Note: The following article was published in the August 2003 BCC Bulletin and may not represent the most up-to-date information on this topic.
(Click here to download the entire issue in .pdf format.)

NCOALink Interface in Development at BCC
Seeking Full Provider status from USPS; approvals anticipated by Fall ’03

The June 2003 BCC Bulletin included preliminary and unofficial news on the upcoming United States Postal Service NCOALink Mailing List Correction (MLC) product. New details continue to be revealed; the following is the most recent information.

Slated for rollout later in 2003, NCOALink ultimately will replace current NCOA and FASTforward MLC systems — although each will still be in place for a while (USPS says NCOA will end on July 1, 2004; FASTforward, exactly one year later). It’s all designed to make MLC services more widely available to mailers, and thus decrease the costly industry-wide problem of Undeliverable As Addressed mailpieces.

Under NCOALink, any mailer may establish their own in-house MLC processing capabilities — provided they meet the established application criteria, and are willing to pay for an individual license.

A three-tiered license structure will be in effect. Full Service Provider licensees ($175,000 annual fee) will offer services functionally comparable to those of current NCOA license holders, including 48 months of change of address (COA) data.

(BCC is pursuing Full Service Provider licensing and plans to continue offering its MOVE Update Services in much the same way as at present.)

For $15,000 annually, a Limited Service Provider license — essentially equivalent to today’s FASTforward certification — will provide 18 months of COA data.

End-User Mailer license holders, in exchange for a $7,500 annual fee, will only be allowed to process their own lists, not those of third parties. Eighteen months’ worth of address-correction data is included.

All three NCOALink licenses require a USPS-certified software interface. BCC’s interface, currently in development, is anticipated to be available for purchase beginning October 1 — the earliest possible NCOALink release date, according to United States Postal Service information.

Pricing and additional details are still to be determined, pending USPS approval of BCC’s licensing application and proprietary interface.

BCC will keep users apprised of new NCOALink information as soon as it becomes available.

Effective October 1, 2005, the United States Postal Service discontinued its FASTforward Mailing List Correction service. Instead, BCC offers NCOALink Limited Service Provider (LSP), a next-generation USPS address-updating technology that offers improved matching results, greater reach back into the USPS COA database, and faster turnarounds. Vist our NCOALink page for more information.