Award Platform RFP Template: Questions on Security, Integrations, and Vendor Stability

Stop guessing — ask the right questions first

Procurement teams in 2026 face a simple truth: a great awards or recognition platform can only perform when its technical backbone, security posture, and vendor stability are rock-solid. If you’re tired of slow integrations, surprise outages, or vendors who can’t prove they’ll be around next year, this RFP template helps you cut to the chase.

The executive summary: what to demand up front

Top-line ask: a vendor must demonstrate secure identity, mature APIs, strong compliance, transparent SLAs, and verifiable business continuity. Prioritize responses that include auditable proof (certificates, third-party reports, financial filings) rather than marketing claims.

Why now? Recent 2025–26 trends—rising account-takeover campaigns on professional networks and increased government interest in cloud security—mean you must require multi-layer proof of security and interoperability before signing. Vendors with FedRAMP authorization or recent SOC/ISO audits are lower risk for public-sector and sensitive enterprise deployments.

How to use this template

Paste the sections below into your RFP. For each question include: (1) mandatory/optional flag, (2) expected evidence type, and (3) a scoring rubric (0–5). Use the sample rubrics provided to accelerate vendor comparisons.

Scoring example (quick)

• 0 — No response or unacceptable
• 1 — Minimal, unverified claims
• 3 — Partial evidence or limited scope
• 5 — Full evidence, current third-party report, or live demo

Section A — Identity, Authentication & SSO (technical)

Goal: Ensure seamless, secure sign-on and lifecycle management with your identity provider.

Required questions

1. Supported SSO protocols

   Question: Do you support SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC)? Provide a configuration guide and example metadata for IdP/SP exchange.

   Evidence: Step-by-step SAML/OIDC setup guide, sample metadata files, and a test tenant to validate integration.

   Scoring tip: 5 for both SAML and OIDC with documented examples and a sandbox.

2. Federated attributes and mappings

   Question: What SAML/OIDC attributes are accepted (email, name, groups, roles)? Can you map custom attributes to application roles?

   Expect: Mapping UI or API, examples for group-to-role mapping, and default attribute list.

3. SCIM provisioning

   Question: Do you support SCIM 2.0 for automated provisioning and deprovisioning? Describe sync frequency and conflict resolution behavior.

   Evidence: SCIM endpoint documentation, sample payloads, authentication method (OAuth2 bearer token), and provisioning logs format.

   Why it matters: Automated deprovisioning reduces permission creep and lowers the risk from ex-employees.

4. MFA and passwordless

   Question: Does the platform enforce MFA? Can MFA be delegated to the IdP (recommended) or handled natively? Support for FIDO2/passwordless?

   Expect: Clear options — IdP-enforced MFA, provider-managed MFA, or both — and whether SMS OTP is used (and its risk caveats).

5. Session management and SSO security controls

   Question: What are default session timeouts? Support for SSO session revocation after password reset or user deprovisioning? Token lifetimes for OIDC?

   Expect: Configurable timeout values, immediate logout endpoints, and documentation for session invalidation.

Section B — APIs, Webhooks & Integration Quality (technical)

Goal: Confirm the vendor provides modern, secure, and versioned APIs and reliable event delivery mechanisms.

Required questions

1. API authentication and authorization

   Question: What auth methods are supported (OAuth2 client credentials, JWT, API keys)? Are scopes granular by resource (read/write/admin)?

   Evidence: Auth flows in docs, sample token exchange, list of scopes and role mappings.

2. API documentation, SDKs, and sandbox

   Question: Provide documentation URL, OpenAPI/Swagger spec, SDKs (languages and versions), and availability of an isolated sandbox for QA.

   Expect: Up-to-date OpenAPI spec, published changelog, and downloadable SDKs or code samples.

3. Versioning and deprecation policy

   Question: How do you version APIs? What is your minimum deprecation notice and migration support?

   Suggested requirement: Minimum 12 months' notice for breaking changes, plus migration plan and technical support windows.

4. Rate limits, throttling and quotas

   Question: What are default rate limits? Are enterprise tiers available with higher limits? How do you handle burst traffic?

   Evidence: Rate limit headers example, backoff recommendations, and SLA on request capacity.

5. Webhooks security and delivery guarantees

   Question: Are webhooks signed (HMAC) and retried on failure? Provide payload schema and retry policy (intervals, max attempts).

   Expect: Signed headers, TLS requirement, idempotency keys, and a dead-letter/diagnostic endpoint.

6. Data export and migration APIs

   Question: Provide APIs and formats for full data export (nominees, ballots, reports, audit logs). What retention and export times can you guarantee on contract termination?

