Records and Information Management System

The vendor is required to provide records and information management system for assisting with the review and classification of existing records, developing retention schedules, and delivering a system that supports robust search, version control, approval workflows, and auditability.
- Goals
•    Implement a secure, scalable, and compliant records and information management system (rim) for all records
•    Conduct a comprehensive review and classification of existing records (paper and digital)
•    Develop and apply an organization-wide records policy and retention schedule
•    Ensure compliance with state and federal regulations, including those from NRECA, FERC, NERC, and RUS as applicable
•    Enable user-friendly search, retrieval, and lifecycle management including classification, retention enforcement, and disposition
•    Provide training for cooperative staff
•    Identify and correct inconsistent naming conventions to support standardization across systems and departments
•    Support electronic routing, review, and approval workflows for automated retention schedules and select documents such as contracts, invoices, policies, and board communications
•    Maintain document integrity through version control, with clear tracking of edits, approvals, and user access history
a. Records and information management system
•    Supports both digital and physical records
•    Allows creation and enforcement of configurable retention schedules per document type and regulatory requirement
•    Offers secure role-based access controls, user authentication, and complete audit trails
•    Integrates with the cooperative’s existing systems and must work seamlessly alongside our core billing and financial platform (NISC), even if direct integration is not available. 
•    The rim system must not disrupt or duplicate NISC’s recordkeeping functions and should complement workflows involving NISC-based data.
•    Offers deployment flexibility through cloud, on-premise, or hybrid hosting options
•    Provides full-text indexing and metadata tagging for advanced search and discovery
•    Supports robust search across metadata, file content, custom fields, and classifications
•    Enables electronic routing, review, and approval workflows for automated retention schedules and specific document types, such as: contracts, invoices, vendor forms, board documents, cooperative policies
•    Includes comprehensive version control features: automatic version tracking, comparison, change logs, and rollback
•    Allows users to define and manage custom metadata fields (e.g., department, project, contract date, document type)
•    Supports naming convention enforcement or prompts for standardized naming on upload
•    Triggers retention actions based on date created and modified, classification, approval status, or custom metadata
•    Supports records legal holds and exemptions from deletion when necessary
•    Provides mobile and remote access with appropriate data protection measures
•    Disaster recovery and backup (geo-redundant storage, recovery plans)
•    Store data with the ability to connect and upload to the web when data connection is available
•    Support automated, policy-based destruction of records at the end of their retention period, with configurable workflows for review, exception tagging, and audit logging – destruction should proceed without manual action unless records are flagged for legal hold or discretionary retention
•    Allow designated users or departments to flag specific records or categories for discretionary retention beyond the scheduled destruction date, based on business, historical, or strategic value
b. Records review and classification
•    Conduct a full review and assessment of current physical and digital record storage systems and file shares
•    Inventory existing records by location, format, department, and function
•    Identify and classify documents by: departmental ownership, functional category, sensitivity or confidentiality level, retention and compliance requirements
•    Identify outdated, duplicate, or redundant records for archive or disposal
•    Identify inconsistent or unclear naming conventions and recommend a standard cooperative wide taxonomy
•    Prepare records for indexing, tagging, and system migration with updated metadata and naming conventions
•    Recommend organization-wide file structure improvements if needed
c. Policy and schedule development
•    Develop or revise the cooperative’s records retention policy
•    Create, modify, or make recommendations to a records retention schedule that meets operational and legal standards
•    Align classification groups with industry practices
•    Incorporate: naming convention guidelines, file and folder structuring recommendations, versioning, deletion, and archive policies
•    Ensure policy is applicable across both physical and digital records
•    Default retention schedules to automatic destruction unless overridden by legal hold or documented discretionary retention
d. Training and change management
•    Provide onboarding and hands-on training for all staff, including general users, records coordinators, and system administrators
•    Train staff on version control, metadata use, and naming standards
•    Provide training on approval workflow functionality
•    Deliver training materials, user guides, and videos that the cooperative may reuse or modify
•    Offer change management recommendations for smooth adoption across departments
e. Compliance and audit process
•    Enable internal or external audits of: retention policy compliance, classification accuracy, proper version tracking and usage, routing and approval workflow history, access controls and audit logs
•    Provide comprehensive reporting and dashboards for: retention status by document type, version history changes, workflow bottlenecks or delays, access violations or anomalies
•    Allow audit documentation export and secure access for regulators, legal counsel, or third-party reviewers
•    Recommend a cadence for periodic internal audits and system reviews (e.g., annual or semiannual).

- Questions/Inquires Deadline: August 11, 2025