There have been some questions in response to Social Security's "Request For Information" (RFI) on this subject and Social Security has posted answers to those questions. One of the answers suggests that Social Security has already wasted money on this wild goose chase. An aptly named company got that busisess. Here is the exchange:
In 2004, Panacea Consulting was awarded a contract for the Social Security Administration's requirement for document scanning services to support the Agency's initiative to improve the disability claims process. This contract required document analysis, document separation, classification, and metadata extraction after scanning documents for FO's, DDS's and hearing offices. How does this RFI relate to the documents being scanned for this contract? The Panacea contract is no longer in place. The current scanning Blanked Purchase Agreement (BPA) is with Lockheed Martin (LM). The objective of this BPA is for the contractor to digitally image paper medical and non-medical evidence and provide related activities, including data transmission and electronic and paper document control. There is no correlation between this RFI and the documents being scanned under the BPA.