City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Request for Information # Payment Processing Services. Due Date: June 26, :00 A.M.

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1 City of Grand Rapids, Michigan Request for Information # Due Date: June 26, :00 A.M. Company Name: Company Phone #: Company Fax #: Company Address: WebSite Address Federal Identification # (TIN #) Contact Name: Contact Phone: Contact The City of Grand Rapids is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to establish budgetary and functional requirements for payment processing services as per the specifications contained herein. Notice: This is not a Request for Bid or a Request for Proposal Companies interested in providing a response to this RFI are required to be registered in the City s online procurement system, WebProcure. All solicitation information and documents shall be available to vendors registered in WebProcure system. If you are not currently registered, click on the following link to begin registration: If you are currently registered, but do not have access to your vendor profile login and password information, the Help Desk may be reached at (866) for assistance. All information submitted in a vendor s response is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act no.442, as amended, MCL or latest revision thereof. City of Grand Rapids Purchasing Department 300 Monroe, NW Room 720 Grand Rapids, MI Ph: (616) Buyer: Amie Merren

2 General Information and Instructions Introduction The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to gather information to assist the City in determining how best to fulfill payment processing service requirements described herein. No award will be made based on the results of this process. Should the City determine to proceed with a solicitation based on the responses to this RFI a separate Request for Proposal (RFP) shall be issued in accordance with City purchasing policies and procedures. The City of Grand Rapids does not guarantee any formal solicitation will be generated based on this RFI. A. Purpose and Scope Grand Rapids, a City of the State of Michigan, is requesting information from one or more qualified vendor(s) for the provision of merchant services, automated customer notification, electronic payment card acceptance, settling, and processing services for all City divisions. The services would include online payments, interactive voice response (IVR) phone payments, mobile payments, e-billing presentment, outbound customer notifications (including high-volume call-outs), debit card, credit card and echeck processing, refund, and void. The City would require that these services fully integrate with its existing systems and processes either directly or indirectly utilizing software/processes included and clearly identified within the RFI response. The City is seeking an all-in-one, fully-hosted solution from a single vendor in order to simplify contract oversight and administration, consolidate costs, and deliver a more seamless, convenient, and economical solution for our customers. This solution would include but not be limited to payments online, through IVR, web, on-site, mobile, and telephone with a customer service representative. B. Background and Current Situation The City of Grand Rapids currently provides its citizens and customers with several payment methods using a combination of several vendors, types of equipment, and merchant service providers. Customers are able to pay their bills with cash, check, money order, echeck, or credit/debit cards. The City has a set policy to charge customers a convenience fee for certain bill types, while any fees are absorbed by the City for others. The City s payment channels are as follows: USPS mailing check or money order. Automated bank draft echeck set up by the customer. Walk up in person at various locations. Telephone (IVR) interactive voice response. Web/Internet customer driven via City website. The departments within the City of Grand Rapids that currently use these services and the payment categories include, but are not limited to: Treasury the bulk of the City s billable services, property taxes, and parking tickets. Income Tax City income tax payments. Parking Services monthly parking cards and daily parking ramp fees. Refuse customer deposits for services and bag/tag sales. Water utility billing for water/sewer services. 2

3 Community Development customer CDBG loan payments. Planning and Development o Building Permitting/Inspection and Enforcement Library customer fines/fees (online payments Alliance Bancard) 311 Customer Center refuse, property tax, and parking ticket payments. Parks and Recreation payments for events/classes/team sponsorships. (Govolution) Golf Course payments for green fees, merchandise, and food/beverage sales. Police Department payments for impounds, tickets, and bonds. This RFI is being developed initially for these departments, but the City reserves the right to add or delete department use at the City s discretion. Daily payment settlement is provided by the following processors: First Data PayPal Datatel InSource Norwest Pay Pros JP Morgan Paymentech and JP Morgan PayConnexion ACI Worldwide (Online Resources and Official Payments) First American Payment Systems & Alliance Bancard The City of Grand Rapids has a combination of fees either absorbed by the City or charged back to the citizen. The types of fees have been both fixed and variable. We are interested in understanding how the fee based structure is established and the rates associated with the following. Interchange Fee Financial Services Fee Additional Fees per Transaction The City of Grand Rapids reserves the right to continue using one or more of the processors should the proposed solution not increase efficiencies. The City of Grand Rapids desires to: Update all physical card processing equipment including automated parking equipment. Remain PCI compliant. Rely on vendor to maintain PCI compliance and to complete any reporting requirements. Increase Web presence. Increase payment options by adding Text-n-Pay and better Mobile processing. Create a one-stop experience where the customer can pay multiple bills in one session. Explore opportunities for real time posting of payments via interfaces. Minimize the fees charged to the City. 3

