4-RFP 26-0821 - Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) Solution.docx.pdf

UTAH TECH

UNIVERSITY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) Solution

SOLICITATION #26-0821

BID RELEASE DATE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2026

12:00 PM MST MDT

INTENT TO BID DATE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2026

2:00 PM MST MDT

QUESTION DEADLINE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

5:00 PM MST MDT

PROPOSAL DUE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2026

2:00 PM MST MDT

Utah Tech University Purchasing Department

Buyer: Jake King 225 S University Avenue

St George, Utah 84770 - 3875

Procurement Platform: Utah Public Procurement Place (U3P) / Bonfire Portal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1 – UNIVERSITY OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF SERVICES 3

1. SOLICITATION DESCRIPTION 3

2. UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY BACKGROUND 3

3. SCOPE OF WORK 3

PART 2 – VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS & PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS 4

4. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS 4

5. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL QUESTIONS 5

6. SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL 6

PART 3 - PROCUREMENT, CONTRACT & EVALUATION 7

7. BUDGET 7

8. IMPORTANT DATES 7

9. EXPECTED TIMELINE 7

10. CONTRACT LENGTH 7

PART 4 – AWARDING & ACKNOWLEDGMENT 7

11. AWARDING THE SOLICITATION 7

12. PROJECT START, INVOICING & PAYMENT 8

13. SCORING CRITERIA 9

RFP# 26-0821 UTAH TECH Integration Platform as a Service Solution

PART 1 – UNIVERSITY OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF SERVICES

1. SOLICITATION DESCRIPTION

Utah Tech University (UT) seeks proposals for a secure, cloud-based Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solution. The University intends to establish a modern enterprise integration framework that supports cloud, on-premises, and hybrid systems; reduces reliance on custom point-to-point integrations; and improves integration development, monitoring, governance, security, and operational support.

The selected solution should combine low-code development capabilities with advanced integration functionality for APIs, databases, files, events, messaging, and custom logic.

2. UNIVERSITY BACKGROUND

Utah Tech University is an open, comprehensive polytechnic university in St. George, Utah, emphasizing active, applied learning to develop skilled, resilient, and lifelong learners. The university is committed to academic excellence, student success, innovation, and entrepreneurship, fostering responsible citizens, creative problem-solvers, and leaders. Utah Tech values opportunity and belonging, collaboration, public service, and engagement with local and global communities, with a focus on addressing regional needs through innovation and responsive initiatives.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

The proposed software and services must include, at minimum:

3.1. Platform & Access

3.1.1. SaaS delivery model

3.1.2. Secure connectivity between cloud services and University-hosted systems

3.1.3. Single Sign-On with Microsoft Entra ID

3.1.4. Role-based access control and separation of duties

3.1.5. Separate nonproduction and production environments, with support for development, testing, and staging functions

3.1.6. Controlled promotion, versioning, and rollback of individual integrations

3.1.7. High availability, disaster recovery, and published service-level commitments

3.1.8. Unlimited connections and flows or clearly defined scalable limits without restrictive per-connection or per-flow licensing

3.1.9. Offerors must identify any limits or additional charges related to connections, flows, integrations, endpoints, or executions

3.2. Integration Development

3.2.1. Visual or low-code integration designer

3.2.2. Support for reusable components, templates, and shared connections

3.2.3. Data mapping, transformation, validation, branching, looping, and lookup processing

3.2.4. Support for scheduled, event-driven, webhook-triggered, and manually initiated processing

3.2.5. Custom scripting or code when low-code functionality is insufficient

3.2.6. Parameterization and environment-specific configuration

3.2.7. Automated testing, debugging, source control, deployment history, and rollback

3.2.8. Prevention of overlapping job executions and support for restart or checkpoint processing

3.3. APIs, Events & Messaging

3.3.1. REST and SOAP services

3.3.2. JSON and XML processing

3.3.3. OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, API keys, bearer tokens, mutual TLS, and legacy authentication where required

3.3.4. Webhooks, publish/subscribe, queues, and event-driven processing

3.3.5. API creation, publication, documentation, security, versioning, throttling, and monitoring

3.3.6. Pagination, rate-limit handling, token renewal, retries, and asynchronous processing

3.3.7. Ellucian Ethos APIs, Proxy APIs, publish/subscribe events, and Banner Business Process APIs

3.4. Database & File Integration

3.4.1. Secure database connectivity (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL)

3.4.2. Parameterized SQL, stored procedures, transactions, bulk operations, staging tables, and reconciliation processing

