Federal employees — and their affected relatives — should know by mid-August the terms of the credit monitoring and liability protections the Office of Personnel Management will be offering to those who had their information stolen in the second OPM data breach.
OPM is working with the General Services Administration and others to create a credit monitoring blanket purchase agreement, with an RFQ expected to land on eBuy this week, according to officials at GSA.
More: 22 million Americans affected in second OPM data breach
GSA originally issued a RFQ in April, however that solicitation was canceled on July 27.
A GSA spokesperson said a new RFQ will be on eBuy sooner than later, with quotes from vendors due Aug. 12. Awards to the BPA are expected to be announced on Aug. 21, along with the first set of task orders.
The agency originally began developing the BPA in 2014, however since that time the "needs of the government and the scope of the procurement have changed significantly," the spokesperson said.
Related: OPM, OMB ask agencies to share cost of breach protections
"Cancelling the original BPA procurement and initiating a new one allows GSA to provide agencies with faster and less costly access to holistic data breach response and protection services from pre-vetted companies," they said.
The 21.5 million Americans affected by the theft of background investigation forms — almost 20 million of whom are current or former federal employees — will be getting at least three years of credit monitoring, according to former OPM Director Katherine Archuleta, though legislators and union groups have called for more.
More: Senators call for lifetime protections after OPM breach
Feds affected in the first OPM breach — some 4.2 million — received 18 months of credit monitoring and up to $1 million in liability protection, supplied through vendor CSID.
More: Feds worried insurance doesn't cover OPM breach
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
