1-RFI 721-26067 Research Participant Payment Management Solutions.pdf

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Request for Information

RFI No. 721-26067

Request for Information:

Research Participant Payment Management Solutions

PROCUREMENT OFFICER:

Michelle P. Bernal

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION IS DUE IN THE UNIVERSITY EUNA (PREVIOUSLY BONFIRE)

PORTAL SHOWN BELOW NO LATER THAN:

Friday, March 6, 2026, at 2:30 PM local time https://utexas.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities https://utexas.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities

Background

The University of Texas at Austin is seeking information from qualified vendors that provide services for managing and distributing payments to research participants. This RFI is intended to assess vendor capabilities, experience, and service offerings to inform potential future procurement activities. The University is particularly interested in solutions that support privacy-preserving, compliant, and participant-friendly payment processes across a wide range of research contexts, including regulated clinical trials and minimal-risk behavioral studies. UT leads the nation in research funded by the NSF with $176.4 million in expenditures in FY24, based on the newly released Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. The University also ranked No. 5 in the nation in research financed by the Department of Defense and No. 6 for the Department of Energy.

Questions

Scope of Services Vendors should provide detailed responses to the following categories. Where applicable, vendors should indicate whether their platform is best suited for regulated/clinical research or minimal risk/non-clinical research.

Functional Capability Requirement (Universal)

1. Payment Processing

a. Supported participant payment methods (e.g., ACH/direct deposit, virtual or physical prepaid cards, digital wallets, gift cards, cash‑equivalent options)

b. Tiered, milestone‑based, or task‑based payment structures aligned with IRB‑approved protocols

c. Automated or approval‑based payment issuance workflows

d. Support for flexible compensation models (e.g., bonuses, partial or prorated payments)

e. Visibility into platform fees versus participant compensation

f. Tools to estimate or model study‑level payment costs

g. Payment methods and fee structures

2. Compliance

a. Support for tax reporting and compliance (e.g., 1099 tracking and issuance)

b. Ability to support diverse participant populations, including unbanked individuals, foreign nationals, minors, and other special populations

c. Alignment with institutional policies, IRB requirements, and applicable federal regulations

d. Clear guidance on taxable versus non‑taxable incentive types

e. Policies governing secondary use of participant data

3. Security and Data Protection

a. Data privacy and security controls consistent with industry standards (e.g., PCI‑DSS, SOC 2, GDPR, as applicable)

b. Role‑based access controls and segregation of duties

c. Fraud prevention and participant verification measures

d. Use of coded or non‑identifiable participant identifiers where feasible

e. Defined data retention, deletion, and anonymization practices

f. Payment options that do not require participant email addresses, where available

g. Use of coded identifiers instead of direct PII

h. Retention timelines and deletion/anonymization features for participant data

i. Policies on secondary use of participant data (e.g., analytics, marketing, third-party sharing)

j. Availability of payment methods that do not require participant email addresses (e.g., claim/download codes)

4. Experience and References

a. Demonstrated experience supporting academic, clinical, and federally regulated research

b. Case studies showing participant satisfaction, administrative efficiency, and payment timeliness

c. Case studies and references from peer institutions

d. Metrics such as redemption rates and time-to-payment

e. References from peer institutions, especially academic medical centers, tier 1 research

f. Use cases in academic or research environments

g. Experience supporting academic survey research

h. Performance metrics and scalability

Innovation Practices (Category Specific):

Category A: Participant Payment Management Platforms (e.g., Tango, Tremendous, Giftbit)

UT-managed research; vendor provides payment technology only Platforms that enable the University to manage, issue, and track payments to research participants.

Vendors do not recruit participants or administer research activities.

1. Tracking, Reporting and Integration

a. Real-time tracking of payment status (issued, delivered, redeemed, expired)

b. Dashboards with participant-level and study-level views

c. Automated alerts for failed or unredeemed payments

d. Exportable reports (CSV, Excel, PDF) for study accounting, sponsor reporting, IRB/internal audits

e. Audit trails linking Study ID, coded Participant ID (non-identifiable), payment amount, date, and method.

f. Duplicate/erroneous payment detection and resolution

g. Integration with institutional systems (e.g., Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS), Electronic

Health Record (EHR), and financial systems)

h. Support for digital signing tools (e.g., DocuSign)

i. Tracking location of study participants/tracking tax status of individual payees

2. User Experience and Support

a. Intuitive administrative interfaces for research teams

b. Mobile‑friendly and accessible participant experiences

c. Multi‑language support, where available

d. Participant and administrator support services (e.g., help desk, documentation)

e. Simple redemption process without requiring complex account creation

Category B: Crowdsourcing Platforms; End-to-End Research Execution Platforms with Built-in Payment (e.g., Amazon Mechanical Turk) – Vendor doing the work, vs. Cat A, where UT does it.

