Research Incentive Gift Card Services

George Mason University (GMU) has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) GMU-SS0922-25 seeking one or more qualified vendors to provide comprehensive research incentive gift card services for research participants, employee recognition, and departmental use. The procurement solicits vendors capable of supplying both physical and electronic gift cards, including reloadable payment options such as prepaid cards, virtual cards, ACH transfers, and mobile wallet solutions. Key requirements include supporting tax compliance tracking, clinical trial compliance with HIPAA regulations, multi-site coordination, no fees for card recipients, support for various denominations, and cards without expiration dates. Vendors must maintain a dedicated point of contact with two-business-day response times and provide comprehensive platform reporting capabilities. The RFP evaluation criteria will allocate 30 points for technical review, 35 points for qualifications and expertise, 25 points for pricing, and 10 points for Virginia Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SWaM) certification. Key dates include a December 15, 2025 deadline for questions, December 18, 2025 for response posting, proposal submissions due January 21, 2026 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time, potential oral presentations the week of February 16, 2026, and contract negotiations estimated for February 23-27, 2026, with an anticipated award in March 2026.

The RFP includes a Small Business Subcontracting Plan that encourages participation of Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (DSBSD) certified businesses, including women-owned, minority-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. Contractors must comply with extensive data security requirements, including maintaining cyber liability insurance of $2,000,000 per incident, conducting annual security audits, and providing SOC 2 Type II or equivalent certifications. The contract will have an initial one-year term with nine potential successive one-year renewals. GMU has historically purchased approximately $469,515 in research incentive gift cards over a two-year period and intends to award to multiple offerors at its discretion. Vendors must meet rigorous compliance standards, including background checks for all personnel, adherence to FERPA, HIPAA, HITECH, and PCI-DSS requirements, and maintenance of comprehensive insurance coverage including $1,000,000 in Commercial General Liability Insurance and a $5,000,000 umbrella policy. The university will require vendors to provide detailed pricing proposals itemizing all potential fees, with an emphasis on creative pricing models including volume rebates and spending incentives.