Military Enlistment Data Access to Lift Student Success (MEDALS)

Questions & Answers / Clarifications

This document provides responses to vendor questions regarding the MEDALS Request for Information (RFI).

• Department of Education Resources: The Government is open to considering Department of Education capabilities for data acquisition but has no specific capabilities in mind at this time. They welcome all suggestions and recommendations in response to the RFI.
• CCSSO Pilot and RFI Relevance: A press release regarding a pilot by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to standardize student military service data is closely related to this RFI. The RFI seeks information on a potential long-term capability that would continue the work initiated by this pilot. DMDC/DoW collaborated with CCSSO on the RFI's language.

This Q&A document clarifies the Government's openness to certain capabilities and the relationship between the RFI and a related pilot program. It does not appear to alter any requirements or deadlines mentioned in the original RFI.

Request for Information (RFI)

This RFI seeks technical and operational input from vendors capable of acting as a secure data intermediary and service provider. The Department of War (DoW), via the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), aims to improve student outcomes related to post-secondary military enlistment and careers by facilitating secure data exchange between multiple States, U.S. territories, federal agencies, and the DoW. Key objectives include utilizing student-level high school graduate data, managing and standardizing state data submissions, performing secure data matches, receiving encrypted matched data, disaggregating matched data by state, and returning de-identified results to submitting State Education Agencies (SEAs) for authorized analysis.

• NAICS: 518210 - Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
• PSC: DH10 - IT and Telecom - Platform As A Service: Database, Mainframe, Middleware.

Vendors should consider a conceptual operational flow involving:

• Secure, unidirectional data matching between states/territories/federal agencies and the DoW.
• Secure receipt, validation, formatting, de-identification, and aggregation of state graduate data.
• Production of a consolidated file for matching against DMDC enlistment data.
• Secure receipt of match results and disaggregation by state.
• Secure return of SEA-specific student-level match files.
• Data retention and destruction in accordance with DoW and state agreement terms.
• Analysis and recommendation of best practices for matching files and algorithms.

Respondents must describe their ability to comply with federal and DoD security requirements, including:

• FISMA, DoD Instructions (8500.01, 8510.01), DoD Cloud Computing SRG, NIST SPs (800-53, 800-61, 800-88), FIPS 140-2/140-3, FedRAMP (if cloud-based).
• Compliance with Privacy Act of 1974, CMPPA, FERPA.
• Approaches to information security architecture, data storage/management, de-identification, matching, encryption (at rest and in transit), U.S. residency, role-based access controls, auditing, incident response, and data destruction.

Potential approaches include PII-based matching, SSN-based matching, privacy-preserving/de-identified matching (e.g., tokenization, secure multi-party computation), and hybrid approaches.

• Participating stakeholders retain ownership of submitted data.

• DoW retains ownership of DoW-derived data.

• No secondary use or disclosure is permitted.

• Compliance with FERPA and state law is required.

• A hub-and-spoke agreement model is anticipated, where the third party holds the primary contract with DoW/DMDC and manages individual standardized Data Use Agreements (DUAs)/licenses with SEAs.

• Respondents should propose financial support models for contract administration, SEA costs, and DoW costs.

• Experience in managing standardized licensing/DUA approaches across multiple organizations and handling FERPA/privacy is required.

This RFI is for information, planning, and market research purposes only and does not constitute a commitment to solicit or award a contract. Responses will be public record. Do not submit confidential or proprietary information.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is a Data Use Agreement (DUA) between the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and a State Education Agency (SEA). It outlines the terms and conditions for sharing specific student data to support a pilot program (MEDALS) aimed at tracking high school graduates who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. The agreement facilitates a "proof of concept" for a multi-state approach to match and transfer this data.

• Parties: DMDC and the <> Education Agency (SEA).
• Authorities: Cites relevant DoD instructions, DEERS, FERPA, and state-specific regulations.
• Purpose: To enable SEAs to confirm the number of high school graduates enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces by matching K-12 graduate data with DMDC datasets.
• Data Sharing: SEA provides graduating student data (Name, DoB, unique match ID); DMDC matches this against enlistment data and returns a "yes/no" enlistment indicator.
• Student Data Privacy: Emphasizes compliance with FERPA and the Privacy Act, outlining data protection, handling, and destruction requirements.
• Responsibilities: Details obligations for both DMDC (security compliance, data protection) and SEA (data security, breach notification, adherence to DoD rules).
• Data Elements: Specifies required fields for matching (First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Date of Birth) and optional fields (Sex, SSN, State, SEA/LEA Identifier).
• DoD Data Payload: Includes an "Is_Enlisted" logical field (Y/N).
• File Formats: CSV Flat File and/or SQL Table.
• Pilot Use Case: Defines the MEDALS Pilot Use Case MVP, outlining the project scope, data elements, and workflow for matching K-12 student outcome data with DoD personnel records.

This DUA establishes the framework for data sharing between state education agencies and the DoD for the MEDALS pilot. Bidders involved in or supporting state education data systems, post-secondary pathway analysis, or military recruitment initiatives may find this document relevant for understanding data exchange protocols, privacy requirements, and the scope of the pilot program. It details the specific data elements exchanged and the security measures required for such data sharing.