Employee Safety Footwear Program

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for an Employee Safety Footwear Program to identify a qualified vendor to manage the employee safety shoe program for approximately 2,500 field staff. The RFI, posted on February 17, 2026, with responses due by February 26, 2026, requires the selected contractor to assume full logistical and administrative responsibilities for the program, including collecting employee size and style information, coordinating order placement, receiving and distributing footwear, and resolving issues related to ordering, shipping, receiving, and payment through both on-site and online service delivery methods. Respondents must provide a signed written response from legal counsel, the Chief Executive Officer, or an authorized designee confirming their ability to comply with all requirements or describing any inability to do so. The RFI serves as a mandatory prerequisite for participation in future solicitations related to this project. Compliance with comprehensive information technology security requirements is essential, including housing all State data within the continental United States with U.S.-based resource access only, encrypting confidential data using FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 standards, maintaining SOC 2 Type 2 certifications, achieving PCI DSS compliance, conducting annual penetration testing and vulnerability assessments, maintaining FedRAMP certification, and implementing disaster recovery capabilities with a 24-hour recovery point objective and 48-hour recovery time objective (with specific Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective periods to be negotiated between the vendor and State). Additional requirements encompass Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, protection of personally identifiable information under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and applicable privacy laws, and adherence to the State's Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Policy.

The RFI documentation does not specify set-aside designations or restrictions on the types of organizations eligible to respond, nor does it reference any incumbent vendors, current contractors, or existing infrastructure requiring integration. No award values or budget ranges are disclosed in the RFI materials. The State reserves the right to keep all responses confidential until evaluation of any resulting formal procurement is completed, and no contract rights or payment obligations are established through this RFI process. Additionally, the State will not reimburse costs associated with responding to the RFI, and all responses submitted become the property of the State.