   Expect: Machine-readable exports (CSV/JSON), export SLA (e.g., 72 hours), and documented data deletion procedures.

Section C — Security Posture & Auditability

Goal: Validate that the vendor follows industry best practices, performs continuous testing, and will support incident response.

Required questions

1. Third-party attestations

   Question: Provide latest SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and any FedRAMP authorization details (including level: Low/Moderate/High). Attach the reports or a timeframe to share them under NDA.

   Why: FedRAMP in particular matters for federal customers; many vendors obtained FedRAMP approvals in 2025–26, reflecting tighter government procurement rules.

2. Pen testing and vuln management

   Question: Frequency of third-party pen tests, vulnerability disclosure policy, and typical remediation SLAs for critical findings.

   Expect: Annual external pen tests, quarterly internal scans, public or private bug bounty participation, and resolution timelines (e.g., critical within 14 days).

3. Encryption and key management

   Question: Describe encryption at rest and in transit. Do you offer Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) or customer-managed key options?

   Expect: TLS 1.2/1.3 for transit, AES-256 at rest, and KMS integration (AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault) with BYOK available for enterprise.

4. Logging, audit trails and SIEM integration

   Question: What audit logs are retained (user actions, admin changes, votes), retention periods, and integration options (Syslog, Splunk, S3 exports)?

   Evidence: Sample audit log schema, retention policy, and a live export option.

5. Incident response and breach notification

   Question: Provide your incident response plan and SLA for customer notification on confirmed breaches. Do you participate in threat intelligence sharing?

   Suggested requirement: Notification within 72 hours of confirmed breach, regular updates, and post-incident review.

6. Access controls and segregation

   Question: How are admin roles separated? Do you conduct background checks for personnel with production access? Describe least-privilege controls.

   Look for: RBAC, Just-In-Time admin access, and audit of privileged sessions.

Section D — Service Levels, Reliability & Performance

Goal: Set measurable availability expectations and remedies for poor performance.

Sample SLA clauses to include

• Availability: 99.9% monthly uptime for production services (exclude scheduled maintenance with 72-hour notice).
• Incident response: Critical incidents acknowledged within 15 minutes, with continuous updates until resolution.
• RTO/RPO: Recovery Time Objective of 4 hours for critical services; RPO (data loss) under 1 hour.
• Credits: Service credits tied to uptime bands (e.g., <99.9% = 10% credit; <99% = 25%).

Questions to ask

1. Provide historical uptime for the last 24 months and current architecture (multi-region, active-active?).
2. What maintenance windows exist and how are they communicated?
3. Do you support on-call escalation to engineers for critical outages?

Section E — Compliance, Data Residency & Privacy

Goal: Ensure legal and regulatory alignment for your industry and data locations.

Key questions

1. Where is customer data stored and processed? Can data be restricted to specific regions (e.g., EU, US, Canada)?
2. Do you support contractual data processing agreements (DPAs) and standard contractual clauses for cross-border transfers?
3. Describe how you support privacy rights (data subject access requests, erasure). What are SLA times for fulfilling these?
4. List any government-specific authorizations (FedRAMP Moderate/High, CJIS, ITAR) and the scope of those authorizations.

Section F — Business Stability, Legal & Procurement

Goal: Avoid vendor lock-in and hidden risks by verifying financial health, ownership, and continuity plans.

Essential questions

1. Financial statements and runway

   Question: Provide last 2–3 years of audited financials (or financial summary) and current cash runway. If private, provide an executive summary under NDA.

   Why: 2025–26 market shifts (M&A and debt restructuring activity) mean suppliers can change quickly. Recent public examples show FedRAMP acquisitions can reposition a company — but also concentrate risk.

2. Ownership, exit and continuity plans

   Question: Describe ownership (VC, private equity, public). Provide an exit plan for customers in case of insolvency: data escrow, transition services, and escrowed source code (if applicable).

   Suggested requirement: Data escrow for critical configurations and exportable data snapshots every quarter.

3. Insurance and indemnities

   Question: Provide evidence of professional liability, cyber insurance limits and broad indemnity clauses for data breaches.

   Target: Cyber insurance with $5M+ limits for enterprise agreements (adjust per risk). Coverage of third-party claims where appropriate.

4. Reference customers and churn

   Question: Provide 3–5 reference customers in our sector and churn rates for the last 12 months.

   Tip: Call references and verify claims about uptime, responsiveness, and roadmap delivery.

5. Recent M&A or material events

   Question: Have you undergone M&A, debt restructuring, or significant layoffs in the last 24 months? Describe any impacts on service operations.

