Outsourced Tier-1 IT Help Desk Services — Microsoft 365 & RMM

Request for qualifications from IT services firms and independent IT businesses.

About goCloudOffice®

goCloudOffice® is a modern, AI-driven IT consulting company. Founded in 2003 and based in Silicon Valley, we serve customers nationwide across the United States. Our customers are small businesses of 5 to 50 people, in industries that include biotechnology, law and professional services. They own their business applications, and we run their IT with senior engineering judgment and AI-augmented support that has been in daily production since summer 2024.

The engagement

Request for qualifications: first-line IT support services (remote) for goCloudOffice®'s Helpdesk customers — Tier-1 end-user support, RMM operations tasks and Tier-1 administration at goCloudOffice®'s Tier-1 service level. Budgeted rate USD 65 per hour; providers propose coverage windows, a block fee and terms.

goCloudOffice® welcomes responses from IT services firms, including helpdesk firms whose own W-2 personnel provide first-line support, and from independent IT practitioners who operate an established business.

This is a business-to-business engagement under a master services agreement and a statement of work between goCloudOffice® and your business, which invoices for the services it delivers.

Engagement contact: the goCloudOffice® account lead. The provider directs its own work and personnel.

Scope of services

The services are first-line IT support at goCloudOffice®'s Tier-1 service level: requests that follow a clear, documented runbook, delivered remotely, with anything beyond a runbook handed off to goCloudOffice®'s senior providers.

• Tier-1 end-user support. Remote help for business users through the Helpdesk ticketing system: Windows 10 and 11 and macOS troubleshooting; Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, Teams and OneDrive; printers and peripherals; Microsoft 365 and authenticator apps on users' phones; and the Tier-1 steps of user onboarding and offboarding.
• RMM operations. RMM operations deliverables in goCloudOffice®'s NinjaOne environment (patch-policy roll-outs, scripted remediations, alert triage) under named, scoped access.
• Tier-1 administration. In each customer's Microsoft 365 tenant: user additions and changes, password resets and multi-factor re-registration after identity verification, and group, distribution-list and license changes, each under the customer's change rules and a documented runbook.
• Escalation. Security events, tenant-wide settings, new policies and scripts, network changes and multi-system work are handed off to goCloudOffice®'s senior providers, with a hand-off note that records what was seen, what was tried and what the user was told.
• Documentation. Clear ticket notes, knowledge-base articles and runbook updates, so every customer stays easy to support.
• AI-assisted delivery. AI tools used as a daily part of the work, including AI-assisted troubleshooting, knowledge-base drafting and ticket summarization, with every output verified before it reaches a customer or a customer system.

First-line tickets are triaged by the Helpdesk's AI assistant; the provider handles the tickets it accepts under the statement of work and hands off to goCloudOffice®'s senior providers on escalation.

Services must meet each customer's security, access and confidentiality policies and the service levels in the statement of work.

The provider uses its own equipment and business identity; goCloudOffice® grants only the proprietary system access the services require.

The provider presents under its own business name on every surface a customer sees: a Helpdesk alias of the form "[Name] — [Business]", public replies signed "Thanks, [Name], [Business] — for the Helpdesk", and RMM and customer-tenant accounts labelled with the business.

The services are delivered remotely, and providers in any US state may respond. On-site work at customer premises is arranged separately and sits outside this scope.

What your business brings (required qualifications)

1. An independently established IT services business. Your business:

• operates under its own business name, including in the ticketing and management systems it works in;
• regularly contracts with other businesses and advertises its services to the public;
• holds the business licenses and registrations its work requires (for example, in its home city and state);
• carries general liability insurance (USD 1M per occurrence, USD 2M aggregate), technology errors-and-omissions and cyber insurance (USD 1M per claim), and workers' compensation where the business has W-2 personnel;
• provides its own equipment.

Preferred structure: A corporation, or an LLC taxed as an S-corporation, whose own W-2 personnel perform the services is preferred; helpdesk firms that staff first-line support this way are welcome. Sole proprietorships and single-member LLCs are also considered.

2. Typically three or more years of hands-on Tier-1 and Tier-2 IT support experience for business users across Windows, macOS and Microsoft 365.

3. Remote Tier-1 troubleshooting: Windows 10 and 11, macOS, Microsoft 365 apps, printers and peripherals, and Microsoft 365 and authenticator apps on users' phones, resolved through tickets and remote sessions.

