It’s now November, and the General Services Administration still hasn’t fixed the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) transition to the new validation service that began in April.
And as many as 50,000 companies and grantees still are waiting to fix validation issues that is causing delays in awards and in getting paid.
The almost six-month old problem continues to cause broad concern across industry and on Capitol Hill.
“GSA briefed our subcommittee staff and is working to recover from a transition to new federal contractor system, which experienced many challenges and shortcomings. GSA did not predict or foresee many of the critical responsibilities of a system designed to identify and certify our private sector partners so they can work with agencies to improve how government operates,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations. “While GSA addresses these problems, they must work to reduce the unacceptable backlog. I will continue to work with our private sector partners to ensure that companies get certified efficiently and do not risk financial collapse because GSA underestimated the complexity of the system needed to undergird government’s engagement with federal contractors.”
Connolly wrote to GSA in July wrote to GSA asking for a briefing and update on their progress in fixing the validation service.
A GSA spokesperson said the 50,000 backlog represents a “snapshot in time” of vendor problems that are currently under manual review.