Section G — Pricing, Contracts & Termination

Goal: Make cost and exit predictable.

Pricing and contract questions

1. Provide a detailed price matrix: base platform cost, per-nominee/voter fees, API call overage, support tiers, and integration fees.
2. What is your change-order policy for custom integrations? Include hourly rates and estimated lead times.
3. Termination and data return: Provide the time window and format for a full data export on termination, plus post-termination data deletion policy.
4. Do you offer a proof-of-concept (POC) or pilot? What are the success criteria and associated costs?

Section H — Roadmap, Support & Professional Services

Goal: Align vendor roadmap, support SLA, and delivery capability with your program timelines.

Questions to include

1. Provide a prioritized roadmap for the next 12–24 months and indicate features scheduled versus aspirational.
2. What support channels are available (email, phone, Slack), and response times by severity level?
3. Describe professional services: implementation timeline, recommended resourcing, roles/responsibilities, and typical cost for enterprise integrations.

Appendix — Sample technical acceptance criteria (for SSO/API verification)

Use these test cases during your POC to validate vendor claims quickly.

SSO acceptance checks

• Successful SP-initiated and IdP-initiated SAML logins from your IdP.
• SCIM provisioning: create user → ensure user provisioned in platform within 5 minutes. Deprovision test user and validate account disabled within 5 minutes.
• MFA enforcement via IdP; demonstrate rejection when MFA is not satisfied.

API acceptance checks

• Execute OAuth2 client credentials flow and call protected endpoint. Validate scope enforcement for read-only and admin operations.
• Trigger event to receive webhook. Verify HMAC signature and idempotency handling for duplicate deliveries.
• Request data export for a specific time range; validate CSV/JSON schema and completeness.

Scoring matrix sample (high-level)

For each major area allocate weightings—example below for a medium-risk procurement:

• Security & Compliance — 30%
• SSO & Provisioning — 20%
• APIs & Integration Quality — 20%
• SLA & Reliability — 15%
• Business Stability & References — 15%

Practical tips and red flags (actionable)

• Red flag: Vendor declines to share SOC 2 or ISO reports even under NDA. That’s a strong disqualifier for enterprise procurement.
• Red flag: No sandbox or test tenant for SSO/SCIM verification. Without it, integration surprises are likely.
• Tip: Require SCIM deprovisioning in your contract with measurable SLAs to avoid orphaned accounts.
• Tip: Insist on API versioning and 12 months minimum notice for breaking changes—align this with penalties if the vendor doesn’t meet migration support commitments.
• Security tip (2026): Ask whether the vendor supports passwordless (FIDO2) and how they mitigate account-takeover vectors following the 2025 wave of professional-network attacks.

"Procurement that skips technical verification buys risk."

Example contract clause: Data escrow and transition services

Require the vendor to place critical configuration and export mechanisms into escrow with an independent third party. Specify triggers for release (insolvency, failure to meet SLA for 60 days), and require transition services for 90 days post-termination to migrate data to your new vendor.

Final checklist before signing

1. Received and reviewed SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / FedRAMP evidence (as applicable).
2. Completed SSO and SCIM POC in your environment.
3. Validated APIs against OpenAPI spec and verified sandbox calls.
4. Negotiated SLA with uptime and credit clauses and RTO/RPO commitments.
5. Obtained financial summary, customer references, and data escrow agreement.

2026 trends that affect your RFP

As of 2026 procurement teams should be aware of three clear shifts:

• Increased emphasis on FedRAMP and government-grade security for vendors serving public-sector customers. Several platform acquisitions in 2025 made FedRAMP authorization a strategic differentiator.
• More targeted account-takeover campaigns against B2B platforms in late 2025 and early 2026 — require vendors to support modern anti-phishing and passwordless mitigations.
• API-first expectations: buyers now expect complete OpenAPI specs, SDKs, and predictable deprecation policies as standard — treat any vendor that lacks these as high-integration-risk.

Actionable takeaways

• Make third-party attestations mandatory, and request reports under NDA.
• Validate SSO/SCIM in a sandbox before production rollout.
• Build firm SLAs for uptime, RTO/RPO, and data export timelines into the contract.
• Assess vendor financial stability and require data escrow for mission-critical implementations.

Next steps (call-to-action)

If you want this RFP as an editable template (Word/Google Docs) with a built-in scoring sheet and POC checklist, download the free pack or contact our procurement specialists for a tailored RFP build and vendor shortlisting. Protect your program by negotiating the right technical, security, and business stability terms up front — your nominees and brand reputation depend on it.

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