Contract Lifecycle Management

Pierce County is seeking to implement an enterprise Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution to standardize and modernize contract management across all departments. The solution will centralize contract activities, automate workflows, improve visibility into all agreement types, and strengthen compliance with County requirements and best practices. The goal is to improve how contracts are created, reviewed, approved, executed, amended, tracked, and closed out. The ideal solution will reduce administrative burden, increase process efficiency, enhance transparency, and provide reliable reporting to support data-driven decision-making. The selected solution should provide a single working environment for all contract-related activities while integrating with the County’s existing enterprise systems.

Background

Pierce County currently manages contracts through decentralized systems, manual processes, and department-specific practices. While standard templates exist, there is no unified system or consistent process for managing contracts across the organization. The County manages a significant and growing contract portfolio, including more than 5,000 active contracts, approximately 900 new contracts, and 350 formal solicitations annually. These activities generate over 13,000 workflow steps in systems such as Workday and OpenGov. Despite this scale, contract-related activities and communications are often handled through email, shared drives, and disconnected tools, resulting in fragmented and inefficient workflows. Contracts and supporting documents are stored inconsistently across systems, limiting visibility and making it difficult to track contract status, amendments, approvals, and version history. Departments rely heavily on manual processes, increasing administrative burden and introducing risks related to compliance, missed deadlines, and incomplete documentation. These challenges create inefficiencies and risks, including:

1. Limited visibility into contract status, amendments, and approvals

2. Inconsistent processes across departments

3. Difficulty tracking deadlines, renewals, and compliance requirements

4. Limited reporting capabilities and data insights

5. Increased operational, compliance, and financial risk

As contract volume and complexity continue to grow, the County requires a centralized, enterprise-grade CLM system to standardize processes, improve collaboration, and provide a single source of truth for contract management. Implementing a countywide CLM solution will automate routine tasks, reduce reliance on email and shared drives, and centralize contract data. A centralized repository with built-in audit trails and version control will strengthen oversight, improve transparency, and support policy compliance. Standardized workflows and real-time reporting will enhance accountability, enable data-driven decision-making, and improve monitoring of contract performance, vendor compliance, and risk. This initiative aligns with Pierce County’s commitment to accountability and good governance by increasing transparency, improving operational efficiency, and reinforcing public trust. Existing enterprise systems (e.g., Workday, OpenGov) will remain systems of record where applicable, with the CLM solution integrating to support the full contract lifecycle.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 2026-RFP-168
• Department: Information Technology
• Department Head: Information Technology (Assistant Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-08-17T23:30:00.000Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-07-20T18:00:00.000Z — Join Zoom Meeting https://piercecountywa.zoom.us/j/94666912303?pwd=JZF4NbVhSlBsW6ZtNHOE688cOPCFUY.1 Meeting ID: 946 6691 2303 Passcode: 367568

Evaluation Criteria

• Suitability of the Proposal (25 pts) —

  How the firm addresses and meets the stated objectives set forth in the RFP.

  1. Provide a single source of truth for all contracts (draft, active, amended, and completed).
  2. Standardize contract processes while allowing configurable workflows by department and contract type.
  3. Improve contract visibility, reporting, and compliance.
  4. Offer a modern, intuitive user experience accessible via desktop and mobile devices.
  5. Integrate with existing enterprise systems (e.g., Workday, OpenGov). 
• Compliance with Stated Requirements (45 pts) —

  The firm’s demonstrated ability to meet the County’s stated requirements, as evidenced by the completeness, clarity, and accuracy of the firm’s responses to the requirement list, the explanation of any exceptions, and the overall suitability of the proposed solution.

• Additional Features (15 pts) —

  The value, relevance, and benefit of additional features or capabilities offered beyond the minimum requirements.

• Estimated Timeline and Implementation Apporach (15 pts) —

  The quality, feasibility, and completeness of the firm's implementation approach and the reasonableness of the estimated project timeline.

• Interviews (20 pts) —

  Top candidates will be asked to provide a targeted demonstration of their solution based on provided requirements. Additional information will be shared with candidates invited to provide demonstrations.

Submission Requirements

• Administrative Questions
• Proposer Confirmation (required) —

  As an authorized representative of the Proposer, having carefully examined the Request for Proposals, propose to furnish services in accordance therewith as set forth in the attached proposal.

  I further agree that this proposal will remain in effect for not less than sixty (60) calendar days from the date that proposals are due, and that this proposal may not be withdrawn or modified during that time.