3.4.3. SFTP and managed file transfer

3.4.4. CSV, delimited, fixed-width, JSON, XML, Excel, and compressed file processing

3.4.5. PGP or equivalent file encryption and decryption

3.4.6. Duplicate detection, retention, cleanup, and delivery confirmation

3.5. Monitoring, Administration & Governance

3.5.1. Central dashboards showing execution status, performance, and failures

3.5.2. Searchable logs, detailed error messages, audit histories, and record counts

3.5.3. Record-level error handling, correction, retry, and reprocessing

3.5.4. Configurable alerts through email, webhooks, or external monitoring tools

3.5.5. Health monitoring for agents, gateways, connections, and APIs

3.5.6. Integration inventory, ownership, documentation, dependency tracking, and retirement status

3.5.7. Role-based permissions, deployment approvals, and administrative audit logs

3.5.8. Usage, consumption, storage, and licensing reports

3.6. Implementation, Support & Training

3.6.1. Architecture and implementation planning

3.6.2. Configuration of environments, agents, gateways, connections, identity, and security

3.6.3. Implementation of an agreed-upon set of initial integrations

3.6.4. Migration planning for selected existing scripts, database feeds, APIs, or file transfers

3.6.5. Change-management and adoption support

3.6.6. Hands-on training for platform administrators, developers, and operational support staff

3.6.7. Editable technical documentation, runbooks, integration mappings, and knowledge transfer

3.6.8. Ongoing technical support throughout the contract term

PART 2 - VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS & PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

4. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

4.1. Supplemental Terms and Conditions – Offeror must agree to Utah Tech University’s Supplemental Terms and Conditions. A redlined version may be submitted for review by University Legal Counsel; however, approval of any revisions is not guaranteed, and unapproved changes will result in disqualification. This document can be found as an additional file in Bonfire - U3P solicitation website.

4.2. Purchasing Terms and Conditions – Offeror must agree to Utah Tech University’s Purchasing Terms and Conditions. This document can be found as an additional file in Bonfire - U3P solicitation website.

4.3. Experience - Offeror must demonstrate substantial experience delivering enterprise integration, automation, API management, or iPaaS solutions and successful implementation experience within higher education.

4.4. References - Offeror must provide at least three (3) higher education references from clients for whom similar services were provided within the last three years. Note: References must be current. If references cannot be reached after two attempts, the proposal will be disqualified. [This will be a document you will need to include with your proposal. See section 6.7.]

4.5. Data Security & Compliance - Offeror must demonstrate compliance with FERPA and other applicable data privacy/security standards. Documentation of compliance and data protection practices must be included in the proposal.

4.6. Vendor Risk Assessment – The selected Offeror must be approved by Utah Tech University’s Vendor Risk Assessment process and provide all requested security documentation including a HECVAT and SOC2 Type II report. Utah Tech University is willing to sign an NDA to gain access to such materials.

4.7. GovRAMP - Please identify your current GovRAMP status and whether you anticipate obtaining GovRAMP certification during the term of the contract.

4.8. System Integration - The solution must support integration with Utah Tech University’s enterprise environment, including Ellucian Banner, Ellucian Ethos, Oracle databases, Microsoft Entra ID, ApplicationEnhancer, EAB products, and other cloud and on-premises systems through APIs, events, databases, and secure file transfer.

4.9. Support & Training - Offeror must provide initial implementation support, role-based technical training, knowledge transfer, and ongoing technical support throughout the contract term.

5. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL QUESTIONS

Offerors should provide concise narrative responses to the following questions. Detailed functional and technical requirements are included in the Matrix Questionnaire.

5.1. Vendor Experience & Qualifications

5.1.1. Describe your experience providing enterprise iPaaS and integration solutions, particularly within higher education. Include relevant experience with Ellucian Banner, Ellucian Ethos, Oracle, and institutions with comparable integration environments.

5.2. Solution Overview & Technical Approach

5.2.1. Describe the proposed solution’s overall architecture, development experience, hybrid connectivity, integration capabilities, monitoring, administration, and governance. Explain how Utah Tech staff would build, deploy, maintain, troubleshoot, and support integrations using the platform.

5.2.2. Identify any limitations, thresholds, or licensing restrictions related to connections, integrations, flows, endpoints, environments, executions, or data volume. Clearly state whether connections and flows are unlimited.

5.3. Security, Compliance & Accessibility

5.3.1. Describe the solution’s approach to security, privacy, identity and access management, data protection, disaster recovery, and accessibility.

5.3.2. Describe any relevant security certifications, accessibility practices, and data-protection controls that can be shared as part of the proposal response.

5.4. Implementation, Training & Support

5.4.1. Describe your proposed implementation approach, expected timeline, staffing requirements, migration strategy, training, documentation, knowledge transfer, and ongoing support model.

Clearly identify responsibilities for both the Offeror and Utah Tech University.

