REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Transcription

1 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AGENCY: Water and Wastewater Services RFI NO.: R F1 TITLE: CONTACT: Name: Address: John Raite 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 212, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Telephone: Fax: Please submit one (1) total printed copy via fax or regular mail; and at least two (2) CD s containing your entire response. Due Date / Time: Monday, April 21, 2014, before or until 5:00 P.M. Local Time This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to ascertain whether the commodity or service specified below is currently available through any source. This is not a commitment to purchase. This description of commodities or contractual services intended for purchase will remain posted on the Purchasing Division website at and response is due at the date and time indicated above. Commodity or Service Required Quantity or Term 5 years with renewals. Requester Water and Wastewater Services Information and Instrumentation Technology Division 2555 W. Copans Road Pompano Beach, Florida Known Source Hansen Corporation Pty Ltd. Broward County Water and Wastewater Services currently uses the Peace (Energy) application provided by Hansen Corporation Pty Ltd for customer information and billing services. We have been using this application for more than 8 years. The application in use is proprietary software and Hansen Corporation Pty Ltd is the sole owner, developer, publisher and provider of it.

2 Page 2 of 6 Vendors may be required to demo some or all of the features in the attached spreadsheet. Respondents should provide pricing information including but not limited to the cost of licensing, user training as well as the cost of installation, configuration, setting up of interface and post production support etc. as per the requirements below. Scope of services Approximate # of customers: 62,000; Approximate # of premises: 56,000; Approximate # of bills per day: 3600 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 1. Store a minimum of seven (7) years of monthly reading and consumption 2. Consumption and meter readings available for account history for at least last 7 years. 3. Sum multiple registers of a compound meter 4. Import and Export data via commonly used applications (MS Office Suite, Excel, Word) 5. User-defined security settings (role based) 6. Receive, adjust, refund customer deposits 7. System can allow meter exchange during a billing cycle and maintain total consumption and reads for both old and new meters 8. Workflow capabilities for all modules and functionality 9. Transfer customers from one premise to another with customer history information. 10. Bill internal departments and post payment to the appropriate budgetary account at the same time. 11. Full/entire customer history 12. Full/entire premise history 13. Create Braille and large print bills and meet other ADA requirements 14. Create bills in multiple languages (example: Spanish) 15. Import data when an annexation occurs from an external source (Town, County, Assessor) 16. Mass conversion of records and customer data based on annexation 17. Mass change of records and customer data based on annexation 18. System must accept meter readings in either thousands without entering additional zeros or other user-defined 19. System must interface with automated meter reading systems 20. System must interface with GIS (The county currently uses ESRI) 21. System must integrate with financial applications in real time 22. Ability to integrate via open API with other user-defined systems 23. Bill To capabilities (ability to determine who to bill) 24. Default customer capabilities 25. Mass-update / global rate change capabilities (5% global rate increase) 26. Free form notes entered on customer or property records will display by note type, chronological order or other user defined criteria 27. Notes are searchable 28. Integration with IVR (interactive voice response) 29. System can accept meter readings from multiple methods including leading meter reading technologies in real time 30. System maintains an audit trail for any changes 31. Automatic letter generation 32. Global data carry-over (Current customer information is displayed as default when new forms are opened, if necessary) 33. directly out of utility billing module 34. One-Time billing capabilities 35. Non-service billing capabilities ( i.e., 3 rd party, someone knocks over a fire hydrant) 36. System should be able to handle billing on behalf of other Agencies for example cities, municipalities, including accounts receivable and general ledger functions, billing for 3 rd parties, and synchronized (combined bill) functionality System should be able to generate meaningful and actionable reports for users, supervisors and managers. It should also be able to produce daily transactional reports, financial reports and Audit logs.

3 Page 3 of 6 CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE (WEB) 1. Customer notification for bill availability and ability to bill as an attachment 2. System capabilities for on-line billing (online customer payments) 3. Online bill presentment 4. View account history online for a minimum of two (2) years 5. Request creation and closure of account online 6. Reset password capabilities 7. Multiple payment methods: Credit, Debit, ACH, Other payment options (PayPal). CUSTOMER RECORDS 1. Assigns a unique account number to a new customer record 2. System can divide a single property unit into multiple accounts based upon installed meters (irrigation meters or house with multiple apartment units, etc.) 3. System can attach electronic documents to customer record 4. Pop-Up screen on customer records to alert staff to important information (examples: Utility truck needs police escort) 5. Supports single accounts with multiple meters and service lines 6. Customer records include: Account number (customer & premise), Payment arrangements, Premise, Customer #, Last name, First names or initials. (e.g. Bob & Betty Smith or B.), Social Security Number or Federal Employer Identification Number, Driver s License number, Date of birth, Bill To, Payment date received, Payment date collected, Payment amount, Service address or number, including 9 digit zip code, Name of neighborhood/community of service address, Billing address, including 9 digit zip code, Secondary Billing address (POA, parent child), Customer can opt out of mailing, address (multiple), Municipal sewer status, Web address, Telephone number (multiple), Customer language code, Bankruptcy type code, Lien status, Credit rating, Property owner s first name (or initial), Property owner last name, Telephone number (Landlord), Property owner mailing address, Imports file from Post Office with zip codes. 7. Non-residential customer accounts to include: Commercial, industrial, government (create user-defined fields within each customer account) 8. System will prompt user if assigning an address to an account that is already assigned (e.g., validates that address is multi-unit property) 9. Customer payment history maintained across changes in service address. 10. Capture customer deposits in a subsidiary ledger and associate with the customer record in relation to status changes (e.g., deactivation) to prompt an action by user. 11. Capture date and time stamp information in a free form text field. 12. System provides a special customer flag for bulk customers that can be searched in case of emergency. 13. All accounts- commercial account is a premise ( if it changes from a law office to a beauty shop) system needs to prompt user that facility use has changed In addition the system must be able to handle the following entities and their corresponding attributes: Customer Service Premise Legal Entity(Owner,Tenant,Business) Type (Water, Sewer, Garbage etc.) Physical Address Billing address w effective dates Equipment (Meters, Fire protection Geo Address etc.) address, phone numbers etc. ERU by service type Property owner Billing Options, Payment Options Units Folio Reference (Tax Info etc.) ADA Neighborhood Affiliation (NIP,UAZ) Notice before Cut off Type (Residential,Commercial,Industrial etc.) Credit Info

