Response deadline
Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTSAM.gov listing
R499--RFI School Enrollment Reporting
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Opportunity details
- NAICS
- 541512
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Original posted
- August 11, 2026
- Last updated
- October 18, 2026
- Notice ID
- 35ad4744267a4802b6cce692883a7064
Summary
RFI Digital GI Bill and Education Service Automation & Modernization 2 EDUCATION SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (VA) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Digital GI Bill (DGIB) and Education Service School Reporting to VBA Date: August 11, 2026 Request for Information Request for Information GI Bill and Education Service School Data Exchange with VBA Introduction: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking industry input on solutions to enable secure, standardized data exchange with educational institutions in order to (1) measure the full range of outcomes GI Bill beneficiaries achieve including graduation, persistence, and post-completion employment and earnings and (2) strengthen VBA's ability to proactively identify compliance risks, including violations such as the 85/15 Rule and other indicators of fraud, waste, and abuse. Any proposed solution must minimize reporting burden on schools and training providers and be capable of scaling to accommodate new data requirements as legislative and program needs evolve. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued for conducting market research and for eliciting industry input as to the Government s requirement to gather/obtain and communicate with educational institutions about students enrolled in the VBA s educational programs. Accordingly, this RFI constitutes neither a Request for Proposal/Quote (RFP/RFQ) nor a guarantee that one will ever be issued by the Government; furthermore, it does not commit the Government to contract for any services described herein. Do not submit a Quote/Proposal. The VA is not, at this time, seeking proposals or quotes, and therefore will not accept, review, or evaluate unsolicited proposals or quotes received in response hereto. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract/order, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted because of this request. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with the submission of the information being requested, or reimburse expenses incurred for responses to this RFI. Please do not include a price or proposal in your response. The information provided may be used by VA in developing its acquisition strategy and Performance Work Statement (PWS). Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP/RFQ, if issued. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary; however, any information received shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the respondent. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted, or competition sensitive information contained in their response. This is a request for information and does not obligate the Government in any way, nor does it commit the Government to any specific course of action. Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), administers education benefits under the GI Bill® program, serving Veterans, servicemembers, and their dependents annually across thousands of educational institutions nationwide. These benefits spanning Chapters 30, 33, 35, and 1606 of Title 38, U.S. Code represent a significant investment in the academic and professional futures of those who have served our country. The current Digital GI Bill (DGIB) ecosystem houses VBA's claims processing systems and supporting data infrastructure. This includes the Data Mart, which houses all education (EDU) benefits data, and CorpDB, which houses all VBA data and enables VBA to produce additional on-demand reports as needed. Despite the scale and importance of these benefits, VBA currently has limited visibility into student outcomes beyond the point of enrollment certification. The data VBA receives from educational institutions today is largely transactional in nature focused on enrollment status, credit hours, and tuition costs and does not provide the longitudinal outcome data necessary to assess whether GI Bill beneficiaries are successfully completing their programs of study, persisting term over term, or achieving the academic and professional outcomes the program is intended to support. Public Law 114-315, Section 404, requires educational institutions that receive payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill® to report academic progress to VA. Additionally, Executive Order 13607 (2012) requires VA to develop a comprehensive strategy for Servicemember and Veteran student outcome measures that are comparable, to the maximum extent practicable, across federal military and Veterans educational benefit programs. VA has previously explored outcome measure types such as retention rate, persistence rate, transfer-out rate, graduation rate, and certificate of completion, and welcomes industry input on additional or alternative approaches to satisfying these requirements. This data gap has meaningful consequences across two critical areas: Outcome Measurement VBA is committed to understanding whether GI Bill education benefits are producing positive, measurable outcomes for Veterans and their dependents not only during enrollment, but beyond it. Without reliable, standardized data from educational institutions and other authoritative sources on indicators such as graduation rates, academic persistence, program completion, and post-completion outcomes including employment and earnings, VBA cannot fully assess program effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, or demonstrate the full impact of GI Bill investments on Veterans' academic and professional success. Compliance Oversight VBA has a statutory responsibility to ensure that GI Bill benefits are administered in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and that educational institutions participating in the