  I hereby certify that this proposal is genuine and not a false or collusive proposal, or made in the interests or on behalf of any person not therein named; and I have not directly or indirectly induced or solicited any Contractor or supplier on the above work to put in a false proposal or any person or corporation to refrain from submitting a proposal; and that I have not in any manner sought by collusion to secure to myself an advantage over any other contractor(s) or person(s).

  In order to induce the County to consider this proposal, the Proposer irrevocably waives any existing rights which it may have, by contract or otherwise, to require another person or corporation to refrain from submitting a proposal to or performing work or providing supplies to Pierce County, and Proposer further promises that it will not in the future directly or indirectly induce or solicit any person or corporation to refrain from submitting a response or proposal to or from performing work or providing supplies to Pierce County.

• Ownership and Copyright of Submitted Materials (required) —

  By submitting a proposal, I agree that all documents, reports, proposals, submittals, working papers, or other materials prepared by the Proposer pursuant to this proposal shall become the sole and exclusive property of the County, and the public domain, and not property of the Proposer. The Proposer shall not copyright, or cause to be copyrighted, any portion of items submitted to the County in response to this procurement.

• Supplemental Attachment Confirmation (required) —

  I confirm I have reviewed the content of the following attachments included under this RFP: Sample Agreement and any other documents as identified as "sample" in the Attachments section and acknowledge I understand and agree to these requirements should my organization receive a contract as a result of this proposal.

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  By submitting a proposal, I understand and agree that if awarded funding from this RFP, the organization must be able to meet all insurance requirements based on services being purchased, prior to contract execution, and types of insurances may include, but are not limited to:

  • Commercial General Liability Insurance: Required on all contracts. Standard levels are $1M occurrence/$2M aggregate (may be higher/lower, depending on value of contract and type of service).
  • Workers Compensation Insurance: As required by Washington State.
  • Professional Liability or Errors and Omissions Insurance: If the Contractor provides services such as analysis, consulting, counseling, daycare, legal, medical, nursing, pastoral, medical, or other services that require professional licensing.
  • Cyber/Privacy and Security Insurance: If the Contractor is doing work that could give the Contractor access to personal or sensitive information from within the County's network or on the Contractor's personal computer, or lead to breaches of security, leading to a loss of privacy or identity theft.
  • Other insurance(s) applicable to services being purchased: Such as Excess or Umbrella Liability Insurance if the contract is in excess of $500,000.

  In addition:

  • Pierce County shall be named as an "Additional Insured" which must be provided in the insurance endorsement; and
  • Insurance requirements also apply to any subcontractors hired by the main Contractor to deliver services, where applicable.

  Please see the SAMPLE GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS AND INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS under attachments to see full insurance requirements. If you have questions regarding insurance requirements, please submit them through the “Question & Answer” section of the RFP. 

• Debarment Certification (required) —

  As an authorized representative of the Proposer, I certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the organization and its principals:

  1. Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by any Federal department or agency;
  2. Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, State, or local) transaction or contract under a public transaction; violation of Federal or State antitrust statutes or commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property;
  3. Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a government entity (Federal, State, or local) with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (1)(b) of this certification; and
  4. Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal had one or more public transactions (Federal, State, or local) terminated for cause or default.
  5. Does not employ any person nor contracts with any person or agency excluded from participation in federal health care programs under either 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7 (§§1128 or 1128A Social Security Act) or debarred or suspended.

  By checking the confirmation, I understand that a false statement on this certification may be grounds for rejection of this proposal or termination of any award. In addition, under 18 USC Sec. 1001, a false statement may result in a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both. 

• Organization Information
• Authorized Individual (required) —

  Please provide the name and title of the individual authorized to execute a contract on behalf of the organization.

• Organization Information (required) —

  Please provide the legal name, any d/b/a names, years in business, local address, billing address if different, email address, and phone number of the organization making the proposal.

• Organization Tax ID Number (required) —

  Please provide the Employee Identification Number (EIN).

• Washington State Unified Business Identification (UBI) Number (required) —

  Please provide the organization's UBI number. 

  WARNING: Failure to provide a UBI number will be cause for the application to be disqualified from competition. 

• Ownership Type (required) —

  Must choose at least two (2) answers: Profit status (1 or 2) and organizational structure (3, 4, 5, or 6).  

