Will County Treasurer Request for Proposals Merchant Services, ACH, and Online Bill Payment Brian S. McDaniel 3/5/2014
Introduction General Rules The Will County Treasurer will consider proposals from respondents who are qualified commercial banks, credit unions, and non-bank companies (collectively Financial Institutions ). Banks and credit unions must comply with the Will County Treasurer s Investment Policy. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is an invitation for Financial Institutions to submit proposals to the County Treasurer. It is not to be construed as an official and customary request for bids, but as a means by which the County Treasurer can facilitate the acquisition of information related to the purchase of services. Any proposal submitted as provided herein constitutes a suggestion to negotiate and is not a bid. Timeline The dates are subject to revision or cancellation by the County Treasurer at his discretion. March 5, 2014 Release of RFP April 4, 2014 Closing Date for all Questions: 4:00 PM Central Time April 12, 2014 Pre-Bid Meeting for Questions from Financial Institutions May 5, 2014 Final Date for Receiving Proposals, 4:00 PM Central Time June Call Back Meetings July 15, 2015 Contract(s) Awarded August 4, 2014 Implementation Begins May 1, 2015 Go Live Date Proposal Submission Please submit a signed original and four (4) paper copies. Paper copies should be submitted in a sealed envelope, clearly identified as: Proposal for Banking Services Attention: Brian McDaniel Will County Treasurer s Office 302 North Chicago Street Joliet, IL 60432 Proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM Central Time, May 5, 2014. Additional Information Requests for clarification or additional information should be emailed to BrianMcDaniel@WillCountyIllinois.com. Responses to requests will be furnished to all potential proposers. The cutoff date to submit questions will be April 4, 2014. The County Treasurer will not be conducting private appointments with proposing Financial Institutions. 2
3 Request for Proposals Treasurer s Right to Withdraw, Cancel, Suspend or Modify The County Treasurer reserves the right to withdraw, cancel, suspend, amend or modify this RFP for any reason and at any time with no liability to any prospective Financial Institution for any costs or expenses incurred in connection with the RFP or otherwise. However, the Financial Institution shall not alter any language contained in the RFP document. Financial Institution s Right to Withdraw or Modify Proposal A proposal may be withdrawn on written request of the Financial Institution prior to the proposal due date. Prior to the proposal due date, changes may be made, provided the change is submitted in writing and signed by an officer or authorized representative of the Financial Institution. No modification, unless in writing, will be accepted. Upon submission, proposals will not be returned. Public Disclosure of Proposal Documents Procurement information shall be a public record subject to the exceptions of disclosure to the extent provided in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, and shall be available to the public as provided under law and the County Treasurer s policy implementing said Act. If a Financial Institution believes non-public, confidential, or proprietary data is included in its proposal, the Financial Institution shall clearly identify the data and cite the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exemption(s) provided for under Section 7. The Financial Institution agrees, as a condition of submitting a proposal, the County Treasurer will not be liable or accountable for any loss or damage which may result from a breach of confidentiality, as may be related to the proposal. As a general principal, price, fees, or service charges are not exemptions. The Financial Institution agrees to indemnify and hold the County Treasurer and the County of Will, their officials, agents, and employees harmless from all claims arising out of, resulting from, or in a manner attributable to any violation of any provision of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, including legal fees and disbursements paid or incurred to enforce this provision. Financial Institution s Cost The County Treasurer shall not be responsible for any costs incurred by Financial Institutions in connection with this RFP. Financial Institution shall bear all costs associated with the proposal preparation, submission, and attendance at presentation interviews, or any other activity associated with this RFP or otherwise. Anti-Competitive Practices If the County Treasurer determines that collusion or other anti-competitive action has occurred among Financial Institutions, none of the proposals of the participants in such collusion shall be considered. The County Treasurer s determination shall be final.
