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Question: Has HUD updated its Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) requirements for FHA Eligibility?

Answer:

Yes. On May 16, 2024, HUD published Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2024-09, Updating FHA’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Requirements for FHA Eligibility, which is immediately effective.

The General Services Administration (GSA) requires all entities currently conducting or seeking to do business with the federal government to have a UEI (an alpha-numeric identifier) registered in GSA’s System of Award Management (SAM.gov).

FHA began requiring a UEI as a part of the eligibility requirements for its approved Mortgagees in August 2022. The initial policy required all FHA-Approved Mortgagees to register for and obtain an active UEI using data that matched the data in the Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP). The new policy now requires the FHA-Approved Mortgagee to maintain an active registration status in SAM.gov and for Mortgagees to review and update (if necessary) its information in the SAM.gov database and renew its registration every 365 days to ensure the information is kept current, accurate and complete. In order to streamline data reporting between LEAP and SAM.gov, HUD removed the home office geographic address from the data that must match in LEAP and SAM.gov.

HUD included instructions for renewing the UEI in its Mortgage Letter. If at any time the UEI status becomes inactive it will be reflected in LEAP. Mortgagees must address this failure to meet FHA’s requirements in accordance with the requirements for reporting material events in HUD’s Handbook 4000.1. A failure to maintain eligibility requirements may also result in a referral to the Mortgagee Review Board.