diff --git a/.eslintrc.js b/.eslintrc.js
index 35caa072..bcd53720 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/.eslintrc.js
@@ -42,5 +42,6 @@ module.exports = {
   rules: {
     "react/react-in-jsx-scope": "off", //React is provided by NextJS instead
     "react/prop-types": "off", //strict TypeScript provides the same benefits
+    "camelcase": ["error", {"allow": ["user_key"]}], // parameter named by external API gateway and used in index.tsx
   }
 }
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6ee250b2..6dd496d7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,19 +6,30 @@ relates to weekly certification
 ## Running the Application
 
 **Prerequisites:**
-  - Node 12+
-  - yarn
+
+- Node 12+
+- yarn
 
 **Run this app**
 
-Clone this repo, and then run:
+1. Clone this repo
+2. Run `yarn install`
+3. Define environment variables (see below)
+4. Run `yarn dev`
+5. Open [http://localhost:3000/claimstatus](http://localhost:3000/claimstatus) with your browser to see the result
 
-```bash
-yarn install
-yarn dev
-```
+### Environment Variables
+
+- ID_HEADER_NAME: The name of the header that contains the EDD-defined unique ID / "Unique Number" in the incoming request
+- API_URL: The url for the API
+- API_USER_KEY: The user key for the API
+- CERTIFICATE_DIR: The path to the client certificate (certificate must be in PFX/P12 format)
+- P12_FILE: The name of the client certificate file
+
+For local development:
 
-Open [http://localhost:3000/claimstatus](http://localhost:3000/claimstatus) with your browser to see the result.
+1. Create a `.env` file in the root of this repo
+2. Define each of the environment variables above
 
 ## Running the test suite
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c5bc251f..ac518fa9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@types/pino": "^6.3.8",
     "bootstrap": "^4.6.0",
+    "dotenv": "^9.0.2",
     "next": "10.0.8",
+    "node-fetch": "^2.6.1",
+    "pem": "^1.14.4",
     "pino": "^6.11.3",
     "react": "17.0.1",
     "react-bootstrap": "^1.5.2",
@@ -51,6 +54,7 @@
     "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^5.11.9",
     "@testing-library/react": "^11.2.5",
     "@types/node": "^14.14.33",
+    "@types/pem": "^1.9.5",
     "@types/react": "^17.0.3",
     "@types/react-test-renderer": "^17.0.1",
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^4.19.0",
diff --git a/pages/_app.tsx b/pages/_app.tsx
index d2597be5..aaa019da 100644
--- a/pages/_app.tsx
+++ b/pages/_app.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@ import { AppProps } from 'next/app'
 import { ReactElement } from 'react'
 import { appWithTranslation } from 'next-i18next'
 
+import { config } from 'dotenv'
+import { resolve } from 'path'
+
+// Loads .env for local development.
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+  config({ path: resolve(process.cwd(), '..', '.env') })
+}
+
 function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps): ReactElement {
   return <Component {...pageProps} />
 }
diff --git a/pages/index.tsx b/pages/index.tsx
index 7d1398af..66c97b05 100644
--- a/pages/index.tsx
+++ b/pages/index.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+import fs from 'fs'
+import path from 'path'
+import https from 'https'
+import { promisify } from 'util'
+
 import Head from 'next/head'
 import Container from 'react-bootstrap/Container'
 import pino from 'pino'
@@ -5,12 +10,22 @@ import { ReactElement } from 'react'
 import { useTranslation } from 'next-i18next'
 import { serverSideTranslations } from 'next-i18next/serverSideTranslations'
 import { GetServerSideProps } from 'next'
+import pem, { Pkcs12ReadResult } from 'pem'
+import fetch, { Response } from 'node-fetch'
 
 import { Header } from '../components/Header'
 import { Main } from '../components/Main'
 import { Footer } from '../components/Footer'
 
-export default function Home(): ReactElement {
+export interface Claim {
+  ClaimType: string | 'not working'
+}
+
+export interface HomeProps {
+  claimData?: Claim[]
+}
+
+export default function Home({ claimData }: HomeProps): ReactElement {
   const { t } = useTranslation('common')
 
   return (
@@ -19,21 +34,128 @@ export default function Home(): ReactElement {
         <title>{t('title')}</title>
         <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
       </Head>
-
       <Header />
       <Main />
       <Footer />
+      {console.dir({ claimData })} {/* @TODO: Remove. For development purposes only. */}
     </Container>
   )
 }
 