Conflicts of Interest The Financial Institution affirms that, to the best of its knowledge, its proposal does not present a conflict of interest with any party or entity, which may be affected by the terms of a contract resulting from this RFP. The Financial Institution agrees that, should any conflict or potential conflict of interest become known, it will immediately notify the County Treasurer of the conflict or potential conflict, and will advise the County Treasurer whether it will or will not resign from the other engagement or representation. Further, the County Treasurer may make reasonable efforts to avoid, mitigate, or neutralize an organizational conflict of interest by a Financial Institution in all competitive procurements. To avoid an organizational conflict of interest by a Financial Institution, the County Treasurer may utilize methods including disqualifying a Financial Institution from eligibility for a contract award or canceling the contract if the conflict is discovered after a contract has been issued. To mitigate or neutralize an organizational conflict of interest by a Financial Institution, the County Treasurer may use methods such as revising the scope of work to be conducted, allowing Financial Institutions to propose the exclusion of task areas that create a conflict, or providing information to all Financial Institutions to assure that all facts are known to all Financial Institutions. The County Treasurer may, at its sole and absolute discretion, waive any conflict of interest. Scope of Service Term of Agreement The services detailed will be performed for the County Treasurer on a contractual basis for three (3) years, with an option to renew for an additional two (2) year period. Fees specified in this proposal will remain fixed for the duration of the initial contract period. Rates, if market drive, may be adjusted as market conditions change provided the County Treasurer is given adequate notice of change. Generally, rates should remain stable during the tax collection period from May to December. Cancellation of Agreement Either party may terminate the agreement by giving the other party at least six (6) months written notice. Modification of Agreement The County Treasurer recognizes that changing technology provides opportunities for enhancements to banking services. During the term of the agreement, the County Treasurer may make adjustments to the bank services contract based on mutual agreement between the County Treasurer and the Financial Institution. 4
Collateralization of Account Balances All public deposits in excess of FDIC limits must be collateralized by the Financial Institution. Details of this process are available in the Will County Treasurer s Investment Policy. Technical Requirements See Sections entitled Online Payment Processing and Merchant Card Service. Contents of Proposal Financial Institution s Signature Each proposal shall be signed by a principal of the Financial Institution, or another person, who is fully authorized to act on behalf of the Financial Institution. Detailed Proposed Cost Each proposal should provide appropriate detailed line-item cost information for the full three (3) year term of the agreement. Credit Card Convenience Fees shall include a total of all fees in the form of a percentage surcharge. For example: Service Rate American Express Illinois 2.15 % Merchant Processing Fee 0.35 % Total Convenience Fee 2.50 % Subcontractors and Key Personnel The Financial Institution shall identify its subcontractors and key personnel for the services requested in this RFP. The Financial Institution shall detail the role of each key person, including back office, implementation team, etc., and their qualifications. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The Financial Institution shall identify any and all potential conflict of interests pursuant to the section entitled Conflicts of Interest. Evaluation and Selection Proposal Evaluation and Selection Recommendation This RFP does not commit the County Treasurer to award a contract. Submission of a proposal as provided herein shall neither obligate nor entitle a Financial Institution to enter into a contract with the County Treasurer. The County Treasurer reserves the following rights to be exercised in his sole and absolute discretion: 1. To determine whether any aspect of a proposal satisfactorily meets the criteria established in this Request for Proposals; 5
