NOT-OD-03-055: REQUIREMENT OF DUNS NUMBER

Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
NIH... Turning Discovery Into Health^®

REQUIREMENT OF DUNS NUMBER

RELEASE DATE:  August 14, 2003

NOTICE:  NOT-OD-03-055 (See Notice NOT-OD-11-004: Notice of Revised NIH Term 
of Award on use of DUNS Number and New Term of Award on Maintaining 
an Active CCR Registration)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Effective October 1, 2003, use of the Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data 
Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number will be required when applying 
for Federal grants or cooperative agreements. 

See June 27, 2003 Office of Management and Budget Federal Register Notice 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.
access.gpo.gov/2003/03-16356.htm

A DUNS number must be included in every application for a new or 
competing continuation grant or cooperative agreement.  The identifier 
will be used for tracking purposes, and to validate address and point 
of contact information.  The DUNS number will be required whether an 
applicant is submitting a paper application, or using the NIH Commons 
or Grants.gov to submit the application.   

Grantee organizations should verify that they have a DUNS 
number or take steps needed to obtain one as soon as possible.  
Organizations that do not have a DUNS number can receive a DUNS number 
at no cost by calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS number request line 
at 1-866-705-5711 or URL http://www.dunandbradstreet.com.   The requirement 
for a DUNS number applies to all organizations that apply for NIH 
grants and cooperative agreements.  Non-affiliated Individuals who 
apply for a grant or cooperative agreement are exempt from this 
requirement.

NIH has developed a Question and Answer sheet to provide additional 
guidance for the grantee community on this new requirement.  It is 
located at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/duns_qa.doc.

For further information on this new Federal-wide requirement please 
contact:  Sandra R. Swab, Office of Federal Financial Management, 
Office of Management and Budget, at 202-395-5642, or e-mail 
[email protected].
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