Hello,
I have many years of experience with Python coding and using Linux.
Regarding RPi, I have used it for many projects including home automation, video surveillance, media center, small website hosting; I have also used peripherals such as GrovePI, SenseHAT, UnicornHAT. Some of my Pi projects can be found here on my Freelancer.com profile.
For this project I would use an asynchronous HTTP client (for example Tornado's client) for server communication, the logging module for data logging. For configuration I've used either Python modules (like [login to view URL] or ini config files) but a JSON file is also doable.
Do you already have the readers? Can you provide SSH access to a Pi connected to the readers for testing? We could also use a reverse SSH connection if needed as I've done that a few times for projects in the past.
Best wishes,
iticus