2. To seek clarification or additional information from any Financial Institution; 3. To negotiate, sequentially or simultaneously, pricing and/or terms with any Financial Institution(s), contractor(s), or sub-contractor(s), that did not submit a proposal; 4. To reject any or all proposals with or without cause; 5. To waive any irregularities or informalities in a proposal; 6. To cancel or amend by addenda this RFP, in part or in its entirety; 7. To award multiple contracts to Financial Institutions, contractors, or sub-contractors that did not submit a proposal; and 8. To award contracts individually or in total. Evaluation of proposals by a selection committee of the County Treasurer is advisory only. The County Treasurer may consider or reject such evaluations for any or all proposals. Such evaluations are for the sole benefit of the County Treasurer and as such, they are not binding upon the County Treasurer, or may they be relied upon in any way by a Financial Institution. Evaluation of Responsiveness The County Treasurer will consider all the material submitted by the Financial Institution to determine whether the Institutions offer is in compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in this RFP. Responses that do not comply with the provisions in this RFP may be considered nonresponsive and may be rejected. Evaluation Criteria The County Treasurer s primary evaluation will focus on price and service offerings. The County Treasurer retains, at his sole discretion, the right to screen and potentially eliminate any or all responses based on the following (which are not listed in order of importance or weighted): Financial Institution s financial soundness and capital adequacy that safeguards the County Treasurer s assets under its care as evidenced by FDIC insurance and Federal Reserve on-line cash and securities member, Financial Institution s experience and functional capacity to handle item volumes and variety of services, and provide required technological interaction with the County s systems, Experiences, resources, and qualifications of assigned staff, Total assumed costs of the eventual contract(s), including conversion and implementation costs, and internal management costs, Financial Institution s capacity to be a partner with the County Treasurer to explore and achieve efficiencies in banking services through its offering of services and products, Financial Institution s engagement in and responsiveness to the community s banking and lending needs. This should include the Financial Institution, through their branch network, providing real estate tax collection services for the county taxpayers, Thoroughness and clarity of the response. 6
Execution of Contract No contract between the Financial Institution and the County Treasurer shall become effective until both parties have ratified and signed it. The County Treasurer possesses the sole authority to ratify any contract and in the absence of such ratification, there are no binding obligations whatsoever between the County Treasurer and the Financial Institutions relative to the proposed contract. Payment Processing Overview The Will County Treasurer s Office strives to offer its residents a variety of methods to pay real estate property taxes while keeping convenience fees for card payments to a minimum. Our office accepts payment utilizing a variety of payment channels, such as credit cards, debit cards, automatic clearing house (ACH), interactive voice response (IVR), and through a payer s online banking service. We also accept payments in person at our main office in Joliet. In 2013, our office collected approximately $1.67-billion in real estate property taxes. Property owners made 66,682 transactions utilizing the channels previously described. Payments break down as follows: ACH IVR Visa/MC/Discover Amex Tax Collected $103,198,310 $527,322 $36,692,679 $1,396,798 Transactions 47,859 555 17,453 815 Mean $2,168.53 $950.13 $2,102.37 $1,713.86 Current Merchant Service Program The Incumbent Vendor collects the full tax amount and a convenience fee on behalf of the Office through online channel. Payments processing by the Incumbent include Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Signature Debit and traditional ACH transfers from bank checking and savings accounts. The Incumbent also provides an IVR payment channel for Visa and MasterCard payments. The Incumbent then remits the full tax amount into a collateralized money market account which utilizes compensating balances to offset service fees charged to the Office for the services. Our merchant services program has no Point-of-Sale (POS) processing. All transactions, including inoffice presentment, take place online at www.willcountytaxbill.com. We have Discover Card terminals in our office for teller-assisted transactions. We do not accept Discover Card online currently. Online Payment Processing (ACH) Overview The County Treasurer endeavors to offer its residents a variety of methods to pay real estate taxes. The County Treasurer accepts tax payments through its website with funds automatically withdrawn from a savings or checking account. The County Treasurer expects online payments to become a larger proportion of property tax bills as the general public becomes more comfortable with the technology. 7