4. Microsoft 365 Tier-1 administration: user additions and changes, password resets and multi-factor re-registration, and group, distribution-list and license changes, carried out from documented runbooks, with identity verification before every account change.

5. RMM operations: hands-on delivery of RMM operations tasks on a remote monitoring and management platform (patch-policy roll-outs, scripted remediations and alert triage), with every action documented in the ticket.

6. AI-assisted service delivery. Providers should demonstrate at least one year of AI-assisted service delivery in their practice (for example, AI-assisted troubleshooting, knowledge-base drafting or ticket summarization). We look for:

• Tools: any mainstream assistant, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or GitHub Copilot.
• A clear method for checking AI output: confirming answers against vendor documentation such as Microsoft Learn or Apple Support, trying a fix on one device before wider use, reading every line of a script before running it, checking every AI-drafted reply for accuracy before a customer sees it, and keeping customer data inside tools approved for it.
• Experience with AI-triaged ticket queues: reading an AI assistant's triage critically before acting on it.

7. Security judgment: identity verification before any account or device change, immediate escalation of security events such as a phishing report or an unusual sign-in, and careful handling of credentials, recovery keys and customer data.

8. Clear written communication with end users: patient, plain-language replies, accurate ticket notes, and hand-offs complete enough for the next engineer to continue from the last step.

9. Remote service capability: able to deliver the services remotely from any US state (customer data is handled under the customer's terms and within the United States), within the coverage windows the provider proposes and commits to, and at the service levels in the statement of work.

Where a qualification names years, equivalent depth gained in fewer years counts; tell us how.

Also valuable (preferred qualifications)

• A. Hands-on NinjaOne experience: device management, patch management, alerts and conditions, the script library and remote access.
• B. Relevant certifications, such as CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate (exam MD-102) or Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals (exam MS-900).
• C. Experience with a Zendesk-class ticketing desk: views, macros, internal notes and service-level targets.
• D. More than one qualified person in your business who can perform the services, for coverage continuity.

Rate, fee and term

• Budgeted rate: USD 65 per hour. Providers propose their own rates and commercial terms.
• Fee structure: a fixed fee per coverage block, sized from the budgeted rate, plus hourly or per-ticket overage for work outside the block, itemized on the provider's invoice.
• Coverage: Customer demand is concentrated in US Pacific business hours; providers propose the coverage windows they will commit to.
• Service levels: acknowledgment and first-response targets, measured over each month and set in the statement of work.
• Volume: the coverage windows the provider proposes set the volume; scope may expand by statement of work.
• Term: a 12-month statement of work, renewable.

How to respond

Submit your business's qualifications: a capability statement, résumés of the personnel who would perform the services, and answers to the response questions. The questions cover business details, licenses and insurance in force, who performs the services, current clients (count and industries, including those your business serves remotely; no names), equipment, the ticketing and RMM platforms your personnel use for other clients, the coverage windows you offer, your proposed fee and terms, and one example of AI-assisted service delivery. Please send résumés without photographs, dates of birth, government identification numbers or home addresses, and share the notice below with the personnel whose résumés you submit. The qualification process is clear and quick:

1. A review of your response against the posted qualifications.
2. A 25-minute introductory qualification call about how your business runs.
3. A technical qualification call with live Tier-1 scenarios and a practical AI exercise, using the AI assistant of your choice or one we provide.
4. A walk-through of the Helpdesk workflow, using sample tickets.
5. Two references from current clients.
6. A final decision by goCloudOffice®'s founder.

Every respondent receives an answer. Reasonable accommodations and other adjustments to any step are available on request; the notice below explains how to reach us.

AI-assistance and privacy notice

This notice also covers vendor and consultant respondents and their personnel. goCloudOffice® uses AI-assisted tools — Manatal, our applicant-tracking system, and AI models from Anthropic — to organize and summarize applications and responses against the qualifications posted here and to draft our replies. People, not tools, make every hiring and selection decision, and a person reads your materials before any decision is made. We keep application records for four years and never sell or share them. You may decline AI assistance, ask for human re-review of any step, or request a reasonable accommodation by writing to [HIRING MAILBOX]; doing so will not affect your application. Our Privacy Notice for applicants and vendor respondents, including your California privacy rights, is at [APPLICANT_NOTICE_URL].

Equal opportunity

goCloudOffice® selects providers on the posted qualifications alone. It welcomes responses from every qualified business, and considers them without regard to the race, color, religion or creed, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or reproductive health decision-making of the business's owners or personnel, or any other characteristic protected by law.