Validation Software

Sources Sought Notice: Validation Software

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking to identify sources with the capabilities to provide a validation software. 

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION.  This request for capability information does not constitute a request for bids, proposals, or quotes; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; and the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. 

If your organization has the potential capacity to fulfill this requirement, please provide the following information:

1. Organization name, address, point of contact, email address, web site address, and telephone number and UEI Number.
2. Business size: small, small disadvantaged, woman-owned, Hub Zone, serviced-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), veteran-owned small business (VOSB), large business, etc.
3. Business type under NAICS 513210, Software Publishers
4. Under which NAICS code does your company usually provide the requirements herein - Please provide rationale for your answer if different from NAICS 513210.
5. Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational capability.
6. Response to this NOTICE shall not exceed 10 pages and should include all the previously mentioned information. In addition, all submissions should be provided electronically in a Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and should not contain excessive graphics.

Based on the responses to this Notice/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses, including any concern thereunder, or procured through full and open competition.  However, a determination not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to provide the equipment and perform the required services are invited to submit a response to by 12:00 pm Eastern time, 10 May, 2024. All responses under this notice must be emailed to Susan.Nicholson@fcc.gov. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.  The Subject Line Should Read:  RESPONSE SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE VALIDATION SOFTWARE.

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES:  This notice does not obligate the government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the government to determine the organization’s qualifications to meet the requirement. Respondents are advised that the government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a solicitation may be published via the appropriate means.  However, responses to this notice shall not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

CONFIDENTIALITY. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information as part of any resultant solicitation(s).

As permitted by FAR Part 10, this is a market research tool being utilized for informational and planning purposes.

Response is strictly voluntary - it is not mandatory to submit a response to this notice to participate in any formal RFP process that may take place in the future. However, it should be noted that information gathered through this notice may significantly influence our acquisition strategy. All interested parties will be required to respond separately to any solicitations posted as a result of this sources sought notice.

 

General Requirements for Validation Software

Background

The FCC is an independent agency of the United States Government established by the Communications Act of 1934. It is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by wire, radio, television, satellite, and cable not otherwise reserved by law for regulation by other Federal agencies. The FCC’s jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.  More information about the FCC, its structure, and its functions can be found at the agency’s web site (http://www.fcc.gov).

The Commission’s Enforcement Bureau (EB or Bureau) has primary responsibility for the FCC’s enforcement of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), other statutes, and the FCC’s rules, orders, and terms and conditions of licenses and other authorizations.  The Enforcement Bureau enforces FCC rules and orders, and investigates potentially unlawful conduct.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and the Lifeline program assist low income households with the cost of phone and internet services.  The programs provide low-income households with discounts on the cost of their telecommunications service and discounts on the cost of certain devices.  To be eligible to participate in either program, a household must meet specific criteria. In order to ensure that all eligibility requirements have been met, EB requires software that can validate such things as the validity of an address; the validity of a listed address as residential or commercial; and the validity of a listed participant.  Without the ability to conduct these validations in bulk, EB will be limited to using manual tools on an account by account basis, and its ability to swiftly identify ineligible participants will be severely curtailed. 

In addition, federal laws and FCC regulations protect American consumers from unsolicited messages by placing limits on how, when, where, and why a caller may use particular kinds of telephone technologies. Additionally, FCC rules obligate telecommunications providers to take steps to combat unlawful robocalling and help consumers avoid unwanted messages.  In order to determine whether calling parties are legitimate and have a valid reason to place suspected illegal calls, EB requires software that can validate such things as the validity of a registered owner of a phone number, the validity of an email address, and the validity of a business name and its IP address.  Without the ability to conduct these validations in bulk, EB will be limited to using manual tools on an account by account basis, and its ability to swiftly identify illegitimate calls will be severely curtailed. 

Validation Software Requirements

For the reasons stated above, EB seeks software that uses open-source, public records to validate the authenticity of the following data elements:

• People
  • First, Middle, Last Name
  • Date of Birth
  • SSN (or last 4 digits)
• Physical Address
  • Address use types (single home, MDU, business, etc.)
• Phone number
• Email address
• Business name
• IP address 
• Optional: LexID, TransUnion ID, or other unique identifier

The software should allow users to validate the data elements described above.  The software should also provide the ability to be configured with other vendor platforms so that validation can processed in bulk.  Specifically, we seek to use REST API to create a data source in a cloud platform that connects directly to the software’s database or targeted dataset to validate the data. The vendor shall provide a platform to securely download a complete extract of the above data in a format agreeable with the FCC’s network security protocol s and its business operational needs.

The software must be FedRAMP-compliant.  The vendor and its solution will receive and process records from FCC Privacy Act “systems of records” as well as other personally identifiable information (PII)—including sensitive PII—from the FCC and therefore will need to comply with applicable requirements under the Privacy Act of 1974; the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) and related requirements from the Office of Management and Budget and National Institute of Standards and Technology; and other requirements identified by the FCC regarding the collecting, using, processing, storing, maintaining, safeguarding, disseminating, disclosing, and disposing of information.  Interested providers must submit configuration guidelines, upgrade procedures (CVE), and maintenance protocols.