Vendor conducts the work and pays participants Platforms that provide full research execution services, including participant recruitment, task or survey administration, and direct participant payment on behalf of the University.

1. Task-Based Participation

a. Ability to post, manage, and administer research tasks or surveys (e.g., Human Intelligence Tasks

(HITs))

b. Support for single-task, multi-stage, longitudinal study designs/repeat participation workflows

c. Participant pool demographics, reach, and transparency

d. Screening and qualification tools to enforce eligibility criteria (e.g., pre-screeners, custom criteria, eligibility enforcement)

e. Ability to pause, modify, or withdraw studies post-launch with participant notification mechanisms

2. Payment and Administration

a. Direct management and distribution of participant payments by the vendor

b. Clear linkage between task completion, approval, and payment issuance

c. Visibility into payment status, timing, and resolution of payment issues

3. Integration and Reporting

a. Dashboards for task completion, approval workflows, and payment status

b. Reporting and analytics supporting study oversight and audit needs

c. Data export capabilities in formats compatible with institutional systems, e.g., UT systems

d. Audit trails linking tasks, participants, and payments

4. Human Subjects Protection and Informed Consent

a. Platform support for posting IRB-approved consent materials

b. Participant acknowledgment of consent prior to participation

c. Ability to tailor consent language to IRB-approved content

d. Disclosure of any required boilerplate language

e. Mechanisms for participants to view/affirm consent before participation

f. Storage and researcher access to consent documentation

g. Alignment with applicable human subjects’ protection standards (e.g., Common Rule)

Category C: Survey Distribution Vendors with Participant Payment Integration Capabilities Survey services only; payment handled through UT-approved platforms Vendors that provide survey recruitment or distribution services and support integration with University‑approved participant payment platforms but do not directly manage or distribute payments.

a. Ability to recruit and compensate participants for survey-based research

b. Support for contract or purchase order-based engagements

c. Demographic targeting and recruitment of general and specialized populations

d. Integration with institutional procurement and compliance processes

e. API integration with preferred survey distribution vendors (e.g., RedCap)

Volume Estimates:

Please consider the following estimated annual volume (based on Internal Audit data):

● Number of research studies supported annually: [Insert estimated number]

● Estimated number of participants per year: [Insert estimated number]

● Estimated total annual payment volume: [Insert dollar amount]

● Average payment per participant: [Insert average amount]

Submission Requirements:

We appreciate your time and effort in providing this information. As previously mentioned, your insights will be invaluable for finalizing our upcoming RFP for Research Participant Payment Management Solutions. Please submit your responses in a separate PDF document and upload it to the Supplier Attachments section of the sourcing event by Friday, March 6, 2026, before 2:30 pm Central Standard Time (CST) via UT Austin’s sourcing portal.

Please include the following in your response:

● Company overview and contact information

● Detailed description of services offered

● Responses to the scope of services listed above

● Describe pricing model and fee structure. The response should explain how fees are structured and applied (e.g., transaction‑based, subscription‑based, volume‑based, or hybrid), identify whether fees may differ by service type or payment method, and describe how pricing transparency is provided to institutional users. Detailed fee schedules or pricing commitments are not required for this Request for Information.

● Certifications and compliance documentation (e.g., PCI-DSS, SOC 2, GDPR)

● Client references (minimum of two), preferably from academic or research institutions

● Case studies demonstrating relevant experience and performance metrics

Note:

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information gathering and market research purposes in accordance with The University of Texas System and applicable State of Texas procurement requirements, including the Texas Government Code, and does not constitute a solicitation, obligate the University to issue any procurement instrument, award a contract, or pay any costs incurred by respondents.

Innovation Practices (Category Specific):