• Organization Contacts (required) —

  Please provide the name, phone, and email for:

  • Executive Director/CEO/President
  • Financial Manager/CFO
  • Contract Manager
• Threshold Review Questions
• Security & Access Requirements (required) —

  Please verify whether all the following Security and Access requirements can be met: 

  1. Must: Support role-based access controls
  2. Must: Support single sign-on (SSO) and enterprise identity management
  3. Must: Ensure data encryption at rest and in transit
  4. Must: Maintain comprehensive audit logs
  5. Must: SOC 2 Type 2 or ISO 27001 certification
• Security & Access Requirements Clarification (required) —

  If any of the above Security and Access requirements cannot be met, please explain why.

• General Technical Requirements (required) —

  Please verify whether all the following General Technical requirements can be met: 

  1. Must: Integrate with the County’s Active Directory system using Microsoft Entra ID as the Identity Provider (IdP) and utilize Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML 2.0) or OpenID for single sign-on as the preferred authentication protocol.
  2. Must: County data will be encrypted in transmission and at rest at a level equivalent to, or stronger than, 128-bit level encryption.
  3. Must: Technical support must be available between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific Time with 24hr service available for emergencies.
  4. Must: If the contract is terminated for any reason, upon request, the Vendor will provide the County a database copy of the current and complete database, in a mutually agreed upon format, no later than 30 days after termination.  There will be no additional charge to the County. No data can be retained by the Vendor in any media (including hard copies) after termination of this contract.
• General Technical Requirements Clarification (required) —

  If any of the above General Technical requirements cannot be met, please explain why.

• SaaS Requirements (required) —

  Please verify whether all of the following SaaS requirements can be met: 

  1. Must: The Vendor’s hosting services availability will be 99.9% or greater per month and have defined maintenance windows.  Service availability is calculated as: 100% minus [%Vendor downtime for maintenance outside of defined maintenance windows + %System Outage + %Performance Event].
     1. Service Credits. In the event the service is not available for 99.9% for a given month, a credit will be applied to the next invoice equal to the value of the downtime (calculated based on annual maintenance fee)
  2. Must: The Vendor will not modify County data, disclose County data (except as compelled by law or if permitted by the County), or access County data, except to prevent or address service or technical issues, or at the County’s request. The Vendor shall promptly notify the County of any subpoena, court order, or request by a third party for County data. 
  3. Must: Vendor must have an incident response plan and process in place to ensure Pierce County is notified of a data security breach, or potential data security breach within 24 hours of identification.
  4. Must: The vendor must have a valid Soc2Type2 security assessment and must provide a copy of this report as requested by the County.
  5. Must: Vendor must describe how they will ensure the proposed solution meets and maintains compliance with the latest published version of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) (currently 2.2) A and AA success criteria, in line with regulation requirements and best practices.
• SaaS Requirements Clarification (required) —

  If any of the above SaaS requirements cannot be met, please explain why. 

• Unique Entity Identification (UEI) Number (required) —

  An organization must have, at the time of submission, an active UEI number when the funding for the procurement is identified as federal. Please list your UEI as issued by Sam.gov. 

  Funding may or may not create a subrecipient relationship between the organization and the County.   

  WARNING: Failure to provide a valid and active UEI number may result in the disqualification of the application from further consideration. 

• Proposal Contents
• Proposal Upload (required) —

  Please upload your proposal materials here. Proposals shall include the following: 

  • Capability Statement
  • How the proposed CLM solution meets the County’s stated objectives:
  • • Provides a single source of truth for all contracts (draft, active, amended, and completed).
    • Standardizes contract processes while allowing configurable workflows by department and contract type.
    • Improves contract visibility, reporting, and compliance.
    • Offers a modern, intuitive user experience accessible via desktop and mobile devices.
    • Integrates with existing enterprise systems (e.g., Workday, OpenGov).
  • An estimated project duration and implementation approach.
  • Complete pricing for all services in the proposal.
  • Additional features, services, or procedures of benefit to the County (if applicable).
  • A statement outlining any proposal exceptions to the County’s requirements or requested clarifications to the requirements (if applicable).
  • References listing client contracts of similar services.
• Requirements Checklist (required) —

  Please download the Requirements Checklist below, complete, and upload here.

• Does this RFP contain federal funding? (required)
• Multiple Applications (required) —

  Will the RFP accept multiple proposals from a single vendor?

• Will proposer interviews be conducted? (required)