FEMA 2026 Direct Housing Modernization Capabilities RFI.pdf

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of Direct Housing Operations

Request for Information (RFI) October 2026

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued in accordance with Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulations Overhaul (RFO) 15.101(c). This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid (IFB), or Request for Quotation (RFQ), and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this RFI is preliminary and is subject to change if, and when, a solicitation is issued. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract. If a competitive solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this RFI, or future solicitations.

The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Office of Direct Housing Operations, is conducting market research to identify and seek capabilities from industry in five primary functional areas:

Automated Real Estate Aggregation and Vacancy Sourcing

- Automated discovery and ingestion of residential rental property listings via Multiple Listing Services (MLS), property management software APIs, commercial rental boards, and direct landlord entry portals.

- Real-time vacancy validation to prevent matching against obsolete or unavailable listings.

- Rapid geo-fencing within disaster-declared zones and surrounding reasonable-commute perimeters.

Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Matching

- Multi-constraint matching algorithms that pair applicant household profiles with available properties in seconds.

- Multi-point geospatial proximity optimization factoring in school district retention, work commutes, medical/provider travel distance, and essential services.

- Household composition sizing aligned with HUD Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and FEMA occupancy guidelines.

Automated Physical Accessibility Verification

- Algorithmic filtering and computer vision inspection tools capable of evaluating floor plans, entry photos, and property specifications against UFAS and ADA physical accessibility standards.

- Rapid identification of barrier-free environments, ramps, ground-floor units, grab bars, and wheelchair-accessible kitchens and bathrooms.

Landlord Engagement and Leasing Workflow Automation

- Automated outreach tools and self-service portals for landlords to submit properties, accept lease terms, and coordinate inspections.

- Integration with standard government lease templates and automated electronic signature workflows.

Secure Federal Architecture

- Enterprise data security architecture compliant with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) at the Moderate impact baseline.

- FedRAMP-authorized cloud hosting (or capability to achieve FedRAMP Moderate/High authorization).

- Strict data protection for Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) belonging to disaster survivors.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Under Section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174), FEMA provides Direct Temporary Housing Assistance to eligible disaster survivors when available rental resources in the impacted community are insufficient to meet temporary housing needs. Direct Lease is a form of Direct Temporary Housing Assistance that allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into multiple firm-fixed priced contracts with property management companies to lease properties to include but not limited to: corporate apartments, vacation rentals, and second homes (single family homes, multi-family homes, apartments, condominiums, town houses, and readily fabricated dwellings for the purpose of providing temporary housing to eligible applicants whose primary residences were made uninhabitable by a presidentially declared disaster. Eligible applicants are placed in temporary housing for terms up to 18 months while their permanent dwellings are repaired or rebuilt.

CURRENT PROCESS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

Current State:

- Property Identification: Contracted real estate property finders manually canvas markets, contact property managers or landlords, compile available rental listings, and submit unstructured inventory reports to FEMA.

- Matching Mechanism: FEMA personnel manually review registered survivor case files and cross-reference them against submitted contractor property lists.

- Placement Constraints: Matches require detailed alignment with survivor requirements, including proximity to places of employment, schools, primary healthcare providers, public transportation, and specialized medical facilities.

- Physical Accessibility: Applicants requiring accessible accommodations must be matched with units complying with the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (e.g., zero-step entry, roll-in showers, widened doorways, single-story layouts).

Request for Information (RFI) October 2026

Challenges:

The current operational model relies heavily on manual data handoffs and fragmented spreadsheets. This approach results in extended placement timelines, stale vacancy data, and delayed placement of vulnerable populations and disaster survivors with physical accessibility needs. FEMA is seeking industry insight into automated, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, and cloud-native solutions to transform this process into an agile, real-time matching and procurement framework.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS: Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in their RFI response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated PWS or solicitation.

Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interest. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the RFO, Subpart 3.11

NAICS CODE: 541512 (Computer Systems Design Services) / 531210 (Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers)

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE (PSC): X1FA, Lease/Rental of Family Housing Facilities

ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: TBD

RFI RESPONSE SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Interested contractors shall submit Questions and RFI responses electronically to the Contracting Officer, at Rachel.Woods@fema.dhs.gov no later than 12:00PM Eastern Time (ET), December 18, 2026. Phone calls will not be accepted.

“RFI Response for Modernization of Direct Lease Temporary Housing Sourcing and Capabilities” shall be in the subject line of your e-mail. All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Pages shall be 8.5 by 11 inch and shall use a type pitch that is no smaller than a standard 11-point font type, with the exception of charts, graphs, or tables, which shall use a pitch not smaller than 10-point font. Responses shall not exceed (10) pages in length including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page and Contractor Capability Statement. Do not include promotional materials.

RFI Responses shall include the following information in the order below:

mailto:Rachel.Woods@fema.dhs.gov

A. Cover Page

1. Company Name

2. Company Address

3. UEI Number

4. Company Point of Contact including name, title, phone number, and email address

5. Business size status under NAICS 541512/531210 and any applicable socioeconomic status

6. Relevant GSA Schedule, DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicle, or other contract vehicle information, if applicable

B. Contractor Capability Statement No more than two pages. Responses should summarize relevant experience, similar projects, geographic coverage, past performance, and core technical capabilities

C. Responses to RFI Questions No more than ten pages. Responses should address the questions below to the extent practicable. Respondents are not required to answer every question.

The responses received will assist FEMA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves potential technical solution providers. Each respondent, by submitting a response, agrees that any cost incurred in response to this RFI, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of the respondent. FEMA shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) QUESTIONS

1. Describe your platform architecture and how it ingests, standardizes, and maintains active rental inventory in real time across dynamic housing markets.

2. What matching algorithms, machine learning models, or rule engines does your solution utilize to optimize multi-variable survivor placements (e.g., commute, school zones, healthcare, pet requirements)?

3. How does your solution handle sudden surges in demand following catastrophic natural disasters with minimal latency?

4. How does your platform capture, identify, and verify physical accessibility attributes (e.g., UFAS, ADA standards) for rental units?

5. Does your solution leverage computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) of property descriptions, or structured architectural data to identify accessibility features?

6. How does your solution streamline the onboarding, communication, and retention of property owners and property management firms?

7. What capabilities exist to automate inspection scheduling, lease execution, and ongoing rent disbursement tracking?

8. What is your system's current FedRAMP authorization status, or what is your implementation path to operate within a FedRAMP-authorized environment?

9. Describe how your solution safeguards survivor PII and prevents data leakage across multi-tenant environments.

10. Is your solution currently available as Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or a custom development framework?

11. Are these capabilities available through existing federal contracting vehicles (e.g., GSA Multiple Award Schedule, OASIS, NASA SEWP)?

12. Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost model (e.g., annual enterprise license, per-user subscription, transaction/unit-placed fee).

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued in accordance with Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulations Overhaul (RFO) 15.101(c). This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bi...