The General Services Administration is seeking to determine the availability and options of entity validation services for those wishing to do business with or receive assistance from the government.
Entity validation services include gathering data of prime contractors, organizations or individuals, confirming its legitimacy and generating unique, assignable identifiers for the entities awarded contracts, grants, loans and other federal assistance.
In a request for information released Feb. 10, GSA encourages creative strategies and responses from providers of governmentwide entity validation services to determine what is already readily available and what might be feasibly implemented in the future. This is just an RFI for information and planning purposes, however; it is not a solicitation and no price proposals are required.
“This RFI represents a step forward in assessing entity validation services purchased by the General Service Administration’s Integrated Award Environment on behalf of the entire government awards community,” Integrated Award Environment Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicky Niblett said in a news release. “We want to ensure integrity over the awards of taxpayer dollars as we proceed to the next steps. GSA remains committed to transparency within this process, and seeks to obtain maximum public input.”
Current services are provided under a contract that expires in 2018, and the government is exploring all viable alternatives from private companies, nonprofits, not-for-profits and federal government providers to continue meeting its ongoing need for entity identification and validation services after that contract’s expiration.
The RFI is open for review and comment until March 13.
GSA requests comments on entity validation services
