
This number is required to get paid by the federal government. It applies to for profit businesses, nonprofit businesses, and individuals seeking grants, cooperative agreements, and/ or contracts. And even if you don't want to do business directly with the feds you may still need a UEI. Many state and local funding opportunities are funded from federal money.
How do I get it?
If you already have an account with SAM.gov, you don't need to do anything. A number was automatically assigned to you account. BUT- go into sam.gov right now, write it down, and make sure your account is up to date. If you don't have a UEI number or a sam.gov account, and run a nonprofit, starting the process now, is a no brainer. It can take a few weeks to fully complete the process, and you need it to register in grants.gov ( the official place to apply for federal grants).
SGR helps our customers seeking federal grants navigate the federal government's many grant-related application systems. For example, in April one of our government grant clients was applying for a $750K 3-year grant with Dept of Justice. We checked the status of their UEI and noticed that it was expired. We relayed this information but our customer was unsure how to update it and didn't want to make a mistake. We scheduled a Zoom with them and walked them through the process. In less than 1 hour it was updated, and within 1 day it was approved. We were back on track with the application process and our customer didn't have to spend hours trying to figure things out.