+export interface QueryParams {
+  user_key: string
+  uniqueNumber: string
+}
+
+function buildApiUrl(url: string, queryParams: QueryParams) {
+  const apiUrl = new URL(url)
+
+  for (const key in queryParams) {
+    apiUrl.searchParams.append(key, queryParams[key as 'user_key' | 'uniqueNumber'])
+  }
+
+  return apiUrl.toString()
+}
+
 export const getServerSideProps: GetServerSideProps = async ({ req, locale }) => {
   const isProd = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
   const logger = isProd ? pino({}) : pino({ prettyPrint: true })
   logger.info(req)
 
+  /*
+   * Load environment variables to be used for authentication & API calls.
+   * @TODO: Handle error case where env vars are null or undefined.
+   */
+  // Request fields
+  const ID_HEADER_NAME: string = process.env.ID_HEADER_NAME ?? ''
+
+  // API fields
+  const API_URL: string = process.env.API_URL ?? ''
+  const API_USER_KEY: string = process.env.API_USER_KEY ?? ''
+
+  // TLS Certificate fields
+  const CERT_DIR: string = process.env.CERTIFICATE_DIR ?? ''
+  const P12_FILE: string = process.env.P12_FILE ?? ''
+  const P12_PATH: string = path.join(CERT_DIR, P12_FILE)
+
+  let apiData: JSON | null = null
+
+  // Returns certificate object with cert, key, and ca fields.
+  // https://dexus.github.io/pem/jsdoc/module-pem.html#.readPkcs12
+  async function getCertificate() {
+    const pemReadPkcs12 = promisify(pem.readPkcs12)
+    const pfx = fs.readFileSync(P12_PATH)
+
+    // TS does not play very nicely with util.promisify
+    // See, e.g., https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/26048
+    // Non-MVP TODO: Consider removing this ignore & TypeScriptifying.
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
+    // @ts-ignore -- TypeScript does not handle promisify well.
+    const keybundle = await pemReadPkcs12(pfx)
+    return keybundle
+  }
+
+  // Takes certificate that getCertificate function returns as argument,
+  // makes API call, returns all API data.
+  async function makeRequest(certificate: Pkcs12ReadResult) {
+    const headers = {
+      Accept: 'application/json',
+    }
+
+    // https://nodejs.org/api/tls.html#tls_tls_createsecurecontext_options
+    const options = {
+      cert: certificate.cert,
+      key: certificate.key,
+      rejectUnauthorized: false,
+      keepAlive: false,
+    }
+
+    // Instantiate agent to use with TLS Certificate.
+    // Reference: https://sebtrif.xyz/blog/2019-10-03-client-side-ssl-in-node-js-with-fetch/
+    const sslConfiguredAgent: https.Agent = new https.Agent(options)
+
+    const apiUrlParams: QueryParams = {
+      user_key: API_USER_KEY,
+      uniqueNumber: req.headers[ID_HEADER_NAME] as string,
+    }
+
+    const apiUrl: RequestInfo = buildApiUrl(API_URL, apiUrlParams)
+
+    try {
+      const response: Response = await fetch(apiUrl, {
+        headers: headers,
+        agent: sslConfiguredAgent,
+      })
+
+      // TODO: Why does @ts-ignore not work on this line?
+      // TODO: Implement proper typing of responseBody if possible.
+      // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-assignment
+      const responseBody: JSON = await response.json()
+
+      apiData = responseBody
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.log(error)
+    }
+
+    // Explicitly destroy agent so connection does not persist.
+    // https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_agent_destroy
+    // There were reports (SNAT?) of connection pool problems,
+    // which could be caused by testing?  Either way, explicitly destroy the HTTP Agent.
+    sslConfiguredAgent.destroy()
+
+    return apiData
+  }
+
+  // The 3 steps where the above code is invoked and getServerSideProps returns props.
+  // Step 1: Get the certificate.
+  const certificate = await getCertificate()
+  // Step 2: Use certificate to make the API request and return the data.
+  const data = await makeRequest(certificate)
+
+  // Step 3: Return Props
   return {
     props: {
+      claimData: [data],
       ...(await serverSideTranslations(locale || 'en', ['common', 'header', 'footer'])),
     },
   }
diff --git a/tests/pages/__snapshots__/index.test.tsx.snap b/tests/pages/__snapshots__/index.test.tsx.snap
index 7e030a54..d9bbde3f 100644
--- a/tests/pages/__snapshots__/index.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/tests/pages/__snapshots__/index.test.tsx.snap
@@ -492,5 +492,6 @@ exports[`Exemplar react-test-renderer Snapshot test renders homepage unchanged 1
       </div>
     </div>
   </footer>
+   
 </div>
 `;
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index c786b53a..b9eebeb3 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3271,6 +3271,13 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/parse5/-/parse5-5.0.3.tgz#e7b5aebbac150f8b5fdd4a46e7f0bd8e65e19109"
   integrity sha512-kUNnecmtkunAoQ3CnjmMkzNU/gtxG8guhi+Fk2U/kOpIKjIMKnXGp4IJCgQJrXSgMsWYimYG4TGjz/UzbGEBTw==
 
