DANTES Online College and Career Planning Tool

The Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA), on behalf of the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES), is conducting market research to identify vendors capable of providing an Online College and Career Planning Tool for military personnel. This subscription-based, commercially available web platform must deliver comprehensive career and education counseling services including interest and skills assessments, personalized career planning, MOS-to-civilian occupation search functionality, and lifetime portfolio access for unlimited active duty, reserve, and National Guard members across all service branches. The tool must be available 24/7 with a minimum 98 percent monthly system availability and must include military-specific features such as ASVAB score integration, VA GI Bill benefits information, links to military transition centers, and separate access for counselors and administrators. While formal evaluation criteria have not been detailed, the government is evaluating vendor capability through submitted capability statements that address relevant expertise, previous project experience, and specific technical capabilities including indefinite user access and counselor tracking functionality. Interested vendors must submit unclassified capability statements of no more than 10 pages by February 18, 2026, to Constance Reedus and Mike Carnley, with all respondents required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database.

This procurement carries no small business set-aside designation. Kuder, Inc. is the incumbent contractor under the previous acquisition and the government has indicated its intent to sole-source the follow-on award to an interested and capable vendor. The NAICS code is 611710 (Educational Support Services) with a size standard of $24.0 million, though no specific award value or contract duration has been disclosed in this market research phase. The contractor must comply with stringent security and compliance requirements, including Section 508 accessibility standards, Tier 1 background investigations and DoD Common Access Cards for personnel, mandatory annual training in OPSEC and cybersecurity, and cyber incident reporting within one hour of discovery. Core deliverables include the operational tool at subscription start, quarterly usage reports beginning three months after start, marketing materials, and up to one webinar per month, with technical support available via telephone or email with 24-hour response during business hours (Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Central Time).