5.5. Product Roadmap & Long-Term Fit

5.5.1. Describe the product roadmap for the next two years, including planned integration, automation, and artificial intelligence capabilities. Explain release practices, backward compatibility, connector maintenance, deprecation policies, and how the platform will continue to meet the evolving needs of higher-education institutions.

5.6. Pricing & Contract Terms (File #5 ONLY. Do not include this information in File #3)

5.6.1. Provide detailed pricing, including all licensing, implementation, training, maintenance, and renewal costs.

5.6.2. Describe what warranties, guarantees, or service-level agreements (SLAs) are included in your proposal.

5.6.3. Describe any additional costs or optional services not included in your base proposal.

6. SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

Proposals are submitted as separate files (PDF format unless otherwise specified) and uploaded on the U3P website. Emailed or hard-copy proposals will not be accepted. Any additional information or files will be ignored and will not be considered as part of the evaluation. This RFP requires you to submit [8 files] Please title each file with the corresponding file number and your company name (e.g. “File 1 - ABC Corporation”).

6.1. File #1 - Executive Summary

6.1.1. Provide a brief overview of your company’s history and relevant accolades, ideally within one to two pages.

6.2. File #2 - Firm Profile and Project Team

6.2.1. Offer detailed background information about your company, focusing on experience and expertise related to this RFP. Include names and biographies of key team members, including their roles and relevant experience. This file should be no longer than 5 pages; however, your responses should be detailed yet concise.

6.3. File #3 - Proposal Response

6.3.1. This file should be clearly formatted with corresponding responses to all the questions or requests from section 5 of the RFP.

6.3.2. Include response or clarification to the minimum requirement questions

6.4. File #4 - Implementation Process

6.4.1. Provide a detailed description of your proposed approach to developing and implementing the software program. Outline the steps, timeline, and key milestones involved in the process.

Specify any requirements or resources the University needs to ensure a successful implementation.

6.4.2. There are no length restrictions for this file, so please provide as much detail as necessary.

6.5. File #5 - Cost Sheet

6.5.1. The University would like the vendor to provide an estimate in reference to section 5.6:

6.5.1.1. The established maximum budget for this project is $50,000 annually. All proposals must be fully compliant with this funding limitation.

6.5.1.1.1. Proposals must include a detailed cost breakdown.

6.5.1.1.2. Separate one-time implementation costs

6.5.1.1.2.1. This fee must be listed separately and must not be included in the annual recurring cost.

6.5.1.1.3. For multi-year proposals, clearly outline costs for each year.

6.5.1.1.4. The University is tax-exempt and can provide a tax-exempt certificate upon request. Quotations must remain valid for at least 90 days.

6.5.1.1.5. Proposals exceeding the budget will be considered non-responsive.

6.6. File #6 – Matrix Questionnaire

6.6.1. This is an excel spreadsheet that can be found in the public files of Bonfire - UP3.

6.6.2. Please note: pink rows are minimum requirements needed for Utah Tech.

6.7. File #7 – References

6.7.1. Contact information for at least three references from similar projects.

6.8. File #8 - W9 Request

6.8.1. Please submit a current version of the company’s W9 form.

Please note that any discussion or listing of costs is prohibited in files 1 through 4.

Redacted Copy(s) - Proposals may be made public if requested under GRAMA. It is your responsibility to upload any redacted versions of the files listed above. Please note that entire files cannot be redacted or labeled as confidential. If you submit redacted files, they must be named with the exact file title, with “REDACTED” added to the title. If redacted files are not provided, it will be assumed that your entire proposal may be considered public information.

PART 3 - PROCUREMENT, CONTRACT & EVALUATION

7. BUDGET

7.1. Utah Tech University has established an annual budget not to exceed $50,000 for the proposed solution.

7.2. Pricing must include all required software licensing, environments, connections, connectors, support, maintenance, and other recurring costs necessary to meet the requirements of this RFP.

7.3. Implementation costs must be clearly identified separately from annual recurring costs.

7.4. Offerors must clearly disclose any usage-based, consumption-based, or additional charges associated with connections, integrations, flows, API calls, transactions, data volume, compute usage, storage, log retention, or other platform activity.

8. IMPORTANT DATES

DATE & TIME (MDT) SOLICITATION MILESTONE

Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM RFP Posted: Request for Proposal posted to U3P.

Friday, September 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM Intent to Submit Proposal Due: All interested Offerors must indicate their intent to participate in the solicitation through U3P by this deadline. Failure to declare an intent to bid may result in disqualification.

Monday, September 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM Question Deadline: All questions must be submitted electronically through U3P. Responses will be publicly posted through U3P.

Monday, September 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM Proposal Submission Deadline: Proposals must be submitted electronically through U3P by the stated deadline.

