Human Resources Assessment

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 68-SOHRA1026
Contract Name: UNC Integrated HR Payroll System Position and
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA Salary Information Planning Assessment
Bid Opening Date: October 23, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
Issue Date: October 7, 2026
Refer ALL inquiries regarding this RFP to:
Commodity Code: 80101507 - Information Technology Consultation
Bob Myers
68-SOHRA1026 Services
rbmyers@northcarolina.edu
Purchasing Agency: The University of North Carolina System Office
Requisition No.:
OFFER
The Purchasing Agency solicits offers for Services and/or goods described in this solicitation. All offers and
responses received shall be treated as Offers to contract as defined in 9 NCAC 06A.0102(12).
EXECUTION
In compliance with this Request for Proposal (RFP), and subject to all the conditions herein, the undersigned
offers and agrees to furnish any or all Services or goods upon which prices are offered, at the price(s) offered
herein, within the time specified herein.
Failure to execute/sign offer prior to submittal shall render offer invalid. Late offers are not acceptable.
OFFEROR:
STREET ADDRESS: P.O. BOX: ZIP:
CITY, STATE & ZIP: PHONE:
NAME & TITLE OF PERSON SIGNING: E-MAIL:
AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE: DATE:
Offer valid for one hundred twenty (120) days from date of offer opening unless otherwise stated here: ____
days
ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER
If any or all parts of this offer are accepted, an authorized representative of The University of North Carolina shall
affix its signature hereto and any subsequent Request for Best and Final Offer, if issued. Acceptance shall create a
contract having an order of precedence as follows: Best and Final Offers, if any, Special terms and conditions specific
to this RFP, Specifications of the RFP, the Department of Information Technology Terms and Conditions, and the
agreed portion of the awarded Vendor's Offer. A copy of this acceptance will be forwarded to the awarded Vendor(s).
FOR PURCHASING AGENCY USE ONLY
Offer accepted and contract awarded this date ____________________, as indicated on attached
certification, by ____________________ (Authorized representative of the University of North Carolina).

Table of Contents
1.0 ANTICIPATED Procurement Schedule ....................................................................................... 4
2.0 Purpose of RFP ........................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4
2.2 Agency Background ................................................................................................................. 4
2.3 Summary of Problem Statement .............................................................................................. 5
2.4 Contract Term .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.5 Effective Date .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.6 Contract Type .......................................................................................................................... 6
3.0 RFP Requirements and Specifications ........................................................................................ 7
3.1 General requirements and Specifications ................................................................................ 7
3.2 Security Specifications ............................................................................................................. 8
3.3 Enterprise Specifications ....................................................................................................... 10
3.4 Business and Technical Requirements .................................................................................. 12
3.5 Business and Technical Specifications .................................................................................. 15
4.0 Cost of Vendor's Offer ............................................................................................................... 23
4.1 Offer Costs ............................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 Payment Schedule ................................................................................................................. 23
5.0 Evaluation ................................................................................................................................. 23
5.1 Source Selection .................................................................................................................... 23
5.2 Evaluation Criteria.................................................................................................................. 24
5.3 Best and Final Offers (BAFO) ................................................................................................ 24
5.4 Possession And Review ........................................................................................................ 25
6.0 Vendor Information and Instructions ......................................................................................... 25
6.1 General Conditions of Offer ................................................................................................... 25
6.2 General Instructions for Vendor ............................................................................................. 26
6.3 Instructions for Offer Submission ........................................................................................... 29
7.0 Other Requirements and Special Terms ................................................................................... 32
7.1 Vendor Utilization Of Workers Outside of U.S. ...................................................................... 32
7.2 Financial Statements ............................................................................................................. 32
7.3 Financial Resources Assessment, Quality Assurance, Performance and Reliability ............. 32
7.4 Vendor's License or Support Agreements ............................................................................. 32
7.5 Resellers ................................................................................................................................ 33
7.6 Disclosure Of Litigation .......................................................................................................... 33
7.7 Criminal Conviction ................................................................................................................ 34
