IRS Awards $7 Million Fraud Prevention Contract To Equifax (politico.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: The IRS will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, even as lawmakers lash the embattled company about a massive security breach that exposed personal information of as many as 145.5 million Americans. A contract award for Equifax's data services was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities database Sept. 30 -- the final day of the fiscal year. The credit agency will "verify taxpayer identity" and "assist in ongoing identity verification and validations" at the IRS, according to the award. The notice describes the contract as a "sole source order," meaning Equifax is the only company deemed capable of providing the service. It says the order was issued to prevent a lapse in identity checks while officials resolve a dispute over a separate contract. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blasted the IRS decision.

Comments

Re:Swamp

[The-Ixian]

Someone should really drain that thing and build a castle...

Sole Source

[BKuhl]

Why is it a "sole source orderâoe? We have verified at least a few other parties have access to all the same data now....

Re-open the bidding

[mwvdlee]

[quote]The notice describes the contract as a "sole source order," meaning Equifax is the only company deemed capable of providing the service[/quote]
While that may have been true at the time of posting the order, pretty much every company has access to the same data as Equifax now.

This IRS calling to check your identity we need yo

[Joe_Dragon]

This IRS calling to check your identity we need your
Name
Address
SS number or tax ID number