+"@types/pem@^1.9.5":
+  version "1.9.5"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/pem/-/pem-1.9.5.tgz#cd5548b5e0acb4b41a9e21067e9fcd8c57089c99"
+  integrity sha512-C0txxEw8B7DCoD85Ko7SEvzUogNd5VDJ5/YBG8XUcacsOGqxr5Oo4g3OUAfdEDUbhXanwUoVh/ZkMFw77FGPQQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/node" "*"
+
 "@types/pino-pretty@*":
   version "4.7.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/pino-pretty/-/pino-pretty-4.7.0.tgz#e4a18541f8464d1cc48216f5593cc6a0e62dc2c3"
@@ -4979,6 +4986,11 @@ chardet@^0.7.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chardet/-/chardet-0.7.0.tgz#90094849f0937f2eedc2425d0d28a9e5f0cbad9e"
   integrity sha512-mT8iDcrh03qDGRRmoA2hmBJnxpllMR+0/0qlzjqZES6NdiWDcZkCNAk4rPFZ9Q85r27unkiNNg8ZOiwZXBHwcA==
 
+charenc@0.0.2:
+  version "0.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/charenc/-/charenc-0.0.2.tgz#c0a1d2f3a7092e03774bfa83f14c0fc5790a8667"
+  integrity sha1-wKHS86cJLgN3S/qD8UwPxXkKhmc=
+
 chokidar@3.5.1, "chokidar@>=2.0.0 <4.0.0", chokidar@^3.4.1, chokidar@^3.4.2:
   version "3.5.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chokidar/-/chokidar-3.5.1.tgz#ee9ce7bbebd2b79f49f304799d5468e31e14e68a"
@@ -5541,6 +5553,11 @@ cross-spawn@^6.0.0, cross-spawn@^6.0.5:
     shebang-command "^1.2.0"
     which "^1.2.9"
 
+crypt@0.0.2:
+  version "0.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/crypt/-/crypt-0.0.2.tgz#88d7ff7ec0dfb86f713dc87bbb42d044d3e6c41b"
+  integrity sha1-iNf/fsDfuG9xPch7u0LQRNPmxBs=
+
 crypto-browserify@3.12.0, crypto-browserify@^3.11.0:
   version "3.12.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/crypto-browserify/-/crypto-browserify-3.12.0.tgz#396cf9f3137f03e4b8e532c58f698254e00f80ec"
@@ -6068,6 +6085,11 @@ dotenv@^8.0.0, dotenv@^8.2.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/dotenv/-/dotenv-8.2.0.tgz#97e619259ada750eea3e4ea3e26bceea5424b16a"
   integrity sha512-8sJ78ElpbDJBHNeBzUbUVLsqKdccaa/BXF1uPTw3GrvQTBgrQrtObr2mUrE38vzYd8cEv+m/JBfDLioYcfXoaw==
 
+dotenv@^9.0.2:
+  version "9.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/dotenv/-/dotenv-9.0.2.tgz#dacc20160935a37dea6364aa1bef819fb9b6ab05"
+  integrity sha512-I9OvvrHp4pIARv4+x9iuewrWycX6CcZtoAu1XrzPxc5UygMJXJZYmBsynku8IkrJwgypE5DGNjDPmPRhDCptUg==
+
 downshift@^6.0.15:
   version "6.1.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/downshift/-/downshift-6.1.2.tgz#99d9a03d4da4bf369df766effc3b70f7e789950e"
@@ -6321,6 +6343,11 @@ es5-shim@^4.5.13:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/es5-shim/-/es5-shim-4.5.15.tgz#6a26869b261854a3b045273f5583c52d390217fe"
   integrity sha512-FYpuxEjMeDvU4rulKqFdukQyZSTpzhg4ScQHrAosrlVpR6GFyaw14f74yn2+4BugniIS0Frpg7TvwZocU4ZMTw==
 
