Request for Proposals (RFP)

Transcription

1 Request for Proposals (RFP) Electronic Payment and Electronic Bill Presentment Proposals Due: May 30, 2014, 3:00 p.m. EST Mail/Deliver Original and TWO (2) COPIES of the Proposal to: City of Cleveland Heights Attention: Jim Lambdin Department of Information Systems 40 Severance Circle Cleveland Heights, Ohio Please include vendor name and return address in upper left hand corner and RFP name in lower left hand corner of the envelope or package. Faxed or ed proposals will not be accepted. All questions must be submitted by to Answers to questions and/or addendums will be sent to all vendors who have provided an address on the Registration Form provided in the RFP.

2 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Electronic Payment and Electronic Bill Presentment PURPOSE The City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio (hereafter referred to as "City" or Cleveland Heights ) seeks proposals from qualified vendors for a web-hosted service that allows for the electronic payment of parking violation citations for its Police Department and electronic payment and electronic bill presentment for its Water Department. TERMS Expected terms of agreement shall be for three (3) years with option for renewal to be determined by the City at a later date. OBJECTIVE The objective of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to identify the vendor that has best demonstrated the ability to provide the highest quality of product and service that best meets the needs of the City. The City s intent at minimum is to offer a user friendly web-hosted service for electronic payment and electronic bill presentment solution with multiple payment channels, multiple payment types, a customer portal, an agent portal, interfaces to city software, secure access, edelivery, historical information, notification alerts, and payment industry compliance to its customers and city personnel. METHOD A Request for Proposals (RFP) is issued by the City of Cleveland Heights when competitive sealed bidding is not practical or advantageous to the City. The RFP process allows for competition in technical excellence, complex services and purchase of non-standard items. Through an RFP, the City can choose service/equipment from State of Ohio Contract or the exact same service/equipment priced lower than State of Ohio Contract. This is not a price determinant competitive bid request. As such, the lowest price proposed will not guarantee an award recommendation. The criteria set forth in this RFP will be used to measure how well the proposer meets the requirements and needs of the City. Proposals submitted by the specified deadline will be considered by a Selection Committee that will review each proposal according to the enclosed criteria. All proposed requirements must be met by the responding organization or the submittal may be disqualified as being nonresponsive. The award, if any, will be to the organization deemed best qualified by the Selection Committee to provide the service/equipment outlined in this RFP. Interviews may be conducted with the organizations that have the top rated proposals. Any costs relating to an interview are incurred at the vendor s expense. Furthermore, all expenses involved with the preparation and submission of proposals to the City, or any work performed, in connection therewith shall be borne by the vendor(s). No payment will be made for any responses received, or for any other effort required of or made by the vendor(s) prior to commencement of work as defined by a contract approved by the Cleveland Heights City Manager and City Council. The City may, at its sole and absolute discretion, reject any and all, or parts of any and all, proposals; re-advertise this RFP; postpone or cancel, at any time, this RFP process; or waive any irregularities in this RFP or in the proposals received as a result of this RFP. Page 2

3 Proposals will be opened expeditiously and each organization will be recorded as a respondent. Proposal content, including pricing, will be kept confidential until the contract is awarded. DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS AND KEY DATES Proposals must be received by the City of Cleveland Height s IT Department no later than 3:00PM EST, May 30, The proposal must be responsive to the requirements stated in the RFP. The sealed proposal one original and two (2) copies must be submitted to: City of Cleveland Heights Attn: Jim Lambdin Department of Information Systems 40 Severance Circle Cleveland Heights, OH The original and all copies must be submitted in a sealed envelope or package, and must be clearly marked on the outside with the vendor's name, address, telephone number in the upper left hand corner. The name of the RFP should be clearly written in the lower left hand corner of the package "Electronic Payment and Electronic Bill Presentment. Proposals received after the stated date and time will not be opened or considered for award. Proposals submitted via fax or are not acceptable. Inquiry Period Questions Due Issuance of Final Addenda Closing Date May 20, :00PM EST May 23, :00PM EST May 30, :00PM EST BACKGROUND Utility The City of Cleveland Heights has its own Water Department. The Water Department provides service to approximately 15,000 residential and commercial customers. All Water Department customers are billed on a monthly basis. The Water Department is also a billing agent for Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) for the same residential and commercial customers. The Water Department produces a separate sewer bill quarterly for NEORSD. For clarity, approximately 15,000 separate water bills are sent monthly to water customers and approximately 15,000 separate sewer bills are sent quarterly to NEORSD customers. The Cleveland Heights Water Department and NEORSD have separate software billing applications. Bills are sent to the web-hosted service company for web posting and edelivery extraction prior to being forwarded to the city s bill printing company. Currently, the Water Department offers web payment of Cleveland Heights Water Bills and NEORSD Sewer Bills through a web-hosting service company. Customers may enroll in the web-hosted service Page 3