7.8 Security and Background Checks .......................................................................................... 34
7.9 Assurances ............................................................................................................................ 34
7.10 Confidentiality of offers .......................................................................................................... 35
7.11 Project Management ............................................................................................................. 35
7.12 Meetings ................................................................................................................................ 35
7.13 Recycling and Source Reduction .......................................................................................... 35
7.14 Special Terms and Conditions ............................................................................................... 36
Attachment A: Definitions .................................................................................................................... 37

Attachment B: Department of Information Technology Terms and Conditions.................................... 39
Attachment C: Description of Offeror .................................................................................................. 56
Attachment D: Cost Form ................................................................................................................... 57
Attachment E: Vendor Certification Form ............................................................................................ 60
Attachment F: Location of Workers Utilized by Vendor ....................................................................... 61
Attachment G: References .................................................................................................................. 63
Attachment H: Financial Review Form ................................................................................................ 64

1.0 ANTICIPATED PROCUREMENT SCHEDULE
The Agency Procurement Agent will make every effort to adhere to the following schedule:
Action Responsibility Date
RFP Issued Agency 10/7/2026
Written Questions Deadline Potential Vendors 10/14/2026 at
noon EDT
Agency's Response to Written Questions/ Agency 10/16/2026
RFP Addendum Issued
Offer Opening Deadline Vendor(s) 10/23/2026 at
10:00 a.m. EDT
Contract Award Agency TBD
Protest Deadline Responding Vendors 15 days after
award
2.0 PURPOSE OF RFP
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this RFP is to obtain independent consulting services to assess and develop an actionable,
implementation-ready plan for incorporating position and salary information for all employees of the Covered
Entities into the North Carolina Integrated HR-Payroll System ("Integrated HR Payroll System", formerly known
as Building Enterprise Access for North Carolina's Core Operation Needs [BEACON]) or associated statewide
reporting. The assessment will establish the required data, source-to-target mappings, exceptions, reporting
needs, technical options, implementation timeline, one-time and recurring costs, and State and institutional
resource effort. It will compare full transition into the Integrated HR Payroll System, enhancement of existing the
Integrated HR Payroll System or statewide reporting using available information, and enhancement of the UNC
System DataMart to provide missing information to OSC and OSHR; price real-time or near-real-time, monthly,
quarterly, and appropriate hybrid exchange or refresh models; and produce deliverables supporting the Board
of Governors' report required by Session Law 2026-41, Section 8.7, no later than April 15, 2027. This
engagement is for assessment and planning and does not include production implementation unless separately
authorized by written contract amendment.
2.2 AGENCY BACKGROUND
The University of North Carolina is a multi-institution public university system governed by the Board of
Governors. For this RFP, "Covered Entities" means all constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina,
The University of North Carolina System Office, the State Education Assistance Authority, and every other entity
under the purview of the Board of Governors that is confirmed by the State during project initiation (all referred
to here after as "Covered Entities"). Covered Entities operate decentralized human resources, payroll, position
management, budget, finance, and reporting processes and may use different source systems, configurations,
calendars, identifiers, data definitions, and control practices.
The Office of the State Controller (OSC) administers the system; the North Carolina Office of State Human
Resources (OSHR) is a key statewide human-resources policy and reporting stakeholder; and the State Chief
Information Officer and the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) provide relevant
statewide technology governance, security, infrastructure, and service capabilities. The UNC Board of Governors
must develop the statutory plan in collaboration with OSC and the State Chief Information Officer. The awarded
Vendor will work through the UNC System Office with designated representatives from OSC, OSHR, NCDIT,
and each Covered Entity.

2.3 SUMMARY OF PROBLEM STATEMENT
Session Law 2026-41, Section 8.7, directs the Board of Governors, in collaboration with OSC and the State Chief
Information Officer, to develop a plan that incorporates all position and salary information for employees of the
Covered Entities into the Integrated HR Payroll System and to report that plan to the Joint Legislative Education
Oversight Committee and the Fiscal Research Division. The statutory language establishes the required
outcome but does not prescribe a target operating model, exchange frequency, implementation sequence, or
reporting architecture. Thus this request for proposal requires a comparable evaluation of three defined options:
(1) full transition into the Integrated HR Payroll System; (2) enhancement of existing the Integrated HR Payroll
System or statewide reporting so all Covered Entities appear seamlessly using information already available;
and (3) enhancement of the UNC System DataMart to collect missing data and provide it to OSC and the North
Carolina Office of State Human Resources (OSHR) for incorporation into reporting currently produced.
