SGO Program_SSN.pdf

General Information:

This Sources Sought Notice (SSN) is issued solely for market research purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quote (RFQ) or a promise to issue an RFP or RFQ in the future. This notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Interested parties are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice; all costs associated with responding to this notice will be solely at the interested party’s expense.

Background:

The Department of War (DoW) is establishing an initiative to provide eligible active and Reserve Component Service members, DoW civilian employees, and military retirees with an authorized, voluntary after-tax payroll allotment pathway to direct contributions to a certified, Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO), as the Program Administrator. The primary objective of this program is to enhance force readiness, retention, and quality of life for military-connected families.

Statement of Need and Requirements:

The Government anticipates a contract awarded at no cost to the Government for the required support services. The Contractor shall receive no direct appropriations or Government-funded payments for services rendered under this requirement. In lieu of direct Government payments, the Contractor is authorized to retain an administrative fee subtracted directly from the voluntary payroll contributions processed through the DoW and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 25F and Section 530(b)(3)(A).

The anticipated performance period of this procurement will begin 1 January 2027 and will include a one-year base period, with four (4) annual one-year Option periods, to be exercised at the discretion of the Government. The North American Industry Classification (NAICS) code is 813211. The Product Service Code (PSC) is R408.

This SSN is issued to determine the availability of potential sources capable of providing support that includes but is not limited to the below.

The contractor shall:

Design, deploy, host, and maintain a single, authoritative, secure, and user-friendly public-facing website and transaction portal to serve as the primary gateway and official system of record for all program participants.

Provide a secure, encrypted, and role-based login portal supporting distinct participant categories.

Maintain individualized digital wallets for approved students using an immutable double-entry ledger.

Maintain a restricted, closed-loop e-commerce marketplace for all non-tuition qualified educational expenses.

Provide designated Government personnel with secure, role-based access to a real-time administrative reporting dashboard.

Ensure that all SGO operations, database schemas, and digital wallet platforms remain in conformity with TD 10057 and any subsequent final regulations published under REG- 117199-25.

Design, develop, and execute a comprehensive Financial Literacy and Education Program.

Deliver and maintain educational modules, digital guides, and training resources covering a variety of Government-provided subject areas.

Submission:

Interested vendors possessing the requisite experience, skills, resources, and capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirement are invited to respond to this notice by providing their capability information via the submission of an executive summary, no more than three (3) pages in length. The submission shall include the following information: (1) company name, address, point of contact with corresponding phone number and email address; and business size;

(2) description of the company’s ability to meet the mandatory performance requirements and (3) relevant corporate experience information. Relevant corporate experience information is defined as experience that is of the same or similar scope and magnitude to that which is described herein. This relevant corporate experience information should identify a point of contact with corresponding telephone number and email address.

Mandatory Performance Requirements

1. Nationwide SGO Statutory and State Readiness Performance requirement. The offeror must be a single organization described in IRC §501(c)(3), exempt from taxation under IRC §501(a), and otherwise satisfy all requirements applicable to a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) under IRC §25F.

The offeror must demonstrate the existing legal, administrative, financial, and operational capability to qualify, operate, and administer the program in every advance election State.

2. Multistate Enterprise Scale and Capacity

Performance Requirement: The offeror must demonstrate verified institutional past performance administering multiple concurrent State education-funding programs at a multi-state scale to meet projected program requirements. The offeror must demonstrate that it has or can obtain by launch date the required personnel, systems, financial controls, payment infrastructure, customer-support operations, to accommodate the Government’s projected volumes for contributions, participating States, family applications, student accounts, eligibility determinations, awards, payments, reconciliations, inquiries, and audits without material degradation in performance.

3. Multistate Family Outreach Enrollment and Financial Education

Performance Requirement: The offeror must demonstrate successful multistate experience designing and executing integrated outreach, enrollment, onboarding, and financial-education campaigns for government education-benefit, scholarship, tax-credit, education-savings-account, or comparable public programs. The capability must address the complete IRC §25F program lifecycle: generating awareness and informed participation among potential contributors; receiving qualified contributions; creating awareness and interest among eligible military families; converting that interest into completed applications and approved awards; and ensuring the timely disbursement and use of scholarship funds.

The offeror must be capable of:

Explaining the IRC §25F tax credit and program requirements in plain language;

Providing accurate financial education to potential contributors and participating families;

Creating interest and participation among eligible contributors and military families;

Supporting families through application, documentation, eligibility determination, award acceptance, and use of funds;

Reducing incomplete and abandoned applications;

Measuring outreach, enrollment, application-conversion, award, and disbursement performance; and Adapting execution to State-specific requirements while maintaining a consistent nationwide participant experience.

4. Dedicated Government Program Implementation Business Line Performance requirement: The offeror must have a primary business line or a dedicated, staffed operating unit whose established function is to design, launch, onboard, and administer federal or State government education-benefit, scholarship, Education Savings Accounts (ESA), or comparable public-funds programs. This capability must include government implementation, program configuration, compliance operations, financial administration, reporting, and participant support. Experience limited principally to enrolling schools, referring families, fundraising, or operating a school network does not satisfy this requirement.

5. Integrated End to End Platform and Closed Loop Payments

Performance Requirement. The offeror must possess a fully operational digital platform that supports application intake, award calculation, qualified-expense review, direct ACH payments to approved schools and service providers, controlled reimbursements when authorized, and a closed-loop marketplace with item-level or service-level eligibility controls. The platform must apply applicable IRC §25F, State, and Department program rules before funds are released.

6. Accelerated Launch and Single Point Accountability

Performance Requirement. The offeror must accept responsibility for the complete Administrator outcome and demonstrate that its SGO, government-program implementation, technology, payment, compliance, outreach, enrollment, financial-education, reporting, and participant-support capabilities are ready at program launch.

All submissions are to be submitted via email no later than 1200 on 4 November 2026 to:

joseph.a.haviland2.civ@us.navy.mil AND tiffany.o.zwart.civ@us.navy.mil.