+es6-promisify@^6.0.0:
+  version "6.1.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/es6-promisify/-/es6-promisify-6.1.1.tgz#46837651b7b06bf6fff893d03f29393668d01621"
+  integrity sha512-HBL8I3mIki5C1Cc9QjKUenHtnG0A5/xA8Q/AllRcfiwl2CZFXGK7ddBiCoRwAix4i2KxcQfjtIVcrVbB3vbmwg==
+
 es6-shim@^0.35.5:
   version "0.35.6"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/es6-shim/-/es6-shim-0.35.6.tgz#d10578301a83af2de58b9eadb7c2c9945f7388a0"
@@ -8244,7 +8271,7 @@ is-boolean-object@^1.1.0:
   dependencies:
     call-bind "^1.0.0"
 
-is-buffer@^1.1.5:
+is-buffer@^1.1.5, is-buffer@~1.1.6:
   version "1.1.6"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/is-buffer/-/is-buffer-1.1.6.tgz#efaa2ea9daa0d7ab2ea13a97b2b8ad51fefbe8be"
   integrity sha512-NcdALwpXkTm5Zvvbk7owOUSvVvBKDgKP5/ewfXEznmQFfs4ZRmanOeKBTjRVjka3QFoN6XJ+9F3USqfHqTaU5w==
@@ -9780,6 +9807,15 @@ md5.js@^1.3.4:
     inherits "^2.0.1"
     safe-buffer "^5.1.2"
 
+md5@^2.2.1:
+  version "2.3.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/md5/-/md5-2.3.0.tgz#c3da9a6aae3a30b46b7b0c349b87b110dc3bda4f"
+  integrity sha512-T1GITYmFaKuO91vxyoQMFETst+O71VUPEU3ze5GNzDm0OWdP8v1ziTaAEPUr/3kLsY3Sftgz242A1SetQiDL7g==
+  dependencies:
+    charenc "0.0.2"
+    crypt "0.0.2"
+    is-buffer "~1.1.6"
+
 mdast-squeeze-paragraphs@^4.0.0:
   version "4.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mdast-squeeze-paragraphs/-/mdast-squeeze-paragraphs-4.0.0.tgz#7c4c114679c3bee27ef10b58e2e015be79f1ef97"
@@ -10608,7 +10644,7 @@ os-browserify@^0.3.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/os-browserify/-/os-browserify-0.3.0.tgz#854373c7f5c2315914fc9bfc6bd8238fdda1ec27"
   integrity sha1-hUNzx/XCMVkU/Jv8a9gjj92h7Cc=
 
-os-tmpdir@~1.0.2:
+os-tmpdir@^1.0.1, os-tmpdir@~1.0.2:
   version "1.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/os-tmpdir/-/os-tmpdir-1.0.2.tgz#bbe67406c79aa85c5cfec766fe5734555dfa1274"
   integrity sha1-u+Z0BseaqFxc/sdm/lc0VV36EnQ=
@@ -10921,6 +10957,16 @@ pbkdf2@^3.0.3:
     safe-buffer "^5.0.1"
     sha.js "^2.4.8"
 
+pem@^1.14.4:
+  version "1.14.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pem/-/pem-1.14.4.tgz#a68c70c6e751ccc5b3b5bcd7af78b0aec1177ff9"
+  integrity sha512-v8lH3NpirgiEmbOqhx0vwQTxwi0ExsiWBGYh0jYNq7K6mQuO4gI6UEFlr6fLAdv9TPXRt6GqiwE37puQdIDS8g==
+  dependencies:
+    es6-promisify "^6.0.0"
+    md5 "^2.2.1"
+    os-tmpdir "^1.0.1"
+    which "^2.0.2"
+
 pend@~1.2.0:
   version "1.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pend/-/pend-1.2.0.tgz#7a57eb550a6783f9115331fcf4663d5c8e007a50"