Additionally, the analysis should include other approaches and analysis of those approaches that meet the
Session Law 2026-41, Section 8.7 requirements.
The State requires an evidence-based plan that accounts for the material differences among Covered Entities
and the capabilities and constraints of the Integrated HR Payroll System. The assessment may not assume that
a common source schema, position structure, employee classification, pay schedule, identifier, effective-date
convention, data quality level, integration method, or reporting process currently exists. The Vendor will validate
these matters with OSC, OSHR, NCDIT, the UNC System Office, and each Covered Entity.
Existing UNC System and institutional data marts and reports already provide portions of the requested
information. The State therefore needs a reporting requirements and gap analysis that identifies what is currently
available, what is missing or insufficient, why each gap exists, and whether the most cost-effective response is
a Integrated HR Payroll System change, a source-system change, an enhancement to an existing data mart or
reporting process, or a coordinated combination. The plan must avoid unnecessary duplicate collection while
meeting the statute's intent.
The engagement will resolve, at a minimum, the following objectives:
* Document a matrix of the required agency participants needed for interview, estimated levels
of effort in time they would be required to help collect the information necessary to produce
the required report on solutions.
* Define and confirm the Covered Entity population, employee and position populations,
candidate data domains, authoritative sources, business owners, and reporting consumers.
* Document to the level needed to sufficiently estimate, which may include documenting the
current state for each Covered Entity and the Integrated HR Payroll System, including
systems, processes, data flows, interfaces, security boundaries, data quality, staffing, and
existing reporting relative to the scope of this engagement.
* Include in all estimates the development of entity-specific source-to-target mappings and
common definitions for position, employee assignment, salary and additional compensation,
organizational structure, and effective-dated or point-in-time information.
* Identify exceptions and gaps involving employee types, vacant or pooled positions, multiple
assignments, pay calendars, pay differentials, retroactive changes, institutional identifiers,
and other nonstandard conditions.
* Compare defined options: full transition into the Integrated HR Payroll System; enhancement
of existing the Integrated HR Payroll System or statewide reporting using information already
available; and enhancement of the UNC System DataMart to provide missing data to OSC
and OSHR for incorporation into reporting currently produced. Evaluate a hybrid only after
completing the three required comparisons.
* Compare real-time or near-real-time, monthly, quarterly, and hybrid exchange frequencies
using consistent business, technical, security, cost, staffing, and operational criteria.
* Identify and compare the benefits and risks of each required option and any hybrid, and
provide a consolidated overall risk-and-benefit analysis that identifies cross-cutting outcomes,
systemic risks, tradeoffs, and mitigations.

* Define reporting outcomes and determine the effort and cost to close gaps in the Integrated
HR Payroll System, existing data marts, source systems, or related reporting tools.
* Estimate one-time implementation effort and cost, recurring total cost of ownership, and
ongoing personnel requirements for each Covered Entity, the UNC System Office, OSC,
NCDIT, and third parties.
* Recommend a sequenced implementation roadmap, governance and support model, decision
gates, risks, dependencies, and realistic completion schedule.
* Deliver a comprehensive technical report and a submission-ready statutory plan for Board of
Governors review and legislative reporting.
2.4 CONTRACT TERM
A contract awarded pursuant to this RFP shall have an effective date as provided in the Notice of Award.
The term shall be from November 1, 2026, through March 15, 2027.
2.5 EFFECTIVE DATE
This solicitation, including any Exhibits, or any resulting contract or amendment shall not become effective
nor bind the State until the appropriate State purchasing authority/official or Agency official has signed the
document(s), contract or amendment; the effective award date has been completed on the document(s), by
the State purchasing official, and that date has arrived or passed. The State shall not be responsible for
reimbursing the Vendor for goods provided nor Services rendered prior to the appropriate signatures and the
arrival of the effective date of the Agreement. No contract shall be binding on the State until an encumbrance
of funds has been made for payment of the sums due under the Agreement.
