Booking Engine, Reservations, Ticketing and CRM Platform

AI-generated analysis of the documents. Check the official notice and any amendments for current submission details.

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

This tender seeks a cloud-based booking engine, reservations, ticketing, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform for Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ), also known as Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI). The system's primary objective is to enhance customer engagement, improve public access and excitement for greyhound racing, elevate the customer experience, and strengthen the commercial performance of RCÉ's eight venues and national sales centre.

The scope encompasses an end-to-end solution for managing the entire customer booking journey. Key constituent activities and functionalities include:

• Booking Engine: A customisable, user-friendly, and branded engine integrated with RCÉ's existing website and digital channels. It must support various booking types, including restaurant reservations, corporate suites, hospitality packages, general admission, event tickets, fundraising events, group bookings, voucher sales, and memberships. The system must manage availability, capacity, pricing, and package details centrally, allowing for combined package bookings and dynamic pricing.
• Customer-Facing Event Pages and Content Management: The ability to create branded, visually engaging pages for events, venues, packages, and promotions. These pages must support rich content, including imagery, descriptions, menus, FAQs, and accessibility information, ensuring a single source of truth for customer-facing details.
• E-Ticketing, Access and Redemption: A fully integrated e-ticketing system supporting secure e-tickets, QR codes, and ticket scanning. It must handle various ticket types, including those with multiple components (admission, food, beverage, Tote-related elements), and integrate with existing systems like Kappture EPOS for redemption. Support for e-wallet integration (Apple Wallet, Google Wallet) is preferred.
• Payment Processing: Flexible, secure, and integrated payment processing for all sales activities. This includes online and in-person payments, supporting various methods (card, cash, vouchers, deposits, part-payments) and integrating with EPOS for advance payments. Details of payment providers, transaction rates, and PCI compliance are required.
• CRM, Customer Communications and Loyalty: A robust CRM system to maintain customer profiles, booking history, preferences, and communication logs. It must support automated customer journeys (confirmations, reminders, feedback requests) via email, SMS, or WhatsApp, and facilitate loyalty programs, membership management, and customer reactivation campaigns. Segmentation capabilities are essential.
• Enquiry & Lead Management: Functionality to capture, manage, and convert customer enquiries from various channels (phone, web, social media) into bookings, with task assignment and communication tracking.
• Marketing, Campaign Tracking and Customer Engagement: Tools to track customer acquisition from digital campaigns (social media, Google Ads, QR codes, promo links) through to booking and attendance, enabling ROI assessment. Integration with platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud is required.
• Gift Vouchers: A system for promoting, selling, managing, and redeeming digital and physical gift vouchers, supporting various campaigns and redemption scenarios.
• Reporting, Analytics and Business Intelligence: Real-time, dashboard-driven reporting across all operational and commercial activities at group, venue, event, and customer levels, minimising reliance on manual exports.
• Security, Permissions and Compliance: Robust security features including unique user logins, role-based permissions, audit trails, GDPR compliance, and clear data handling policies. Details on data hosting, residency, and security certifications (ISO 27001, PCI DSS, Cyber Essentials) are required. Business continuity, backup, and disaster recovery arrangements must be detailed.
• APIs and System Integration: Open API functionality for integration with existing and future RCÉ systems, including Kappture EPOS, Global Tote, and Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.
• Automation and AI Capability: Support for automation and AI-enabled functionality to enhance customer engagement, operational efficiency, and sales conversion, with a clear roadmap for future development.
• Support and Training: Comprehensive support services, including onboarding, implementation, user training, documentation, issue resolution, and real-time live support with defined response times.
• System Demonstration: Tenderers may be required to provide a detailed demonstration of the proposed solution.
• Account Management: Nomination of a dedicated account manager for the duration of the contract.

3. Background & buyer context

Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ), trading as Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI), is procuring this system as a strategic imperative. The initiative aligns directly with GRI's Strategic Plan, which prioritises growing customer engagement, enhancing public access and excitement for the sport, improving the overall customer experience, and strengthening the commercial performance of its stadia. The proposed system is identified as a critical operational and commercial tool to achieve these objectives by streamlining the customer journey from initial contact through to post-event engagement and repeat visits. The current booking and sales processes involve multiple channels, necessitating a unified, modern platform to reduce manual administration and maximise commercial potential.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: Not specified for this tender.
• Insurance: Not specified for this tender.
• Certifications:
• ISO 27001 Accreditation (if held, certification number required).
• Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation (if held, certification number required).
• PCI DSS, Cloud Security Alliance, or equivalent recognised information security, cloud security, or payment security standards are relevant.
• Past experience: Not specified for this tender.
• Personnel: Not specified for this tender.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Data hosting and processing locations must be detailed, with specific attention to data residency and European Economic Area (EEA) compliance. Any data processed outside the EEA requires clear legal basis and safeguards.

5. Award criteria & scoring

Tenders will be evaluated based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT), with a weighting split between quality and cost.

Award Criteria Weighting Area to be Assessed