program meet required standards including compliance with the 85/15 Rule and other statutory and regulatory requirements. Enhanced data exchange with educational institutions would allow VBA to proactively identify discrepancies between school-reported data and VA records, detect potential fraud, waste, and abuse earlier, and support audit and oversight functions. Beyond protecting Veterans and their dependents from bad actors within the program, this enhanced visibility would also allow VBA to recognize and champion educational institutions that consistently demonstrate strong outcomes and program compliance. To address these gaps, VBA is exploring industry recommendations and guidance on solutions that would enable secure, standardized, and scalable data exchange between educational institutions, other public and private entities and VBA. The envisioned solution would allow schools to provide VBA with structured outcome and enrollment data on GI Bill beneficiaries on a regular basis, reducing manual reporting burden on School Certifying Officials (SCOs) while significantly enhancing VBA's ability to measure program outcomes and fulfill its compliance mission. Chapter 33 / Long-Term Solution (LTS) Enrollment Manager Non-33 Benefits Manager Workload Manager GI Billie Chatbot Approval Manager Claim Information Service Associated shared services, Application Programming Interface (APIs), infrastructure, and supporting applications The environment currently operates within Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud and utilizes modern cloud-native development and operations practices including: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) DevSecOps pipelines Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Containerized microservices Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)-hosted workloads AWS managed services Agile product delivery methodologies Intellectual Property and Technical Asset Inventory As of August 1, 2026, the Government has the following employed assets to manage the educational benefits process: Asset Category Approximate Quantity Source Code Repositories 775 Databases 50 Elastic Container Registry (ECR) Repositories 239 EC2 Instances 75 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) 8 S3 Buckets 40 Supporting Technical Documents 730+ Database technologies currently include Oracle, PostgreSQL (Structured Query Language), Redshift, and DynamoDB (Database). Artifact repositories currently contain Maven, Node Package Manager (NPM), RAW, and other build dependencies necessary to support application development, deployment, and sustainment. The environment also contains Jira project repositories, requirements traceability artifacts, operational documentation, architecture documentation, security artifacts, and infrastructure configuration data. Requirement: VBA seeks to maximize innovation, automation, and customer experience by enabling and supporting structured data exchange with educational institutions on students utilizing VA educational benefits. VBA envisions an enhanced customer experience, improved mission outcomes and streamlined compliance processes through a secure, scalable and 508-complaint interface. Pursuant to that vision, VBA is seeking industry input on potential solutions or services capable of delivering rapid implementation while preserving Government oversight and accountability of the processes. The data exchange envisioned under this requirement is intended to support VBA's evolving data and oversight needs, with initial focus areas that include: Student Outcome Measurement VBA seeks to collect and analyze student outcome data from educational institutions to assess the effectiveness of GI Bill education benefits and improve program performance. Anticipated data elements include, but are not limited to: Graduation and program completion status Enrollment persistence (continued enrollment term over term) Attendance and academic progress, where tracked by the institution Program of study, anticipated graduation date, and any program changes Transfer, withdrawal status Academic standing (e.g., satisfactory academic progress) Post completion employment and salary/earnings outcomes, where available Benefit or program specific data elements tailored to individual GI Bill chapters or programs as reporting needs vary by benefit type Recommended Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), data sharing agreements, or other arrangements with external data sources (e.g., federal agencies or other authoritative data providers) needed to support outcome measures such as employment and earnings, where such data is not available directly from educational institutions Compliance Oversight and Monitoring VBA seeks to leverage school-reported outcome data to strengthen its compliance oversight responsibilities and shift toward a more proactive compliance posture. The proposed solution or approach should support VBA's ability to: Identify discrepancies between school-reported data and VA records Proactively flag potential compliance issues, risk indicators or anomalies for review by VA staff, including patterns that may indication violations of regulations such as 85/15 rule. Support audit, reporting, and oversight functions across participating institutions Monitor institutional performance and adherence to GI Bill program requirements Recommend Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), data sharing agreements, or other arrangements needed to support verification of school-reported data against external or authoritative sources This RFI is being issued to solicit industry input on the viability of solutioning software or a secure data sharing process that will allow educational institutions to interactively communicate with VBA requirement with all VA correspondence within RFI needs statement as well as to obtain associated data to help inform and shape a potential acquisition. The proposed contracted solution or service will: Provide a Contractor developed simplistic connection, process or other solution (e.g., API, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), other similar web-based solution) to receive or retrieve communications bidirectionally/interchangeably between educat
Read Full Official Summary
RFI Digital GI Bill and Education Service Automation & Modernization 2 EDUCATION SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (VA) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Digital GI Bill (DGIB) and Education Service School Reporting to VBA Date: August 11, 2026 Request for Information Request for Information GI Bill and Education Service School Data Exchange with VBA Introduction: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking industry input on solutions to enable secure, standardized data exchange with educational institutions in order to (1) measure the full range of outcomes GI Bill beneficiaries achieve including graduation, persistence, and post-completion employment and earnings and (2) strengthen VBA's ability to proactively identify compliance risks, including violations such as the 85/15 Rule and other indicators of fraud, waste, and abuse. Any proposed solution must minimize reporting burden on schools and training providers and be capable of scaling to accommodate new data requirements as legislative and program needs evolve. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued for conducting market research and for eliciting industry input as to the Government s requirement to gather/obtain and communicate with educational institutions about students enrolled in the VBA s educational programs. Accordingly, this RFI constitutes neither a Request for Proposal/Quote (RFP/RFQ) nor a guarantee that one will ever be issued by the Government; furthermore, it does not commit the Government to contract for any services described herein. Do not submit a Quote/Proposal. The VA is not, at this time, seeking proposals or quotes, and therefore will not accept, review, or evaluate unsolicited proposals or quotes received in response hereto. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract/order, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted because of this request. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with the submission of the information being requested, or reimburse expenses incurred for responses to this RFI. Please do not include a price or proposal in your response. The information provided may be used by VA in developing its acquisition strategy and Performance Work Statement (PWS). Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP/RFQ, if issued. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary; however, any information received shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the respondent. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted, or competition sensitive information contained in their response. This is a request for information and does not obligate the Government in any way, nor does it commit the Government to any specific course of action. Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), administers education benefits under the GI Bill® program, serving Veterans, servicemembers, and their dependents annually across thousands of educational institutions nationwide. These benefits spanning Chapters 30, 33, 35, and 1606 of Title 38, U.S. Code represent a significant investment in the academic and professional futures of those who have served our country. The current Digital GI Bill (DGIB) ecosystem houses VBA's claims processing systems and supporting data infrastructure. This includes the Data Mart, which houses all education (EDU) benefits data, and CorpDB, which houses all VBA data and enables VBA to produce additional on-demand reports as needed. Despite the scale and importance of these benefits, VBA currently has limited visibility into student outcomes beyond the point of enrollment certification. The data VBA receives from educational institutions today is largely transactional in nature focused on enrollment status, credit hours, and tuition costs and does not provide the longitudinal outcome data necessary to assess whether GI Bill beneficiaries are successfully completing their programs of study, persisting term over term, or achieving the academic and professional outcomes the program is intended to support. Public Law 114-315, Section 404, requires educational institutions that receive payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill® to report academic progress to VA. Additionally, Executive Order 13607 (2012) requires VA to develop a comprehensive strategy for Servicemember and Veteran student outcome measures that are comparable, to the maximum extent practicable, across federal military and Veterans educational benefit programs. VA has previously explored outcome measure types such as retention rate, persistence rate, transfer-out rate, graduation rate, and certificate of completion, and welcomes industry input on additional or alternative approaches to satisfying these requirements. This data gap has meaningful consequences across two critical areas: Outcome Measurement VBA is committed to understanding whether GI Bill education benefits are producing positive, measurable outcomes for Veterans and their dependents not only during enrollment, but beyond it. Without reliable, standardized data from educational institutions and other authoritative sources on indicators such as graduation rates, academic persistence, program completion, and post-completion outcomes including employment and earnings, VBA cannot fully assess program effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, or demonstrate the full impact of GI Bill investments on Veterans' academic and professional success. Compliance Oversight VBA has a statutory responsibility to ensure that GI Bill benefits are administered in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and that educational institutions participating in the program meet required standards including compliance with the 85/15 Rule and other statutory and regulatory requirements. Enhanced data exchange with educational institutions would allow VBA to proactively