2.6 CONTRACT TYPE
Definite Quantity Contract - This request is for a close-ended contract between the awarded Vendor and the
State to furnish a pre-determined quantity of a good or service during a specified period of time.
The State reserves the right to make partial, progressive or multiple awards where it is advantageous to
award separately by items; where more than one supplier is needed to provide the contemplated
specifications as to quantity, quality, delivery, service, geographical areas; or where other factors are
deemed to be necessary or proper to the purchase in question.
3.0 RFP REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1.1 REQUIREMENTS
Requirement means, as used herein, a function, feature, or performance that the System must
provide. If the offer can not meet the requirements, they will not be evaluated.
3.1.2 SPECIFICATIONS
Specification means, as used herein, a detailed description that documents the function and
performance of a system or system component.
The apparent silence of the specifications as to any detail, or the apparent omission of detailed
description concerning any point, shall be regarded as meaning that only the best commercial practice
is to prevail and that only processes, configurations, materials and workmanship of the first quality
may be used. Upon any notice of noncompliance provided by the State, Vendor shall supply proof of
compliance with the specifications. Vendor must provide written notice of its intent to deliver alternate
or substitute Services, products, goods or other Deliverables. Alternate or substitute Services,
products, goods or Deliverables may be accepted or rejected in the sole discretion of the State; and

any such alternates or substitutes must be accompanied by Vendor's certification and evidence
satisfactory to the State that the function, characteristics, performance and endurance will be equal
or superior to the original Deliverables specified.
3.1.3 SITE AND SYSTEM PREPARATION
Vendors shall provide the Purchasing State Agency complete site requirement specifications for the
Deliverables, if any. These specifications shall ensure that the Deliverables to be installed or
implemented shall operate properly and efficiently within the site and system environment. Any
alterations or modification in site preparation, which are directly attributable to incomplete or
erroneous specifications provided by the Vendor and which would involve additional expenses to the
State, shall be made at the expense of the Vendor.
3.1.4 EQUIVALENT ITEMS
Whenever a material, article or piece of equipment is identified in the specification(s) by reference to
a manufacturer's or Vendor's name, trade name, catalog number or similar identifier, it is intended to
establish a standard for determining substantial conformity during evaluation, unless otherwise
specifically stated as a brand specific requirement (no substitute items will be allowed). Any material,
article or piece of equipment of other manufacturers or Vendors shall perform to the standard of the
item named. Equivalent offers must be accompanied by sufficient descriptive literature and/or
specifications to provide for detailed comparison.
3.1.5 ENTERPRISE LICENSING
Reserved.
3.2 SECURITY SPECIFICATIONS
3.2.1 SOLUTIONS HOSTED ON STATE INFRASTRUCTURE
Reserved.
3.2.2 SOLUTIONS NOT HOSTED ON STATE INFRASTRUCTURE
Vendor shall comply with applicable State security and data handling requirements. If the Vendor
proposes to store, process, or transmit State data using a third-party cloud service, the Vendor shall
identify the service and demonstrate compliance with applicable State security requirements.
3.3 ENTERPRISE SPECIFICATIONS
3.3.1 ARCHITECTURE DIAGRAMS
Reserved.
There may be additional architectural diagrams requested of the vendor after contract award. This
will be communicated to the vendor by the agency as needed during the project.
3.3.2 SOLUTION ROADMAP
Reserved.
3.3.3 IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT
Reserved.
3.3.4 INTEGRATION APPROACH
Reserved.
3.3.5 DISASTER RECOVERY AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY
Reserved.

3.3.6 DATA MIGRATION
Reserved.
3.3.7 APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
Reserved.
3.3.8 ACCESSIBILITY
* Reserved.
ENTERPRISE, SERVICES, AND STANDARDS
Vendors should refer to the Vendor Resources Page for information on North Carolina Department
of Information Technology regarding architecture, security, strategy, data, digital, identity and access
management and other general information on doing business with state IT process.
The Vendor Resources Page found at the following link: https://it.nc.gov/vendor-engagement-
resources. This site provides vendors with statewide information and links referenced throughout the
RFP document. Agencies may request additional information.
