Request for Information - SGO Fraud and Abuse Prevention Services

Request for Information
Fraud and Abuse Prevention Services
OVERVIEW
The State of South Carolina is seeking information related to any software or other services
related to implementing reasonable safeguards to prevent fraud and abuse related to the
federal Education Freedom Tax Credit.
From the Department of the Treasury and the US Department of Education: Beginning
January 1, 2027, the new federal tax credit provides up to $1,700 per individual (up to
$3,400 for married couples filing jointly) for qualified cash contributions to a Scholarship
Granting Organization (SGO). SGOs are nonprofits that accept qualified contributions from
individuals and use the funds to provide scholarships to students for education-related
services, including tuition, fees, academic tutoring, extended day programs, and supplies.
The Department of the Treasury issued temporary regulations stating the following: Section
1.25F-5T(e) provides guidance on State administrative requirements. Section 1.25F-5T(e)(1)
provides that a State must require that SGOs meet all generally applicable State
requirements for charitable organizations, including any State requirements that any
organization must satisfy to be authorized to do business in the State and to solicit
charitable contributions in the State. Additionally, States are required to impose certain
application, documentation and financial reporting requirements that are reasonably
tailored to support the State's determination that the organization satisfies the operational
requirements in section 25F(d), and to facilitate the prevention and detection of fraud or
abuse, including the misuse of scholarship funds such as through the duplication of
scholarship awards to the same student for the same qualified elementary or secondary
education expense.
South Carolina seeks information from the industry, vendors, and other states that are also
participating in the credit on any software or other services that are available in facilitating
the prevention and detection of fraud or abuse as it relates to this federal credit.
GENERAL SCOPE
This solicitation aims to understand more about the services currently available for fraud
and abuse prevention and detection as it relates to the requirements of the new federal
Education Freedom Tax Credit as well as the cost of such services.

DISCLAIMER
This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a
solicitation for future business, an offer for procurement, or any other type of current or
future procurement or contractual action and is only intended to gather input. The SC
Department of Revenue (SCDOR) will not award a contract based on this RFI, nor will it pay
for the information it receives. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be
accepted by the SCDOR to form a binding contract. No party is bound by the information
provided in response to this RFI.
Respondents may provide market-based pricing structures and describe potential services
or solutions for planning purposes only.
Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.
The SCDOR is not liable for any costs or fees incurred by the respondent in preparing its
responses.
CONFIDENTIALITY
If any of the information in the vendor response is considered confidential, proprietary, or a
trade secret, it must be clearly indicated on the appropriate page of the vendor response.
Release of such materials is governed by the South Carolina Freedom of Information Law,
which in pertinent part requires the requester to provide specific justification as to why
disclosure of particular information in the response would cause substantial injury to the
competitive position of the vendor. It is incumbent upon the vendor to specify company-
specific trade secrets in need of protection where public disclosure of said trade secrets
would harm the company.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO PROCUREMENT INFORMATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t11c035.php
SECTION 11-35-410. Public access to procurement information.
(A) Procurement information must be a public record to the extent required by Chapter 4,
Title 30 (The Freedom of Information Act), except as otherwise provided by this code, and
with the exception that commercial or financial information obtained in response to a
request for proposals or any type of bid solicitation that is privileged and confidential need
not be disclosed.

(B) Privileged and confidential information is information in specific detail not customarily
released to the general public, the release of which might cause harm to the competitive
position of the party supplying the information. Examples of this type of information
include:
(1) customer lists;
(2) design recommendations and identification of prospective problem areas under
an RFP;
(3) design concepts, including methods and procedures;
(4) biographical data on key employees of the bidder.
(C) The board shall promulgate regulations directing the public availability and disposition
of documents submitted in response or with regard to a solicitation or other request where
no award is made.
(D) For all documents submitted in response or with regard to any solicitation or other
request, the person submitting the documents shall comply with instructions provided in
the solicitation for marking information exempt from public disclosure. Information not
marked as required by the applicable instructions may be disclosed to the public.
(E) A governmental body, with the approval of the appropriate chief procurement officer,
may keep portions of a solicitation confidential and release the information to prospective
offerors only upon execution of a nondisclosure agreement, provided the information is
otherwise exempted from disclosure by law.
(F) If requested in writing before a final award by an actual bidder, offeror, contractor, or
subcontractor with regard to a specific intended award or award of a contract, the
procurement officer shall, within five days of the receipt of any such request, make
documents directly connected to the procurement activity and not otherwise exempt from
disclosure available for inspection at an office of the responsible procurement officer.
Without otherwise limiting any other exemptions granted by law, and except as provided
herein, documents of and documents incidental to proposed contractual arrangements,
including those used for contract negotiations, are not exempt from disclosure after the
date notice of intent to award is posted, unless the notice is subsequently canceled.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The intended audiences for this RFI are service providers, vendors, and other state
governments with experience as described in the Overview and General Scope sections of
this RFI.
The RFI schedule of events is included below. The SCDOR reserves the right to change the
dates.
Event Date
RFI is Published Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Q&A Period October 27, 2026 - November 2, 2026
RFI Responses Due Monday, November 9, 11:00 AM EST
The sole point of contact for this RFI is Matthew Warren who can be reached as follows:
Matthew Warren - Procurement Manager
SC Department of Revenue
Matthew.Warren@dor.sc.gov
Respondents shall make no contact with other SCDOR personnel, except as permitted by
the point of contact, concerning this RFI.
QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSES
1. What products, software, online platforms, or other services are currently available
to meet the requirement of implementing reasonable safeguards to prevent fraud
and abuse as it relates to the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit?
2. What resources from the state may be needed for the product, software, online
platform, or other service?
3. What is the cost of these products or services?

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
Respondents should provide their responses in native Microsoft Office formatted
documents (e.g., Microsoft Word or PowerPoint) via email to the point of contact listed
above.
The response must be received by email on or before the date and time of the RFI
Response Due listed above. The time of receipt shall be the time recorded by the SCDOR
email system as received.
Please adhere to the following convention for subject lines in emailed RFI Responses:
[Company Name] - RFI Response - Fraud and Abuse Prevention Services
In order to facilitate the review of the responses content, please provide the information in
exact order as listed below. Responses should be provided within the document directly
below each question.
Questions for Responses:
1. What products, software, online platforms, or other services are currently available
to meet the requirement of implementing reasonable safeguards to prevent fraud
and abuse as it relates to the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit?
2. What resources from the state may be needed for the product, software, online
platform, or other service?
3. What is the cost of these products or services?