Office of Federal Financial Management; Proposed Policy on Use of a Universal Identifier by Grant Applicants

Resumo

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seeks to establish a standard means for tracking Federal grant recipients throughout the entire grant life cycle and to provide the public with a uniform business practice. Currently Federal agencies use multiple and different identifiers for the entities which apply for and receive Federal grant funds, while a single identifier is used by entities which apply for and receive Federal contracts. The Federal Government is in the process of developing an electronic standard grant application capability, known as E-APPLY, under an E-Grants system which will require each applicant to be uniquely identified. This notice seeks comments on the proposal by OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM) to establish a requirement for applicants to register for a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)) number for use as the Universal Identifier needed to respond to Federal agency grant or cooperative agreement announcements. The DUNS is already in use by those entities seeking Federal contracts.