Most payroll requirement documents are long and do not separate the vendors, because they ask about calculation and every serious product calculates correctly. The questions that actually differentiate are about jurisdictions, who files, what happens when something is wrong, and what leaving looks like.
Ask the questions that eliminate
Which jurisdictions do you file in directly rather than through a partner, name them. Who is liable for a penalty caused by your error. What is your process for a correction after a submission. How long is historical data retained and in what format is it returned. Four questions, and most shortlists halve.
Require a parallel run in the process
Not a demonstration, a parallel period on your own data with your own awkward cases: a mid period starter, a leaver, somebody on two rates, a bonus. Scoring the differences that emerge is worth more than scoring a response document, and vendors who decline have told you something useful.
Score implementation and exit, not only the product
Who does the data migration, how year to date balances are carried, how many parallel cycles are included, and what assistance is provided on exit. Payroll is the hardest system to leave, so the exit terms belong in the evaluation rather than in the contract negotiation afterwards.
Employer of record RFP: questions to ask providers
An employer of record RFP needs a different set of eliminating questions, because the provider becomes the legal employer rather than only the payroll engine. Ask, country by country, whether the employing entity is the provider's own or a local partner's, and to name it. Ask what the monthly fee covers and what is billed outside it: a deposit, currency conversion, benefits administration, termination costs. Ask who carries the cost if a termination is challenged or a local authority reclassifies the role, how intellectual property is assigned to you through the local contract, how long onboarding takes including any work permit, and what it costs to transfer employees to your own entity later. Score the answers in writing and against the provider's own pricing page.
Questions people ask about payroll rfp
How long should an RFP be?
Short enough that vendors answer specifically. Long questionnaires produce boilerplate and reward the vendor with the largest bid team.
Should price be requested up front?
Ask for pricing on your own numbers including your worst month. List prices are not comparable across pricing models.
How many vendors should be invited?
Three or four that already pass the eliminating questions. More produces meetings rather than information.
What questions should an employer of record RFP ask providers?
Start with the ones that eliminate: whether the provider employs through its own entity or a partner in each of your countries, what sits outside the advertised fee, who pays when a termination or classification is challenged, how IP reaches you through the local contract, and the cost and process of moving employees to your own entity later. A provider that cannot answer those in writing for your specific countries does not belong on the shortlist.