The County Treasurer does not collect a convenience fee for this service and it is expected that Bank will not charge customer for the transaction as well. Online Payment Processing ( Online ACH ) detailed in the section will be performed for the County Treasurer on a contractual basis for three (3) years, with an option to renew for an additional two (2) year period. Scope of Online Payment Processing (ACH) Provider Experience The Financial Institution must currently be engaged in the business or processing Online ACH transactions and maintaining a volume of transaction processing in excess of 50,000 transactions per year. The Financial Institution must have been engaged in the business of processing online ACH transactions for not less than five (5) years. Reporting and Settlement The Merchant Card provider shall electronically send via email a detailed report of all remittance to the County each day after processing to be received no later than 12:00 PM Central Time. The County Treasurer requires notification and documentation of returned items within forty-eight (48) hours as well as the ability to make refunds via Merchant Card. The County Treasurer requires notification of any disputed charges. The County Treasurer also requires on-line access to merchant card processing information. Settlements and charges for all merchant IDs are currently settled into one account on a next-day basis. Dedicated Processing Resolution Contact A dedicated processing resolution contact with strong communication and customer service skills is critical. Returned Item Processing and Refunds The County Treasurer requires notification and documentation of returned items within forty-eight (48) hours as well as the ability to make refunds via Automated Clearing House (ACH). Additional Requirements 1. Financial Institution shall provide storage and retrieval of On-line ACH transaction data for a minimum period of seventy-two (72) months from the transaction date. This duty shall survive any termination of the agreement between the parties. 2. Financial Institution shall provide taxpayer with confirmation of transactions as scheduled, processed and/or rejected. Included in notification should be the County Property Identification Number and amount paid in a manner prescribed by Will County. 8
3. Financial Institution shall maintain the confidentiality of any information relating to On-line ACH transactions completed in Internet session. This includes absolutely no disclosure or use of information collected during this transaction for any purpose other than processing the transaction to the County Treasurer. 4. Financial Institution shall provide daily settlement reports of all available transaction information. Aggregate and cumulative payment volumes will be provided daily that will match the batch created for each monetary deposit to the County Treasurer's bank account. 5. Monthly reports will be a summary of the daily reports listing total transactions and dollar amounts. 6. Financial Institution shall provide immediate notification of all charge backs, reversals and void actions identifying the transaction date, dollar amount, action request date and reason for action. These actions will be in conformance with the chargeback procedures issued by the County Treasurer and meet the definition of charge backs, reversals and voids provided by the Financial Institution. Merchant Card Services Overview The County Treasurer endeavors to offer its residents a variety of methods to pay real estate taxes while keeping convenience charges for card payments to a minimum. The County Treasurer accepts credit card payments through the County Treasurer s web-site as well as in person at its main County building. The vendor collects a convenience fee in addition to the full tax amount and remits the full tax amount to the County. Merchant card services detailed in the section will be performed for the County Treasurer on a contractual basis for three (3) years, with an option to renew for an additional two (2) year period. Scope of Merchant Card Service Provider Experience The Financial Institution must currently be engaged in the business or processing credit card transactions and maintaining a volume of transaction processing in excess of 50,000 transactions per year. The Financial Institution must have been engaged in the business of processing credit card transactions for not less than five (5) years. Reporting and Settlement The Merchant Card provider shall electronically send via email a detailed report of all remittance to the County each day after processing to be received no later than 12:00 PM Central Time. 9
The County Treasurer requires notification and documentation of returned items within forty-eight (48) hours as well as the ability to make refunds via Merchant Card. The County Treasurer requires notification of any disputed charges. The County Treasurer also requires on-line access to merchant card processing information. Settlements and charges for all merchant IDs are currently settled into one account on a next-day basis. Dedicated Processing Resolution Contact A dedicated processing resolution contact with strong communication and customer service skills is critical. Point of Sale Settlement The County Treasurer requires the ability to manually settle for Point of Sale transactions at a time to be determined by the Treasurer. Convenience Fee Handling Of importance to the County Treasurer is the ability of the service provider to remit to the Treasurer only the total amount of property tax payments, including related late fees, while excluding the Financial Institution s authorized convenience fee. The separation of convenience fee from property tax payment includes all fees charged directly by a credit card association. The County Treasurer also requires the ability to refund the convenience fee if the County Treasurer determines the payment was made in error. Additional Requirements 1. To facilitate the settlement of the County Treasurer s payment transactions to the appropriate card associations, card networks and card issuers. 