HHG Moving_Shipping_Transportation and Storage Service Providers SoftwareI ntegration RFI.pdf

PERSONAL PROPERTY ACTIVITY (PPA)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

HOUSEHOLD GOODS MOVING, SHIPPING, TRANSPORTATION, AND STORAGE

SERVICE PROVIDERS SOFTWARE INTEGRATION

I. INTRODUCTION

The Personal Property Activity (PPA) is conducting market research to understand how integrating vendor systems with a government central platform via an Application Programming Interface (API) will affect household goods (HHG) moving, shipping, transportation, and storage service providers.

Accordingly, the PPA invites industry partners and service providers to submit detailed information regarding integration costs, associated software development timelines, standard industry practices, and recommendations for testing and risk mitigation when connecting their internal software systems to a central Government platform.

This Request for Information (RFI) enables industry stakeholders to provide direct feedback on how this type of integration will impact their current systems and operations, helping to shape future technical requirements and acquisition decisions. This RFI is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation for proposals.

Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot form a binding contract. The PPA is not under any obligation to pursue any acquisition alternative based on this RFI, and the Government will not compensate respondents for any information received. All submissions will be kept confidential, will become the property of the U.S. Government, and will not be returned.

II. BACKGROUND

This background section details the requirements for a transportation service provider (TSP)’s system.

A. TSP systems bottom-line: To interface with the central Government API, the TSP will utilize a proprietary or commercial system that utilizes RESTful JSON web services secured by Mutual TLS (mTLS) with active, Department of War (DoW)-approved External Certificate Authority (ECA) certificates. The TSP system must automatically process shipment awards, update shipment lifecycle statuses, upload required transit documentation, and submit electronic payment requests directly to the central government platform.

Furthermore, the TSP’s system must strictly adhere to NIST SP 800-171 cybersecurity standards for the protection of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), incorporating any heightened security and privacy controls mandated by DoW privacy overlays to ensure the robust safeguarding of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) as a sensitive subset of CUI.

1. Technical

The central Government API is built on modern web standards. To connect successfully via an API, a transportation service provider system must be capable of the following:

RESTful API and OpenAPI Compliance: The provider system must consume and produce JSON payloads formatted exactly to the PPA’s centralized platform OpenAPI specifications.

Authentication and mTLS: Connections require Mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS). The industry system must present a valid External Certificate Authority (ECA) PKI certificate issued by a DoW-approved vendor (e.g., IdenTrust) to authenticate server-to-server communications.

Environment testing: The provider successfully must complete structured integration testing within the Government’s central system’s experimental or staging environments to validate payloads before being granted access to the Government’s production environment.

2. Operational workflow requirements (Tenders and Awards):

To manage the complete Household Goods (HHG) shipment lifecycle, the TSP API client shall programmatically communicate with the central Government API to execute the following business workflows:

Ingest shipment awards: Continuously poll or receive webhooks for newly awarded shipments (Tenders of Service) containing the service member's or DoW civilian’s orders, pickup locations, and authorized weights.

Status updates: Push real-time lifecycle updates back to the centralized platform, including:

o Estimated and actual pickup dates o In-transit visibility (routing and tracking) within an hour of location change o Estimated and actual delivery dates

Document uploads: Programmatically upload digitized, legible copies of required documents (e.g., certified empty and full weight tickets, signed Bills of Lading (BoL), and DD Form 619s).

Payment requests: Submit automated, line-item invoices for "Best Value" line haul, packing and unpacking, and accessorial charges to trigger the Third-Party Payment System (TPPS / Syncada) or Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).

3. Security and Compliance Requirements

The shipment and transaction data generated by the Government contains the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and official movement orders—both classified as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)—of the Service member or DoW civilian, all TSP information technology (IT) systems processing, storing, or transmitting this data are strictly regulated. To host the central Government API connection, the TSP's IT system must achieve and maintain a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 (Advanced) Self-Assessment in accordance with NIST SP 800-171 standards for protecting CUI on non-Federal systems, which mandates robust access controls, active incident response protocols, and strict data encryption both at rest and in transit. Furthermore, to adhere to federal data minimization principles, the TSP's system must programmatically manage and securely purge all downloaded PII in strict accordance with the data retention policies outlined in the governing DoW Tender of Service (TOS) or individual transportation contract.

III. INFORMATION REQUESTED

HHG moving, shipping, transportation, and storage service providers and interested parties please submit the required information for any submission to the PPA.

A. General Company Information

1. Company Name and Address:

2. POC Name/Telephone/Email:

3. Unique Entity ID:

4. Mission/Capability Statement:

B. What technical and operational impacts do you anticipate when integrating your software systems for connection to a central Government platform via an API:

1. Cost and Effort: What would it require and cost your company to meet this requirement? Why?

2. Timeline: How long will it take your company to connect to a central Government platform via API? Why?

3. Standards: What standard business and industry practices do you use for this type of API integration? Why?

4. Testing and Risk: What are your recommendations for testing with the Government central API to mitigate operational risks? Why?

5. U.S. Government Feedback: What other key comments, concerns, or practices should the PPA consider regarding this API effort?

IV. RFI SUBMISSION INFORMATION AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Please submit any clarifying questions regarding this RFI by 4:00 PM (CT), September 15, 2026. Questions and government responses will be posted under this notice.

RFI submissions are limited to one per company with no more than 20 total 8.5” x 11” pages (12 point font, Times New Roman with one-inch margins).

All RFI submissions shall only include responses to the questions asked in Section III of this RFI.

You must clearly mark and segregate any proprietary data in your submission.

RFI submissions will not be accepted after 4:00 PM (CT), 30 September 2026.

RFI submissions and clarifying questions will only be submitted via email to all points of contact as follows:

o Contracting Officer: Chris Frost; christopher.t.frost4.civ@mail.mil o Contracts Manager: Kevin Peaslee; kevin.p.peaslee.mil@mail.mil o Technical Lead: Kipp Reed; kipp.t.reed.civ@mail.mil

The Government is not seeking company brochures or marketing materials.

The PPA may meet with all, some, or none of the interested industry partners and HHG moving, shipping, transportation, and storage service providers to this RFI.

Response to this RFI or lack thereof does not constitute any obligation on the Government to pursue a follow-on effort, in part or whole, with specific vendors or otherwise.