Elections Tabulation System

Pierce County, Washington is requesting proposals for an Elections Tabulation System under RFP #2026-RFP-184, with proposals due August 28, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. and questions due August 19, 2026. The system must be United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and Washington State certified — a mandatory qualification filter. Proposers must hold a Washington State business license and demonstrate adequate financial resources; the County will verify financial fitness throughout the contract term.

The scope is a turnkey Elections Tabulation System capable of processing up to 443,447 ballots, supporting simultaneous scanning and adjudication across multiple stations, accommodating ballot recounts, and integrating with Washington State's VoteWA System. The system must handle multiple election types and ballot styles; support at least 40 district types with up to 5,000 districts per election; scan and adjudicate up to 15,000 ballots per hour; support flexible ballot design with multiple page layouts, fonts, colors, and language options; enable ranked choice voting; integrate with ADA voting equipment; provide comprehensive audit logging and risk-limiting audit capabilities; and export results to multiple formats (txt, csv, xlsx, pdf, html) and to the State's election reporting system. System availability must reach 24/7 operation with a maximum downtime of 20 minutes per failure event. Physical infrastructure requires operation within a 640-square-foot scan room and 320-square-foot tabulation room. All proposers advancing to the competitive range must conduct live onsite demonstrations at a facility in or near Tacoma, Washington with proposed project management and technical leads present, demonstrating the exact software version proposed.

The total procurement value is $1.3 million. The initial contract term runs January 2027 through 2031, with the County holding options to extend for three additional 12-month periods. The County anticipates a single contract award and expects the selected contractor to provide onsite support for at least two election cycles, with full implementation by January 1, 2027.

Evaluation allocates 1,700 points across pricing (400 points), management questions (200 points), technical questions (200 points), solution requirements (520 points), terms and conditions compliance (210 points), and small contractor/supplier status (170 points). Phase 2 evaluation (if conducted) adds up to 600 points for onsite demonstrations (300 points), interviews (200 points), customer reference reviews (50 points), and financial stability assessment (50 points). Proposers must submit three years of audited financial statements. The County is not obligated to award to the lowest-priced proposer and reserves the right to conduct best and final offer rounds or award without discussions.