2. To maintain all equipment and software necessary to accept various cards, as agreed to by County Treasurer and the Financial Institution, and all equipment and software necessary to accept various cards, as agreed to by both parties. 3. Financial Institution shall provide storage and retrieval of card transaction data for a minimum period of seventy-two (72) months from the transaction date. This duty shall survive any termination of the agreement between the parties. 4. Financial Institution shall provide clear disclosure of convenience fees to cardholders prior to completing the card transactions. 5. Financial Institution shall adhere fully to the rules and regulations of the various card associations, card networks and card issuers. 6. Financial Institution shall not impose any surcharges on card transactions made under this Agreement. Convenience fees, assessed by the Financial Institution, shall be permitted for those card transactions that are processed in accordance with the agreement between County 10
Treasurer and the Financial Institution. No fees or costs shall be assessed to County Treasurer in connection with any service provided by Financial Institution pursuant to this agreement. 7. Financial Institution shall not require a cardholder, as a condition for honoring a card, to agree in any way to waive the cardholder's rights to dispute the transaction with the card issuer. 8. Financial Institution shall establish and maintain a reasonable adjustment policy to accommodate adjustments that are required in the normal course of County Treasurer s daily operation. The County Treasurer may restrict its adjustment policy, provided that a proper disclosure of such restriction is made at the time the card transaction takes place. Proper disclosure may not include any statement that in any way waives a cardholder's right to dispute the transaction with the card issuer. 9. Financial Institution shall provide documentation of the transaction processing networks employed and the networks' interface including the testing certification plan, test reports, work flow diagrams and functional specification procedures. 10. Financial Institution shall provide taxpayers access to the credit/debit card transaction processing network at a capacity that exceeds ninety-five percent (95%) availability (measured monthly in terms of the total number of customers accessing Financial Institution's credit/debit card transaction network on the first attempt, divided by the total number of attempts). 11. Financial Institution shall provide reports of any material network outages or work stoppages in excess of two (2) hours duration to the County Treasurer s technical representative. 12. Financial Institution shall provide retention of credit card authorization logs for seventy-two (72) months from the date of each transaction. These logs shall not contain any information that may not be retained pursuant to applicable laws. 13. Financial Institution shall settle all credit/debit card payment transactions in accordance with the standard time frame for settlement for each credit/debit card as stated in the applicable merchant agreement. All transactions processed by Financial Institution must be authorized by the respective credit/debit card company before being reported to County Treasurer. 14. Financial Institution shall maintain the confidentiality of any information relating to credit card transactions completed in telephone or Internet session. This includes absolutely no disclosure or use of information collected during this transaction for any purpose other than processing the transaction to the County Treasurer. 15. Financial Institution shall pay all credit/debit card discount fees and other transaction fees. 16. Financial Institution shall provide a merchant descriptor on the taxpayer's credit card statement indicating a unique line item entitled "WILL COUNTY PROPERTY TAX PAYMENT. 17. Daily reports will include all detail information about each transaction except the card number and expiration date. The reports will match the batch created for each monetary deposit to the County's bank account. The reports will also include card type, date and time of transaction, any fees charged and the amount of the tax payment. Weekly and monthly reports will be a summary of the daily reports listing total transactions, fees and dollar amounts. 18. Financial Institution shall provide immediate notification of all chargebacks, reversals and void actions identifying the transaction date, dollar amount, action request date and reason for action. These actions will be in conformance with the chargeback procedures issued by the County Treasurer and meet the definition of chargebacks, reversals and voids provided by the 11
Financial Institution. The reports will be delivered via fax or email to the designated County Treasurer representative at number specified in the resulting agreement within one (1) business day of being notified of a chargeback or reversal. 12