identify discrepancies between school-reported data and VA records, detect potential fraud, waste, and abuse earlier, and support audit and oversight functions. Beyond protecting Veterans and their dependents from bad actors within the program, this enhanced visibility would also allow VBA to recognize and champion educational institutions that consistently demonstrate strong outcomes and program compliance. To address these gaps, VBA is exploring industry recommendations and guidance on solutions that would enable secure, standardized, and scalable data exchange between educational institutions, other public and private entities and VBA. The envisioned solution would allow schools to provide VBA with structured outcome and enrollment data on GI Bill beneficiaries on a regular basis, reducing manual reporting burden on School Certifying Officials (SCOs) while significantly enhancing VBA's ability to measure program outcomes and fulfill its compliance mission. Chapter 33 / Long-Term Solution (LTS) Enrollment Manager Non-33 Benefits Manager Workload Manager GI Billie Chatbot Approval Manager Claim Information Service Associated shared services, Application Programming Interface (APIs), infrastructure, and supporting applications The environment currently operates within Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud and utilizes modern cloud-native development and operations practices including: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) DevSecOps pipelines Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Containerized microservices Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)-hosted workloads AWS managed services Agile product delivery methodologies Intellectual Property and Technical Asset Inventory As of August 1, 2026, the Government has the following employed assets to manage the educational benefits process: Asset Category Approximate Quantity Source Code Repositories 775 Databases 50 Elastic Container Registry (ECR) Repositories 239 EC2 Instances 75 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) 8 S3 Buckets 40 Supporting Technical Documents 730+ Database technologies currently include Oracle, PostgreSQL (Structured Query Language), Redshift, and DynamoDB (Database). Artifact repositories currently contain Maven, Node Package Manager (NPM), RAW, and other build dependencies necessary to support application development, deployment, and sustainment. The environment also contains Jira project repositories, requirements traceability artifacts, operational documentation, architecture documentation, security artifacts, and infrastructure configuration data. Requirement: VBA seeks to maximize innovation, automation, and customer experience by enabling and supporting structured data exchange with educational institutions on students utilizing VA educational benefits. VBA envisions an enhanced customer experience, improved mission outcomes and streamlined compliance processes through a secure, scalable and 508-complaint interface. Pursuant to that vision, VBA is seeking industry input on potential solutions or services capable of delivering rapid implementation while preserving Government oversight and accountability of the processes. The data exchange envisioned under this requirement is intended to support VBA's evolving data and oversight needs, with initial focus areas that include: Student Outcome Measurement VBA seeks to collect and analyze student outcome data from educational institutions to assess the effectiveness of GI Bill education benefits and improve program performance. Anticipated data elements include, but are not limited to: Graduation and program completion status Enrollment persistence (continued enrollment term over term) Attendance and academic progress, where tracked by the institution Program of study, anticipated graduation date, and any program changes Transfer, withdrawal status Academic standing (e.g., satisfactory academic progress) Post completion employment and salary/earnings outcomes, where available Benefit or program specific data elements tailored to individual GI Bill chapters or programs as reporting needs vary by benefit type Recommended Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), data sharing agreements, or other arrangements with external data sources (e.g., federal agencies or other authoritative data providers) needed to support outcome measures such as employment and earnings, where such data is not available directly from educational institutions Compliance Oversight and Monitoring VBA seeks to leverage school-reported outcome data to strengthen its compliance oversight responsibilities and shift toward a more proactive compliance posture. The proposed solution or approach should support VBA's ability to: Identify discrepancies between school-reported data and VA records Proactively flag potential compliance issues, risk indicators or anomalies for review by VA staff, including patterns that may indication violations of regulations such as 85/15 rule. Support audit, reporting, and oversight functions across participating institutions Monitor institutional performance and adherence to GI Bill program requirements Recommend Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), data sharing agreements, or other arrangements needed to support verification of school-reported data against external or authoritative sources This RFI is being issued to solicit industry input on the viability of solutioning software or a secure data sharing process that will allow educational institutions to interactively communicate with VBA requirement with all VA correspondence within RFI needs statement as well as to obtain associated data to help inform and shape a potential acquisition. The proposed contracted solution or service will: Provide a Contractor developed simplistic connection, process or other solution (e.g., API, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), other similar web-based solution) to receive or retrieve communications bidirectionally/interchangeably between educat
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