9. EXPECTED TIMELINE

9.1. The University intends to complete evaluation and vendor selection by the end of calendar year 2026.

9.1.1. RFP Publication: September 2026

9.1.2. Evaluation and Demonstrations: Fall 2026

9.1.3. Target Vendor Selection: By December 31, 2026

9.1.4. Implementation Start: January 2027

9.2. The University may adjust this schedule as necessary based on the procurement process, contract negotiations, or institutional needs.

10. CONTRACT LENGTH

The University anticipates awarding a one (1) year contract with annual renewal options for an additional four years [5 year total], subject to satisfactory performance, available funding, and institutional need.

PART 4 - AWARDING & ACKNOWLEDGMENT

11. AWARDING THE SOLICITATION

11.1. The RFP will be awarded based on the bids as requested by the committee. Costs will not be the main determining factor in selection; however, after an agency is selected, costs will be negotiated to determine how much of the budget will be used. We will not agree to exceed the stated budget. Do not submit a response if your fees will exceed the stated budget per year.

11.2. Evaluation committee members will individually score each criteria as listed below. Each proposal will receive an average score for each criteria based on the scores from all evaluators. The averages of all the criteria will be added together to determine a total score.

11.3. It will be the decision of the Scoring Committee to determine if interviews will be needed. The Purchasing office will notify the top-scoring agencies via email if an interview is needed.

11.4. The maximum score is 100 (unless interviews are needed to assist in selecting an agency). The agency with the highest total score shall be awarded the RFP.

12. PROJECT START, INVOICING AND PAYMENT

12.1. Utah Tech University's standard payment terms are Net 30. The University discourages and generally does not allow prepayments, deposits, or advance payments unless explicitly approved in writing prior to award. Progress payments may be requested in accordance with contract terms and are tax-exempt.

12.2. No work may begin without an official Purchase Order (PO) issued by the University’s Purchasing Department. Purchase Orders are issued on a fiscal-year basis (July 1 – June 30). Multi-year engagements require a new PO each fiscal year.

12.3. Invoices must be itemized and include quantity, unit price, and total amount due. Each invoice must reference a valid Purchase Order number and be emailed to accounts.payable@utahtech.edu with the PO number included in the subject line (re: PO#) to ensure timely processing. Payment via ACH is strongly encouraged.

13. SCORING CRITERIA

13.1. Evaluators are not permitted to discuss any details of this RFP outside the RFP Scoring Committee and the Purchasing Department. This includes no direct communication with any vendors who submitted a proposal without the approval or supervision of the Purchasing Department.

13.2. Evaluators may not have any conflicts of interest with any vendor submitting a proposal. If any conflict of interest arises at any stage of the RFP, they must be removed from the evaluation committee.

Criteria Subject / Description Possible Points

Evaluator Score

INTEGRATION FUNCTIONALITY & TECHNICAL FIT

Degree to which the solution meets Utah Tech’s requirements for APIs, events, databases, files, scheduling, transformation, extensibility, environments, testing, and hybrid connectivity.

ARCHITECTURE, SECURITY, PRIVACY & ACCESSIBILITY

Strength of platform architecture, identity, security, privacy, HECVAT/SOC evidence, data controls, disaster recovery, and accessibility conformance.

DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE & MAINTAINABILITY

Usability of low-code and advanced development tools, debugging, reuse, source control, automated testing, documentation, deployment, and ability for Utah Tech staff to maintain integrations.

MONITORING, OPERATIONS, GOVERNANCE & REPORTING

Effectiveness of monitoring, logging, alerting, record-level reprocessing, auditing, permissions, governance, inventory, dashboards, and usage reporting.

HIGHER EDUCATION, ELLUCIAN & ORACLE EXPERIENCE

Proven success with higher education, Banner, Ethos, Banner APIs, Oracle, and similar institutional integration environments.

IMPLEMENTATION, CHANGE MANAGEMENT & KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Quality and feasibility of implementation, migration, testing, training, governance adoption, documentation, staffing, and knowledge-transfer approach.

SUPPORT, SERVICE LEVELS & PRODUCT ROADMAP

Quality of support, escalation, service levels, release practices, customer success, and long-term roadmap.

COST & FIVE-YEAR VALUE

Overall cost, transparency, completeness, predictability, renewal terms, warranties, service-level remedies, and five-year total value.

TOTAL (without demonstration and references) 100

DEMO (Only the top 3 – 5 vendors will be invited to present) Additional Questions will be provided after initial proposals are scored.

REFERENCES

● Evaluator feedback from references will be incorporated into the final scoring

● Only references for the top 2-3 scorings suppliers after Proposals and Demos will be included

TOTAL POSSIBLE SCORES (including references for top 3) 160

13.3. Please note that cost will not be the determining factor in the scoring process. However, vendors must make sure that their cost sheet falls within the budget specified in the RFP. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in automatic disqualification from the RFP.