REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR MUNICIPAL PAYROLL SERVICES QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Financial Services Department CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

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1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR MUNICIPAL PAYROLL SERVICES QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Financial Services Department CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO Released on February 18, 2014

2 MUNICIPAL PAYROLL SERVICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Page 4, Item 22: Please describe what role the City would like to maintain in the payroll process? For example will Human Resources (HR) staff enter employee data and changes, will department heads and supervisors require rights to view data and what kind of data will they need access to, etc.? City staff will ensure all timesheets and associated leave requests are approved by appropriate supervisors. City staff will perform a review of payroll before it is finalized. City staff will post the payroll entry to the general ledger using an interface file provided by the contractor. City staff will maintain original copy of all timesheets, leave requests and payroll changes. City staff will provide information on all employee changes and new employees to the contractor. At this time, Finance will coordinate all requests for payroll data. No additional access will be granted to Department Heads and Supervisors. 2. Page 4, Item 16: Please clarify what is positive pay. Positive Pay is an automated fraud detection tool offered by the Cash Management Department of most banks. In its simplest form, it is a service that matches the account number, check number and dollar amount of each check presented for payment against a list of checks previously authorized and issued by the company. All three components of the check must match exactly or it will not pay. Positive Pay requires the company to send (transmit) a file of issued checks to the bank each day checks are written. When those issued checks are presented for payment at the bank, they are compared electronically against the list of transmitted checks. The check-issue file sent to the bank contains the check number, account number, issue date, and dollar amount. When a check is presented that does not have a "match" in the file, it becomes an "exception item". The bank sends a fax or an image of the exception item to the client. The client reviews the image and instructs the bank to pay or return the check. 2

3 3. Page 4, Item 25: Please describe the general ledger interface file type. Currently, our payroll module and general ledger module are from the same vendor. After each payroll run, payroll system produces a payroll entry that can be posted to our general ledger system. We don t use an interface file at this time. Our general ledger system can accept an interface file from an outside party in Excel format. 4. Page 5, Item 28: Please clarify what is a flat file. The flat file we are currently sending to Orange County Employee Retirement System (OCERS) has file type A10_SUB File. It is a zip file containing employee data and pay information from our payroll system. OCERS uploads the pay information from this file into their pension system. Therefore, the format must conform to OCERS specifications (where the pension data should be shown in the file). 5. Page 5, Item 30: Does the City need a new Benefits system? If so will this system replace a Human Resource Information System (HRIS)? If not, what parts of the HRIS are needed? The City does not need a new Benefit system. The proposed payroll system, if separated from benefit system, should be able to interface with the current benefit system to reflect any employee changes that have an impact on payroll. 6. Page 5, Item 36: Does the City have a preference for the hours the operational support center is available? The operational support center should be available during normal business hours from Monday to Friday. 7. General Question: What is the City s estimated budget for this project? The preparation of the budget for Fiscal Year and is currently in progress. The City will evaluate the results of the proposals to estimate the appropriate amount to budget for this service. 8. General Question: Why is the City planning to change from its current payroll process with GEMS? If there is an incumbent currently performing this work, please provide current year pricing information. The City is currently handling payroll functions in-house. We want to explore the possibility of outsourcing payroll in order to concentrate our limited staff resources on other tasks that cannot be outsourced. 3

4 9. How many employees does the City currently engage in all phases of payroll operation, including benefit enrollment, reporting and payment to benefit vendors, and answering employee inquiries regarding payroll and benefits? How many hours do they work on these tasks each payroll cycle? The City currently has one staff handling payroll processing/reporting/benefit payments/payroll inquiries (average 30 hours per week on payroll functions) and one staff supervising payroll operation (average 4 hours per week on payroll functions). Benefit enrollment and other benefit related functions are handled by the City s Human Resources Department and not part of this RFP. 10. Which of the items in Attachment 3 (Payroll Codes) must be separately identified on the pay stub? (Requirement #19) The pay codes currently identified on a pay stub are: - Pay Hours and Amounts (type codes 1 to 105 and 110 to 245) - Deductions including taxes (type codes 301 to 550) - Additionally, leave hours earned, used and currently balance by type are separately identified on a pay stub. 11. Please confirm how many layers comprise your time approval hierarchy, e.g. Employee Supervisor Department Manager (Requirement #22) The timesheet and leave request approval process is: Employee Direct Supervisor Department Head. 12. Please provide illustrative examples of the special needs of the city? (Requirement #27) Example #1: A City Department wants to see how many staff hours have been charged for all Developer Deposit Accounts in a specific period. The payroll reporting module should allow users to define account group (i.e. all Developer Deposit Projects) and service period. The report should contain hours and amounts by project. Example #2: City staff is allowed to bank overtime (OT) hours to use/pay at a later date. A Department wants to know the balance of OT to comp time hours by staff at the end of each quarter. The report module should allow users to define department and service period. The report should contain hours and the general ledger accounts associated with the comp time hours if used. 4

5 13. Please provide technical requirements (required formatting) for submitting the flat file for OCERS reporting? (Requirement #28) See answer to question # Is another government entity required to comply with the business license requirement? Our systems partner is a private company. If they receive payment for their services on our behalf, would they be required to have a business license, even though they are our (another government entity) vendor? If so, can you refer us to the information regarding the process and cost of obtaining a business license for the City? When providing professional services to the City, another government entity is required to obtain a business license and the annual license fee is $ A new applicant for business license has to fill out a City Business License Application and pay the applicable fees prior to performing any services. The application is available on the City s website. 15. The City now uses Harris Government Solutions for your payroll services. What product does the City utilize for a financial reporting and management system? The City uses Harris Government e-management Solutions general ledger system for financial reporting. 16. How many general ledger accounts are impacted by payroll? Typically, a bi-weekly payroll run affects approximately 300 general ledger accounts. 5