4 Page 4 of 6 FEE CALCULATIONS 1. Calculates standard fees with effective dates using user provided formulas or tables, with history of any changes made 2. System can calculate fees based on the following: gross receipts, per unit basis, activity, location within the city (inside or outside a special district), or other criteria 3. Gross receipts 4. System can distinguish between city taxes and special district charges and treat each differently 5. System can distinguish between special district charges and other fees 6. System displays balance amount on screen when application is entered 7. System displays rate computation and fee amount before posting 8. Tracks fee collections and receivables, provide for late penalties and interest as appropriate, and generate payment receipts 9. Calculate, generate, and track multi-tiered fees 10. Calculate fees with a base fee plus additional charge based on various user-defined factors from multiple tables (e.g. square footage, numbers and types of employees) 11. Calculates fees based on a fee schedule with varying penalty and interest rates 12. Calculates fees based on a prorated schedule 13. Calculate interest on deposits 14. Allows users to override default fee with a manual amount (subject to appropriate security) 15. Allows users to suppress fees (subject to appropriate security) SERVICE ORDERS 1. Create and track service orders. 2. Interface with third party systems (Maximo, data warehouse etc.). 1. Tier One ERP Systems 2. Handheld devices(meter readers) 3. IVR system ( if not included in vendor offering) 4. GIS 5. Code Red 6. Remittance system(remit Plus) 7. Echecks, Banks(ACH) INTERFACES TECHNICAL 1. Migrate existing data from our current billing system(energy) 2. Application must be capable to run utilizing a modern RDBMS latest version and Patch Updates 3. Application must be browser based and run on the most current supported Windows OS. 4. Hardware specifications and third party software should be clearly specified. 5. Document process for Archiving and Disaster Recovery.

5 Page 5 of 6 QUESTIONNAIRE COMPANY INFORMATION 1. Company Name and Headquarters Mailing Address: 2. Contact Name, telephone and 3. Company Website URL: 4. Type of Organization (Corporation, Partnership, etc.): 5. How long has the company been in business in its current form? 6. Who would be the primary point of contact for this RFI? 7. Who would be the primary point of contact for future procurement processes? IMPLEMENTATION COSTS AND TIMELINE 1. Please include typical, estimated costs for all required implementation services including any required third party licenses. These numbers are not binding. 2. What is the length of typical implementation? 3. What are the key variables or obstacles affecting implementation schedule? 4. What other fee-based services do you offer and recommend for successful implementation? (Training, data migration, consulting, etc.) 5. What is the timeline for implementing this product, including testing? 6. What would be the unit cost of this item? REFERENCES The County may contact these references to confirm cost and capability issues. 1. Approximately how many public utilities implementations have you successfully completed. Please list a minimum of three counties or cities. 2. Provide five (5) customer references including: a. Customer name b. Customer Address c. Customer primary point of contact telephone number and address COMMENTS Prospective vendors are requested to provide information regarding their ability to supply the commodities or contractual services described. All vendor responses will be evaluated by the Using Agency which will be the sole determinate power in establishing the approved equal status of the commodity or service offered by the vendor. If it is determined in writing by the agency, after reviewing any information received from prospective vendors, that the commodities or contractual services are available only from a sole source, the agency shall: 1. Provide notice of its intended decision to enter into a sole source purchase contract to the Director of Purchasing. 2. Request approval from the Director of Purchasing for the sole source purchase up to the award authority of the Director of Purchasing or further request the Director of Purchasing to process the appropriate documents for Board approval.

6 Page 6 of 6 3. Issue a Request for Quotation to the sole source vendor for submission to the Purchasing Agent for processing and approval by the appropriate award authority. Company Name: (Print) Company Address: (Print) Contact Name: (Print) Phone Number: Fax Number: Address: