You only get one shot at digitizing your records. Once they’re scanned, indexed, and (often) shredded, there’s no going back to fix the parts you got wrong. (well, that’s not 100% true – but even if you find something and can fix it, what a waste doing it wrong the first time!)
That’s why the work you do before you write the RFP matters more than the RFP itself. When you understand your own goals, your risks, and what the market actually offers, you write sharper requirements, pick the right partner, and avoid the kind of surprises that derail projects.
It also lines up with the calendar. Pre-RFP research in late winter or early spring gives you runway for budget cycles, audit season, and fiscal year-end. A little extra work in February saves you from scrambling in October.
Get Clear on Your Goals Before You Talk to Vendors
Different goals lead to different projects. Before you call anyone, get your team aligned on what you’re actually trying to accomplish.
The most common drivers we see:
- Risk reduction — records that can’t be lost, damaged, or misplaced
- Compliance — fast responses to audits, public records requests, or litigation
- Cost savings — less paid for offsite storage, retrieval, and paper handling
- Better access — staff finding files in seconds instead of digging through boxes
- Sunsetting legacy systems — getting off old hardware or software you can’t keep alive
Then nail down the scope:
- What kinds of records — case files, HR folders, engineering drawings, financial records?
- How much — by box, drawer, or reel (estimates are fine)
- What condition — fragile, water-damaged, bound, loose?
- What media — paper, microfilm, microfiche, aperture cards, large format?
- What’s the retention story — what can be shredded after scanning?
Pull in IT, legal, records management, and the department heads early. If those folks don’t agree on priorities now, you’ll feel it during the project — usually at the worst possible time.
Security, Compliance, and Chain of Custody
Handing your records to a third party is a trust exercise. Treat the pre-RFP conversation like an interview, not a sales pitch.
Ask each vendor:
- What certifications and frameworks do you follow?
- How are your facilities physically secured — cameras, badge access, alarms?
- How do you encrypt data, in transit and at rest?
- Who can access our records inside your system, and how is that logged?
- What’s your incident response plan when something goes wrong?
Your industry probably adds extra rules — HIPAA for healthcare, FERPA for schools, CJIS for law enforcement, FINRA for financial services, and various state records laws if you’re public sector. A vendor that’s done your kind of work before should be able to walk you through how they support those rules without having to look it up.
Chain of custody is the other half. From the moment a box leaves your loading dock to the moment it comes back (or gets securely destroyed), you should know:
- How records are picked up, tracked, and transported
- Where they live during the project
- Who’s allowed to touch them, and how those people were vetted
- How access is logged and audited
Think of it like a paycheck. You wouldn’t accept “we’ll get it to you eventually” — you want to know exactly when, exactly how much, and exactly where it’s coming from. Your records deserve the same accountability.
Technology, Quality, and Integration
Not every digitization shop is built the same. Some are paper-only. Some specialize in microfilm. Some bolt OCR onto whatever comes off the scanner and call it a day. Early conversations should tell you where each vendor actually lives.
On the technology side, ask about:
- Scanning equipment and how it handles mixed sizes and conditions
- OCR and indexing accuracy, especially on rough originals
- Automation — barcodes, separator sheets, batch routing
- Support for special media like microfilm, microfiche, and aperture cards
Quality control shouldn’t be a mystery either. Ask how they sample, what standards they hold images to (ie legibility, resolution (dpi)), how they validate indexing, and how error rates get caught and corrected.
Integration is where projects quietly go sideways. Your digital records have to land somewhere — content management platform, case management tool, custom department database, sometimes all three. Get your IT team on a call with the vendor’s technical lead before you write specs. Talk through export formats, APIs, and file structures. It’s a lot cheaper to discover an incompatibility now than after you’ve signed a contract.
Service Models, Pricing, and Long-Term Ownership
How the work gets done shapes how the project feels day-to-day.
- On-site scanning — vendor works in your building
- Off-site conversion — work happens at the vendor’s secure facility
- Hybrid — some of both, depending on the records
- Hosted archives — the vendor delivers a portal you and your team log into
You don’t need exact pricing yet. You need to understand what drives it. Typical cost levers:
- Per-image or per-page scan rates
- Prep labor — staples, paper clips, fragile pages, sorting
- Indexing complexity — basic metadata vs. detailed field capture
- Storage and handling of physical originals
- Ongoing hosting or support fees if the vendor’s also hosting the archive
The conversation a lot of people skip is long-term ownership. Before you go further with any vendor, ask:
- Who owns the digital images and the metadata once they’re created?
- What does it cost to export everything, in a standard format, if we leave?
- What happens to our data if you go out of business or get acquired?
You want flexibility. Locking yourself into one platform forever, with no clean exit, is how a five-year project turns into a fifteen-year problem.
Pilots, References, and Turning All This Into a Strong RFP
Once you’ve shortlisted a couple vendors, run a small pilot before you commit. A pilot is the cheapest possible reality check.
A good pilot looks like:
- A real mix of your records — the easy stuff and the ugly stuff
- Clear success metrics — image quality, indexing accuracy, turnaround time, user feedback
- Small enough to move fast, big enough to actually mean something
Run the same pilot with each finalist if you can, then compare results side by side. Ask the people who’ll actually use these records — clerks, records staff, end users — whether finding files got easier. That feedback is worth more than any slide deck.
References matter too. Ask for organizations with similar record types, similar security needs, and similar volume. Then actually call them.
By the time you’ve done all this, the RFP almost writes itself. You’ll have:
- Requirements that match your actual records, not a generic template
- Measurable SLAs for quality, security, and timelines
- Evaluation criteria that separate real partners from order-takers
Teams that put in this kind of pre-RFP work make better decisions, move faster, and end up with partners they actually like working with. The teams that skip it usually find out the hard way.
Next Steps
Reach out to us today! Click the “Get Your Quote” button below, fill out the form, and we’ll quickly reply to you to discuss your project.
Further Reading
Measuring Document Indexing ROI: KPIs, Cost to Retrieve, Time to Answer
How much does it really cost to find a file? This guide shows how to measure document indexing ROI using clear KPIs like cost-to-retrieve and time-to-answer.
Microfiche Reader Replacement: From Jammed Viewers to Keyword Search
Still relying on aging microfiche readers? This article explains why replacing the workflow—not just the hardware—unlocks faster access through searchable digital records and keyword-based retrieval.
Signs Your Legacy Data Migration Plan Is Too Risky
Legacy data migration can look simple on paper, but hidden risks can create long-term problems. This guide highlights key warning signs and how to protect your records, access, and compliance.