Provision of a Human Resource Management System for Coimisiún na Meán.

The Agreement will begin on the Commencement Date and will last for an initial period of \[INSERT] months (referred to as the “Initial Term”). The Client has the option to extend this Initial Term for additional periods, each up to \[INSERT] months, with a maximum of \[INSERT] such extensions. To exercise this right, the Client must provide the Contractor with at least three (3) months' written notice before the current term expires. The duration of data processing related to the contract is also to be inserted upon contract award. Specific start and end dates, as well as the total duration and any key milestones, are not explicitly stated in the provided documents, as these details are marked as "\[INSERT]" or "\[to be inserted]".

• System is device independent and fully responsive.
• System must be capable of accepting, storing and outputting special characters including the síneadh fada (e.g., "é") and apostrophes in names (e.g., O'Brien), as well as support entering and saving of surnames beginning with a lower case letter.
• System has workflow automation tools available for system administrators.
• System supports integration with Microsoft Power BI and other standard business intelligence tools.
• System has AI-assisted analytics/reporting.
• Solution must be compliant with GDPR/UK GDPR.
• Solution must provide configurable retention policies by record type.
• Solution must provide automated deletion following defined retention periods.
• The solution shall integrate with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) for SSO using SAML 2.0 and/or OIDC (or equivalent capability).
• Data shall be encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+ or better) and at rest (AES-256 or equivalent).
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) shall be enforced for all users, with enhanced controls for administrative and privileged accounts.
• The service shall be hosted in a minimum Tier 2 (or equivalent) data centre environment within the EEA.
• The system shall support at least 10 concurrent power users and 300 concurrent standard users with no measurable degradation.
• Average page/transaction response time shall be ≤ 2 seconds for standard HR transactions under normal load.
• The solution shall comply with WCAG 2.1 AA (or equivalent) and provide an accessibility conformance statement.
• The solution should comply with WCAG 2.2 AA (or equivalent) and provide an accessibility conformance statement (desirable).
• Integration via standard/public APIs and explicit compatibility with Microsoft Entra ID (cloud-only and hybrid).
• Support for Microsoft Office documents, PDF, JPEG and PNG as standard file formats for document management.
• Tenderers should state whether the proposed solution includes any AI or machine learning functionality.
• The Contracting Authority operates an IT environment primarily built on Microsoft technologies and currently holds Microsoft 365 E5 licenses.
• The infrastructure is delivered through a hybrid administrative model, with on-premises domain controllers integrated with Microsoft Entra ID.
• The strategic direction is to transition to a cloud-only environment in the near future.
• The proposed solution needs to support 72-hour breach notification obligations.