Research compliance teams selecting Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) software have to satisfy several groups at once. Committee staff need their review workflows supported, IT and security offices need integration and hosting answers, and procurement needs responses it can compare on equal terms. When vendors answer in their own formats, proposals are hard to compare and unresolved gaps tend to surface after the contract is signed.
This request for proposal (RFP) template was built for IRB and IACUC directors, research compliance managers, IT and security reviewers, and procurement officers running a software evaluation. It contains 62 vendor requirements across nine sections, a weighted scoring sheet, eight demonstration scenarios, reference check questions and a selection record. Each requirement describes a specific situation and asks the vendor to explain how its system supports it, so answers can be compared line by line and carried into the contract. It applies whether your institution is replacing an existing system or selecting one for the first time, and it is written to be vendor-neutral. The template is available as a fillable PDF and an editable Word document.
What This Template Covers
Institutional Profile and Evaluation Scope
Section 1 is completed by your team before release. It records the committees in scope, campuses and affiliated sites, annual submission volume by committee, your current system and contract end dates, reliance arrangements, the animal program, and the reasons for change. It also sets out hosting and security requirements, the timeline from release to go-live, and who scores, recommends and approves.
IRB, IACUC and Cross-Committee Requirements
Eleven IRB requirements follow a study from submission to closure, with citations to the Common Rule (45 CFR 46) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations at 21 CFR Parts 50 and 56. Twelve IACUC requirements cover protocol review and the program obligations set by Public Health Service (PHS) Policy and the Animal Welfare Act regulations at 9 CFR Part 2. Six cross-committee requirements test how much an investigator enters once when a study needs more than one approval.
Reporting, Integration and Security
Reporting requirements ask for the reports your team uses today and the ones leadership has asked for and not received. Integration requirements are written for your IT team to own and confirm during the evaluation, not after selection. Security, hosting and accessibility requirements ask for evidence rather than general statements, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA conformance ahead of the 2027 compliance dates for public institutions and recipients of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding.
Implementation, Migration and Commercial Terms
These requirements show how much staff time the transition takes, which records and attachments are migrated, how migrated data is checked before go-live, and who controls configuration once the system is live. Commercial requirements ask for pricing in a format your procurement office can compare across vendors on the same basis.
Scoring Sheet, Demonstration Scripts and Selection Record
A weighted scoring sheet totals 100 and keeps shared IRB and IACUC requirements from being counted twice. Eight demonstration scenarios are sent to shortlisted vendors in advance with de-identified sample forms, so every vendor shows the same workflows in the same order. Reference check questions and a selection record close the evaluation, with sign-off from compliance, committee, IT and procurement leads.
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