Finance_-_Payroll_System_with_backup_Sept_2025.pdf

This is a Scope of Work and Project Description document for METRO Regional Transit Authority, a public transit agency operating approximately 127 fixed-route vehicles in Summit County, Ohio, seeking proposals for a modern, integrated Finance, Payroll, and optional Human Resource Information System (HRIS). The procurement aims to replace the agency's outdated technology infrastructure with a cloud-native, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that includes comprehensive core finance and payroll functionality, seamless integration with existing systems (CAD/AVL, NeoGov HRIS, and banking partners), an employee self-service portal, and robust reporting and analytics capabilities. A Virtual Pre-Proposal Conference is scheduled for January 21, 2026, with a deadline for proposer questions on February 9, 2026, and final addendum issuance on February 16, 2026. Proposal submissions are due February 26, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET through METRO's OpenGov procurement portal. Oral presentations and system demonstrations are scheduled for the week of March 30, 2026, with contract award anticipated on April 28, 2026, and system operational status required by January 1, 2027. The contract term includes a minimum three-year comprehensive warranty period with optional extension to five years, followed by renewable annual software maintenance and support agreements.

METRO has programmed $350,000 for the finance and payroll systems in its 2025 capital budget and will evaluate proposals on a Total Cost of Ownership basis, requiring itemized one-time costs for software licenses, hardware, and implementation services, as well as annual recurring costs for software maintenance, SaaS subscriptions, and hardware maintenance. Evaluation criteria include technical merit (up to 100 points), system demonstration capability, and pricing (20 points), along with consideration of vendor experience and past performance with comparable transit agencies. Proposers must provide minimum three client references for similar implementations at U.S. or Canadian public transit agencies within the prior five years. The project may receive partial Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding, which requires completion of federal certifications including lobbying, debarment and suspension, Buy America, and non-collusion affidavits. The current technology environment is characterized by manual workarounds, data integrity challenges, and poor system performance across fragmented platforms including Fleet-Net for finance and payroll, HASTUS for route planning and scheduling, NeoGov for human resources, and TimeTrak for timekeeping.