What Is a CAGE Code, and How Is It Different from a UEI?

A CAGE code (Commercial and Government Entity code) is a five-character identifier assigned to a specific business location. It predates the UEI by decades and is still required on federal contracts, alongside the UEI, not instead of it.

Where CAGE codes come from

CAGE codes are administered by the Defense Logistics Agency, originally for tracking suppliers to the military. Every entity that registers in SAM.gov to do business with the federal government — not only defense contractors — is assigned one automatically as part of registration. A CAGE code is five characters, a mix of digits and uppercase letters, for example 81755.

CAGE code vs. UEI: what each one identifies

The distinction that trips people up: a UEI identifies the legal entity — the company as a whole, or a specific registered subsidiary. A CAGE code identifies a physical business location and role within a supply chain: manufacturer, distributor, repair facility, and so on. A single company with one UEI can hold several CAGE codes if it operates from multiple facilities that each interact with the federal supply system separately, and a single CAGE code is normally tied to one UEI.

On a contractor profile on this site, both appear as chips under the company name — for example, Lockheed Martin Corporation's Fort Worth, TX profile shows UEI G4KDGE4JFFK7 alongside CAGE code 81755 — two different identifiers for two different purposes, on the same award records.

How to look up a CAGE code

1. Search this site. The search box accepts a CAGE code directly and, if that code belongs to a published contractor, jumps straight to its profile.
2. SAM.gov. SAM.gov's public entity search shows an entity's CAGE code(s) on its registration summary, the same page that shows the UEI.
3. The CAGE search tool. The Defense Logistics Agency runs a CAGE-specific lookup at dodcage.mil, useful when a CAGE code is the only identifier on hand — for instance, printed on a part or a military spec sheet — and the associated company name needs confirming.

Why a contract can list a CAGE code that doesn't match the UEI's registered address

A CAGE code describes where a contract is actually performed or supplied from, which is not always a company's registered headquarters. A large contractor headquartered in one state can hold CAGE codes tied to manufacturing or service locations in several others. That is one reason the "Place of performance by state" section on a contractor profile can list states beyond the company's own home state — the work, not just the mailing address, is what is being tracked.

NCAGE codes for entities outside the United States

A foreign business that contracts with the U.S. government, or with a U.S. prime contractor as a subcontractor, is assigned an NCAGE code (NATO Commercial and Government Entity code) instead of a domestic CAGE code. NCAGE codes are issued by each NATO member country's own national codification bureau and are recognized across the NATO codification system, not only by the U.S. Format and length match a standard CAGE code; what differs is the issuing authority and the entity's country of registration.

What a CAGE code does not tell you

A CAGE code confirms that an entity is registered and identifies which facility a given contract action is tied to — it does not by itself indicate the size, financial health, or contracting history of the business behind it. For that, the CAGE code is the starting point, not the answer: look up the associated UEI, then use it to find that company's actual award history, either through this site's search or directly on USAspending.gov, as covered in the guide to looking up federal contracts.

See also: what a UEI is and how it differs from a CAGE code, and how to look up a company's federal contract history.