3.4 BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
The requirements in this Section are mandatory. In its Technical Offer, the Vendor shall respond to each
requirement with "Comply" or "Exception," identify the proposal page where supporting detail appears, and fully
explain every exception. A material exception may cause an Offer to be found nonresponsive.
3.4.1 MANDATORY SCOPE AND COVERAGE
* The Vendor shall assess every Covered Entity confirmed by the State at project initiation.
Entity-level findings shall be individually validated; sampling or extrapolation may be used only
with prior written State approval and a documented basis.
* The assessment shall cover position, employee assignment, salary and related compensation
information needed to satisfy the statute, including filled and vacant positions and relevant
historical or effective-dated information. Final data scope and definitions shall be confirmed
with the State and OSC.
* The Vendor shall fully evaluate the three defined options: (1) full transition of the Covered
Entities into the Integrated HR Payroll System; (2) enhancement of existing the Integrated HR
Payroll System or statewide reporting so all Covered Entities and affiliates are presented
seamlessly using information already available; and (3) additional UNC System DataMart
functionality to capture missing data and provide it to OSC and OSHR for incorporation into
reporting currently produced. A hybrid may be recommended only after the three required
options have been evaluated on a comparable basis.
* The Vendor shall create an overall analysis of pros and cons.
* For the full-transition option, the Vendor shall define which HR, payroll, position-management,
salary, data-entry, and reporting functions would move to the Integrated HR Payroll System
and which, if any, would remain in institutional systems. The Vendor shall not assume a
payroll-processing scope or system-of-record boundary without validating it with the State and
OSC.
* Production design, software acquisition, configuration, development, data conversion, and
deployment are outside the base scope. The Vendor shall identify and estimate those
activities as future implementation work without performing them unless separately
authorized.
3.4.2 MANDATORY VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS AND TEAM
* The Vendor shall demonstrate successful completion within the previous five (5) years of at
least two (2) comparable multi-entity HR, payroll, position-management, or workforce-data
assessments for a public-sector, higher-education, or similarly decentralized organization.

* The proposed team shall collectively demonstrate expertise in enterprise HR/payroll business
processes, position management, compensation, effective-dated data, data architecture and
integration, reporting and analytics, security and privacy, implementation planning, cost
estimation, and organizational change.
* The Vendor shall identify a single accountable project manager and named leads for
HR/payroll functionality, data mapping and quality, integration and architecture, reporting, and
cost/resource modeling. One person may perform more than one role when qualifications and
capacity are demonstrated.
* The Vendor shall describe relevant experience with SAP-based HR/payroll platforms, the
Integrated HR Payroll System or another statewide integrated HR/payroll environment, and
higher-education employee and pay structures. Comparable experience may be accepted
when the Vendor explains its relevance.
* Key personnel substitutions require prior written State approval and personnel of equal or
greater qualifications.
* The State may consider the qualifications of specifically proposed personnel during
evaluation. Personnel identified in the proposal shall be presumed available for the
engagement. Substitution of key personnel after award shall require prior written approval by
the State.
3.4.3 MANDATORY STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
* The Vendor shall use a standardized discovery instrument and conduct at least one cross-
functional discovery session and one findings-validation session for each Covered Entity,
supplemented by working sessions as needed.
* The Vendor shall engage designated representatives of the UNC System Office, OSC, OSHR,
and NCDIT and, for Covered Entities, representatives of human resources, payroll, position
management or budget, finance, information technology or integration, institutional research
or reporting, information security, and data governance as applicable.
* The Vendor shall maintain an entity coverage matrix showing invitations, participation,
documents received, open items, validation status, and limitations. Nonparticipation or
unavailable information shall be reported promptly and shall not be silently treated as no issue.
* The State will facilitate introductions, scheduling, and access to available documentation and
knowledgeable personnel. The Vendor shall state the level and timing of State and Covered
Entity participation required to meet the schedule.
* The Vendor shall use stakeholder interviews, structured questionnaires, document review,
and validation sessions to identify competing initiatives, planned technology or system
changes, resource limitations, decision dependencies, freeze periods, contractual constraints,
and other conditions that could delay or prevent implementation of any option.