4 for bill payment, bill viewing, or both. Customers also have an option to Pay Now without enrolling in the web-hosted service. Payment channels include web-based, scheduled, and agent on behalf of. Acceptable payment types include credit/debit card and echeck. Customers can view current and previous bills. Customers also have the option as to how they would like their bill delivered. Delivery could be by U.S. Postal Service, edelivered or both. An agent portal is offered for assistance in customer support, administration and reporting. Separate transaction files are downloaded from the web-hosted service company and uploaded to each billing application on a daily basis. Other payment channels for water and sewer bills include U.S.Mail, Dropbox, Over-the-Phone, and Over-the-Counter. The city would like to eliminate the Over-the-Phone payment channel. The city accepts cash, credit/debit card and personal checks. Parking Violation Citations The Cleveland Heights Police Department produces approximately 2,500 parking violation citations. Currently, the City does not offer a web-based service for payment of parking citations. Existing payment channels include U.S. Mail, Dropbox, and Over-the-Counter. Payment types include cash, credit/debit card and personal check. Citations may be issued for a variety of parking violations. Citations must be paid within seventy-two (72) hours. Penalties are incurred for payment after seventy-two (72) hours and after sixty (60) days. SCOPE OF SERVICE, SPECIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS 1. The City prefers that the vendor host the web service. If hosted by a third party, vendor must provide any information requested by the City. 2. Transaction funds must be available within 24 hours. 3. The City utilizes US Bank for Merchant Services. 4. Describe all payment channels available. At minimum the following payment channels must be available web-based, Interactive voice Response (IVR), mobile, recurring, scheduled and agent on behalf of 5. Describe accepted payment types. At minimum the following payment types must be available credit/debit card, echeck 6. Vendor must demonstrate the ability to offer a web service for utility epayments and ebill presentment and parking violation citation epayments. 7. Vendor must be able to provide separate daily transaction files of payments for water bills, sewer bills, and parking citations in electronic format with transfer initiated by the City in a format provided by the City to interface with water billing, sewer billing and parking violation citation software applications. 8. Vendor must be able to accept daily upload of parking violation citation file in a format agreed to by vendor and City with electronic file transfer initiated by the City. Page 4

5 9. Vendor must have the ability to extract edelivery only bills from billing file and electronic transfer the rest to City s bill print company. 10. Web-hosted application must offer user friendly customer self service and agent portals that provide the customer and agent with meaningful account management options. Briefly describe the customer self service portal and agent portal management options. 11. All electronic data transfers must be secure. 12. List supported browsers and versions. 13. A Pay Now option must be available for utility customers who do not want to set up an account. 14. Utility customer accounts must be able to view historical transactions and bills. Describe the retention of transaction and bill history. 15. Utility customers must have the ability to create an account to view their bills without having to make a payment. 16. Vendor must have the ability within their system to communicate with enrolled customers. 17. Enrolled utility customers must have a choice of how they want to receive their bill. At minimum, customer choices should include US Mailed, edelivered, or both. 18. Utility customers must have the ability to print their bill. 19. Customers can access the vendor s website via a link from the City s website: Vendor website must have a similar look and feel as the City s website. 21. Vendor application must present the ebill in a similar fashion as an original paper bill. 22. A list of accounts not receiving paper bills must be easily obtainable. 23. Vendor will send notifications with link to enrolled customers that there bill is ready for viewing. 24. Unauthorized users will not have access to any customer data. 25. All transferred files shall be considered confidential and must be secured at all times and shall not be communicated to any third party. 26. City agents should be able to view all transactions processed including pending transactions. 27. Provide City agents with all tools necessary for password resets, add/remove/change enrollees, etc. required to manage/support customer inquiries. 28. All software upgrades including new software releases/versions shall be included in any pricing model. Page 5

6 29. Vendor must be PCI DSS Compliant and annually submit their certificate of compliance to the City. 30. Vendor must provide training and any training documentation to city personnel. PROPOSAL FORMAT To standardize responses and simplify the comparison and evaluation of responses, all proposals must be submitted in a bound or 3 ring binder format, organized in the manner set forth below, and separated into tabbed sections, with each section titled appropriately. All information and materials requested shall be provided in the proposal under a single cover. Introduction Please provide the full name and address of the organization that will provide services and number of years in business under current name and structure. The principal in charge of the project shall be identified. Provide a brief description of the organization and a statement of qualifications for performing the services requested. A statement from the organization shall be included that, to the best of its knowledge, there are no circumstances which shall cause a conflict of interest in performing services for the City and if there are any pending mergers or litigations that potentially might impact our business relationship with you. Experience Provide a summary of the organization s prior experience with similar projects. This section should include specific and detailed descriptions of similar projects performed previously, project results, client name, and year completed. Project Overview and Work Plan Provide a narrative description of the project, based on the scope of services, specifications, and requirements presented in the RFP. Include any issues that you believe will require special consideration for this project. Also, identify any unique approaches or strengths your organization may have related to this project. If any of the requirements cannot be supported, provide a recommendation for an alternative approach. Provide a description of the required tasks for the implementation and post-implementation support. Include tasks needed to complete the project and any recommended additions to the requirements. Also, document assumptions used in development of the work tasks, including assistance needed from City staff, and required hardware and software if necessary. Project Schedule Include a project schedule for each key focus area of the project. This schedule should contain key project milestones and timelines for deliverables. Identify assumptions in developing schedule. Project Cost Provide a cost proposal separately identifying costs related to implementation and ongoing costs. Identify all costs to be billed to the project, including out-of-pocket expenses such as travel and office support. Project Alternatives Describe how the cost of the proposal could be reduced if necessary. Identify the tasks that would be eliminated or scaled back. Page 6

