Research Participant Incentive Payments Solution

The Vendor is required to provide for managing participant payments from research funds are highly fragmented and inefficient across many colleges and research centers.
- These payments are to compensate participants for their time and effort, reimburse them for any expenses incurred, and incentivize participation to improve recruitment and retention rates.
- Current processes:
• Some research units purchase gift cards for human participant payments.
• The amount is fixed, typically $50.
• A half dozen units have university bank accounts for paying human participants by check.
• Participants have cashed checks multiple times so there is a fraud risk when paying by check.
• Treasury operations would like to reduce the number of bank accounts university administers.
• Research institutes are interested in a lower cost, more efficient method of paying human participants.
• University is considering following the lead of other research universities who have partnered with a service provider for a reloadable gift card program that is available to all research units conducting human participants’ research.
- System include:
• Have the flexibility to pay out using a variety of methods and payment amounts.
• Provide the ability to pay some research participants multiple times over the course of a long-term study.
• Provide a physical gift card that can be handed to participants on site in person.
• Provide a virtual gift card that can be sent to participants by email or text.
• Provide the ability to report payment information by department and by study, and to identify payments over $600.00 to any individual within a calendar year for tax reporting purposes.
• Have access control to allow each research unit to see only their participants and payments.
• Provide participants a free and easy method to look up the available balance on their reloadable account.
• Provide participants with an easy registration/onboarding process.
• The system containing personal identifying information must be secure and protect the privacy of research participants.
• Any online platform for participants and University staff use must conform to W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA and Section 508 (2018 Revision) standards.
• Provide training and/or support to both University program administrators and participants.
- Payout platform capable of using the following payment methods,
• Reloadable debit cards,
• PayPal, and
• ACH deposit.
- Monitoring of participant receipts with alert to staff when a participant’s annual receipts approach $600.00.
• Automated W9 request sent if a participant receives over $600.00 in a calendar year.
- Contract Period/Term: 2 years