Intro & Background
BEX is requesting proposals for a custom database application that tracks construction projects from early planning to final completion. This is a revenue center for us; we sell subscriptions to access the proprietary data. We have been running this service since 2017 using Caspio. While it has worked well for us, we are putting out this open RFP to see if a fully custom platform will better fit our long-term growth goals.
This is a two-step RFP process. The first step is an open qualifications-only written proposal. Proposals will be evaluated and then the top-ranked firms will be invited to provide a detailed price and schedule proposal as the second step. Once a firm price and schedule proposal is received, we may schedule a virtual meeting to discuss and answer any questions.
Between the first and second step, we will host a virtual meeting to discuss our current platform and vision for the next build. Attendance at this meeting is not mandatory but highly recommended.
RFP Inclusions
1. Cover letter explaining why your firm is a good fit for this project.
2. Company history and capabilities.
3. Personnel – detail the point of contact we will be interacting with, as well as what balance of W2 employees, contract workers (US and international), will be available to work on this project if awarded. Identify what timezone the PM resides in. All our meetings are expected to be in normal business hours, AZ time.
a. How do you approach building a custom database application?
b. How do you approach building a customer interface and customer journey?
c. How do you ensure the programming is efficient and secure?
d. How do you balance ‘getting it done’ with ‘look at this cool thing it can do’?
e. How much AI will be used to build this application and website?
f. How can you build a database that can adapt to future AI changes?
g. How can you build a platform that protects our proprietary data while still enabling users to benefit from API and integrations with their own AI tools? Whatever we build must integrate with users platforms (such as Salesforce and Deltek), as well as work with any AI tool the user wants.
h. How much support can we expect once the product is live? What does ongoing maintenance and technical support look like?
i. How will you support the transition from the current platform to the new?
5. Relevant project examples – provide between one and five examples of similar work. Recap each project on no more than one page per project with a short description of the application, how long the project took from start to finish, when it was delivered, along with screenshots and explain how it is similar to the project we are taking on. If a project needs multiple pages to adequately showcase, include more information as appendix or links.
How to Submit
Submit one PDF totaling no more than 15 pages (including the one-page project recaps, exclusive of appendix pages) to rmorris@azbex.com by 5pm AZ Time on June 30, 2026. Written questions must be submitted by email no later than 5pm June 26th (no phone calls please). Anticipated shortlist selection is Friday, July 10th, with price and schedule proposals due Friday, July 31st.
Note: This RFP was written by an actual human with no AI involvement. An in-kind response is appreciated. If your proposal reads like it was written entirely by AI, it will likely be rejected. We expect AI will be used in coding and testing, not in communicating with us.
Scope of Work
Major buckets of information are:
1. Major Projects – full project profile, will always have companies and contacts related, but not always procurements.
2. Procurements – Most procurements do not have an associated project, but some do. Procurements will always have a company and a contact associated.
3. Companies – each company has a profile. Companies must have at least once office location, and many companies have multiple offices.
4. Contacts – contacts are assigned to a specific office.
5. Location – all projects and companies will have a specific geocoded location. A very strong mapping function is required.
Other considerations:
6. The end result must have a clean and modern user interface with streamlined onboarding of new users.
7. Many of the major buckets described above have nesting or tiered information.
8. The platform must handle information across states, but access is state-specific.
9. There is a large number of documents attached to Projects, Procurements and Companies. These are currently hosted on AWS.
10. Multiple roles & tiers of access – Users, admin access, and super admins all have different permissions. User roles will have multiple subscription levels/locations that will dictate which information they can view. This has to be easy to manage as admins, and visible to users on their account page.
11. User experience must be customizable. Our users have a very wide range of technical ability – the interface must remain simple enough for anyone to navigate, while powerful enough for highly sophisticated users to get what they need from it.
a. Users must also be able to manage quite a bit of their account without our interaction. While we do not require it this to be integrated with our accounting software, we do need a payment processing component, and the platform must be able to calculate predefined discounts and prorated amounts.
12. Reporting requirements – both users and admins will have reporting access. Some users will want to set a report up and have it run automatically.
13. Major projects will have state-specific requirements, and market-sector specific items.
14. This must be a mobile-friendly web application. Mobile app usage can be distinctly different to accommodate the reduced screen size.
15. Must include a support ticket system and update ticket system.
16. Integrations with other internal systems. For example, a contact update in this platform should trigger an update in a separate CRM.
17. Ability for us to build automated internal workflows into the platform.
BEX brings:
- Clear vision of desired outcomes. We have the benefit of running this platform already. We know what we want and will make decisions quickly.
- Proprietary data to populate the platform.
- Budget and timeframe expectations. Our budget is between $50K – $100K for the initial build, and we believe this project should take 5-10 months from start to launch. We are open to an early completion bonus if we can get this on the market and start selling it sooner.
- In house Graphic Design team. Generally, we will be able to mockup what something should look like.
Information on Current Platform:
External webpage – https://data-bex.com/v2/ – see also sample projects visible without a login (roughly 1/3 of the way down on this page – click into each tile). You can also view the customer sign up process on the Subscribe page.
User dashboard:
Main Project Search Page:
Map View:
