JimmyF, unless they (MS) have done some very extensive work on Access, it can't handle more than about 250 concurrent users or requests before it lays down and dies.
php/mySQL is likely what he needs, but this is indeed a hefty request and not cheap (unless he hires Indian or eastern Europe programmers). Problem with that is they are notoriously sloppy in their code and can't document the instructions to open a paper bag. Don't get me wrong, there are good programmers in those countries - but my years of experience makes me gunshy as they tend to not think/program in a linear fashion.
It's an interesting project, and I'd be more than willing to take it on but unless he's got some slack in his schedule I'm just too busy right now to take it on and be fair to him on delivery.
If mid/late January works then I could accept this gig.
Regardless, it's a $3K to $5K gig based on what's posted for requirements, and it's going to be a royal pain to implement without a working webserver to build and test.