7 Project Team Identify the project team (including any proposed sub-consultants)with key tasks and associated responsibilities. Provide an organization chart depicting the project team members proposed by the vendor. Also identify the geographic locations of the vendor and key personnel. References Provide three (3) references for similar projects. Include client names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Certificate of Insurance Showing General Liability, Worker s Compensation, and Vehicle Coverage Proprietary Information Organizations submitting a proposal in response to this RFP must provide a statement that nothing contained in the submitted proposal will be proprietary. All proposals shall become the property of the City once submitted. Signatures The proposal shall be signed by an official authorized to bind the organization and shall expressly state that the proposal is valid for 90 days. Addendum Forms Signed addendum forms (if issued)* SELECTION CRITERIA Proposals will be evaluated by a Selection Committee utilizing the principal criteria described below. Proposals should provide a straight forward and concise presentation adequate to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Failure to include any information requested in this RFP may result in disqualification of the proposal. Demonstrated Understanding of the Service Requested Prior Experience in Performing Similar Work Qualifications of the Organization and Assigned Individuals Acceptability of Work Plan Fees Charged References Additional Benefits These are minimum specifications. The City reserves the right to waive technicalities and accept the proposal and organization that best suits its needs. Page 7

8 GENERAL PROVISIONS Proposal Award The award, if any, shall be made to the organization whose proposal is deemed by the City of Cleveland Heights to be in the best interest of the City. The decision of the City of whether to make the award and which proposal is in the best interest of the City shall be final. The agreement to be entered into with the selected organization will designate the successful vendor as the City's Provider and will include, but not be limited to, the following terms and conditions. Signature by Responsible Party All proposals must be signed with organization name and by a responsible officer or employee authorized to transact business on behalf of the organization, partnership or corporation. No organization may assign or transfer any legal or equitable interest in his proposal after the date and hour set for the receipt of proposals. City s Rights Reserved The City reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals in whole or in part, to waive any irregularities in any proposal, to accept the proposal(s) which, in the judgment of the City is/are most advantageous to the City and to re-advertise if desired. The City reserves the right to negotiate with any provider(s). Conflict of Interest The provider agrees that it presently has no interest, and shall acquire no interest, direct or indirect, that would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of its services hereunder. The provider further agrees that, in the performance of the agreement, no person having any such interest shall be employed. Interest of Public Officials No member, officer or employee of the City during this tenure or for one year thereafter, shall have any interest, direct or indirect, in this proposal or the proceeds thereof. Indemnification The provider agrees to protect, defend, indemnify, and hold harmless City, its elected and appointed officials, agents and employees from and against any and all liability, damages, claims, suites, liens, and judgments, of whatever nature, including claims for contribution and/or indemnification, for injuries to any person or persons, caused by organization s proposals or subsequent submittals. The provider's obligation to protect, defend, indemnify, and hold harmless, as set forth hereinabove, shall include any matter arising out of any actual or alleged infringement of any patent, trademark, copyright, or service mark, or any actual or alleged unfair completion, disparagement of product or service, or other business tort of any type whatsoever, or any actual or alleged violation of trade regulations. Ownership All documents and materials prepared pursuant to this proposal are the property of the City. The City shall have the unrestricted authority to publish, disclose, distribute and otherwise use, in whole or in part, any reports, data or other materials prepared under this process. All proposals are subject to the provisions of Ohio public records law. Verbal Agreement No verbal agreement or conversation with any elected or appointed official, agent or employee of the City, either before, during or after the submittal of this proposal shall affect or modify any Page 8

9 of the terms or obligations herein contained, nor shall such verbal agreement or conversation entitle the provider to any additional compensation or consideration whatsoever under the terms of this request for proposals. Changes The City may, from time to time, request changes in the Request for Proposals issued to the provider to be performed hereunder. Such changes shall be incorporated in written amendments to this Request for Proposals. Anti-Discrimination The organization shall not discriminate against any person or applicant for employment because of race, sex, sexual identity or expression, gender origin or identity, national origin, religion, disability or age. Page 9

10 Registration Form PROJECT NAME/DESCRIPTION: Electronic Payment and Electronic Bill Presentment "Please add our organization name and information to the registered vendors list for the above project. I understand any questions I may have regarding this RFP must be submitted as instructed in the RFP specifications and that addenda will be issued when required. By completing and returning this form, I understand that any addenda issued will be ed to our organization as noted in the RFP." COMPANY NAME: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: CONTACT NAME: PHONE#: FAX#: Please mail, fax, or the completed form to: Jim Lambdin Director of Information Systems City of Cleveland Heights 40 Severance Circle Cleveland Heights, OH jlambdin@clvhts.com Fax Page 10