* For each option and implementation phase, the Vendor shall identify the required participation
by organization, role, skill, hours, timing, and decision point; assess whether the needed
capacity is reasonably available; identify work that can proceed independently and work that
depends on another organization or initiative; and state the schedule, cost, feasibility, and risk
consequences of unavailable or delayed participation.
3.4.4 MANDATORY SCHEDULE
* The planned period of performance is November 1, 2026, through March 15, 2027. The
Vendor shall be prepared to start work on November 1, 2026; if State scheduling requires, the
operational kickoff may occur on the first business day thereafter without changing the final
deadline.
* The Vendor shall propose an integrated calendar-based schedule that meets the interim dates
in Section 3.5 and includes State review and Vendor revision cycles, Board of Governors and
executive review, and sufficient time for statutory-plan preparation.
* The draft final package shall be delivered no later than March 1, 2027. The final accepted
package shall be delivered no later than March 15, 2027.

* Within two (2) business days after identifying a material schedule risk, the Vendor shall
provide an impact assessment and recovery plan. The plan shall identify additional Vendor or
State resources, decisions, parallel work, and revised milestones needed to preserve the
statutory deadline.
3.4.5 MANDATORY DATA PROTECTION AND WORKING PRACTICES
* The Vendor shall use the minimum data necessary for assessment activities and shall use
masked, de-identified, or representative records whenever practicable. Access to employee-
level or other protected data requires prior written State authorization.
* The Vendor shall comply with applicable State security, privacy, records-retention, and data-
handling requirements and all access restrictions established by the UNC System Office,
OSC, NCDIT, and Covered Entities.
* The Vendor shall not place State data or confidential work products in an unapproved cloud,
artificial-intelligence, collaboration, or file-sharing service; use the data for any unrelated
purpose; or retain it beyond the authorized period.
* The Vendor shall not upload, submit, transmit, or otherwise provide State data, confidential
information, work products, documentation, system configurations, source data, employee-
level information, or other non-public information to publicly available generative artificial
intelligence (AI) services, large language model (LLM) platforms, AI-powered productivity
tools, or similar technologies unless expressly authorized in writing by the State. Any approved
use of AI services must comply with applicable State security, privacy, records retention, and
data handling requirements.
* The comprehensive report shall not include direct employee identifiers. Sensitive security,
architecture, or entity-specific control details shall be placed in appropriately marked restricted
appendices when necessary.
* At project completion or upon State request, the Vendor shall return or securely destroy State
data and certify disposition in writing, subject to applicable record-retention requirements.
3.4.6 MANDATORY DELIVERABLE QUALITY AND FORMATS
* All conclusions, estimates, and recommendations shall be traceable to documented evidence,
stakeholder validation, or an explicitly labeled assumption. Conflicting evidence and
unresolved decisions shall be visible in the final package.
* Narrative deliverables shall be provided in editable Microsoft Word format and PDF; data
dictionaries, mappings, inventories, schedules, estimates, and models in editable Microsoft
Excel format; presentations in editable Microsoft PowerPoint format and PDF; and
architecture or process diagrams in an editable format acceptable to the State plus PDF.
* Models and workbooks shall include formulas, assumptions, source references, data
definitions, version information, and instructions sufficient for the State to update them after
the engagement. Locked cells, hidden logic, or proprietary tools that prevent State
maintenance are not acceptable unless approved in advance.
* Each deliverable shall include a version, date, author, status, and change history. Draft and
final documents shall be clearly distinguished.
3.4.7 MANDATORY TECHNICAL OFFER AND COST OFFER CONTENT
* The Technical Offer shall include the proposed methodology, work breakdown structure,
stakeholder engagement plan, schedule, deliverable outline, quality-assurance approach,
risk-management approach, assumptions, dependencies, requested State inputs, and level
of effort by named role and workstream. No cost information shall appear in the Technical
Offer when a separate Cost Offer is required by the solicitation.
* The Cost Offer shall separately state the price of the consulting assessment and the future
implementation cost estimates the Vendor will produce as a deliverable. Future
implementation estimates are not part of the Vendor's fee for this assessment.