Alight - Federal Reserve SmartBenefits: Provider Rate Limit Hit

Likely causes

• Burst traffic exceeded provider request quotas.
• Shared API key budgets were depleted.
• Polling cadence was too aggressive for current plan limits.

Resolution steps

1. 1

   Back off requests and retry with exponential delays.

2. 2

   Reduce polling frequency for low-priority sources.

3. 3

   Upgrade provider quotas or isolate keys for heavy users.

Prevention controls

• Enforce per-provider concurrency and queue discipline.
• Monitor request budget burn rate in near real time.
• Use adaptive sync intervals based on connection health.