4 Equipment: The City currently has 30 credit card terminals in service. The equipment in use today is mostly Verifone VX570 and First Data FD100 terminals with PCI compliant pin pads. With parking services, there are stand-alone parking ramp gates that are automated to accept credit card payments. The City employees up to 50 automated attendant. The middleware provider is Tender Retail and the physical equipment is Amano McGann. All of the parking ramp equipment will need to have the software/middleware adjusted to direct all payment processing to the new provider. The settlement bank accounts are already in place. The City would like all equipment and installations provided at no charge to the City. C. Responses / Submittals: RFI responses must be submitted in the following format. Each section of the response must be clearly identified with appropriate headings. Failure to submit the response as requested may be just cause for rejection of the response as nonresponsive. The City requires submittal of one original and two (2) hard copies of the RFI response, each properly labeled, as well as an electronic version provided on a flash drive, cd-rom, or other media. The Company name shall be entered in the areas provided at the bottom of each page where requested. Responses should contain the elements of information requested. All response pages should be appropriately numbered. All responses, documents, and information related to the proposer s response to this RFI shall be submitted with the response package prior to the submission deadline. Responses shall be received and date-stamped by the City s Purchasing Department no later 11:00 A.M. June 26, Responses must be shipped in one box or package with the following information prominently displayed: Purchasing Department - City of Grand Rapids 300 Monroe NW Room 720 Grand Rapids, MI RFI # Due: June 26, :00 A.M. Company Name: ##### If the response is sent by mail or commercial express service, the Respondent shall be responsible for actual delivery of the response to the City Purchasing Department before the deadline. All responses become the property of the City of Grand Rapids. 4

5 Cost of Preparation: The Respondent shall be responsible for any and all costs incurred in the development and submission of any response. The City assumes no contractual obligation as a result of the issuance of the RFI or the preparation or submission of a response by a Respondent. Responses to this Request for Information shall include: 1. Introduction Transmittal letter include a transmittal letter showing the company name, contact persons name, address, telephone number, and address. 2. Company Profile, Experience, and Qualifications The respondent should provide a company overview including number of years in service, location of business, and products and services offered. 3. The respondent shall list its prior experience deploying at least five (5) systems that are technologically similar to what is required by the City in this RFI. For each system identified above, please also include: a. Name of the entity, contact person, name and phone number. b. Overview of project implemented including all sources of payment. c. Identify what Departments/Divisions are using the services. d. What services are supplied credit card, field credit card use, PayPal, automatic debiting, etc. e. How many customers are currently using the services? f. What is the annual payment amount collected. g. Fees Charged. Please indicate if charges are passed on to the customer or paid by the government. h. Equipment/Platform used. i. Any other information pertinent to the services provided. 4. Product Description: Provide a narrative description of the solution proposed and how it would meet the City s goals and expectations. Vendor s description must describe the solution components, operational features, and key functional and technical specifications. Vendor must describe the specifics of the hosted services and integration methods that would be used for interfacing with the City s current systems. Vendor must identify the application software; explain the reporting available by division and revenue source; and provide examples of reports (on DVD or thumb drive, if applicable). Vendor must provide a list of any additional software, hardware, web servers, telco support, phone lines, bandwidth, etc., that the City must purchase in order to use, support, or enhance the proposed solution. 5

6 5. Project Implementation, Training, and Support: Provide a typical implementation plan and schedule that includes key tasks, milestones, and designated City and Vendor responsibilities. Describe all hardware, software, or virtual components that City staff would be required to support. Provide budgetary costs for all hardware, software and any services outlined within the RFI. Outline all training that would occur during the course of this project, including training location, cost, and topics. Include support options and costs with descriptions. All costs must be all inclusive of labor, hardware, software, hosting, testing, training, travel, payment processing and any other costs. Include the percentage to be charged to the customer and for what transactions the charges would be applied, i.e. no charge for bank drafts but a 2% transaction charge for credit card payments, etc. All costs, rates and fees submitted will be for budgetary estimates and shall not be binding. 6. Questionnaire: Respondents shall complete all questions and answer each as completely and succinctly as possible. a. Software Product name: b. Recommended/Required hardware and operating system platforms for deployment: c. What is the release version and how long has this product been on the market: d. What software development language(s) and tools are used to make and maintain the product: e. How many U.S. customer sites are currently using this version of the product: f. Has the proposed product been implemented by any Michigan municipal agencies: g. Describe the application software architecture (desktop, client/server, web, etc): h. Do you develop your own payment processing software solutions or does your firm resell/integrate solutions: i. Which payment processor are your affiliated with: j. How is your company paid (Fixed Fee, Fee per Transaction, other): k. Have you worked with multiple client software types: l. Do you have fully integrated mobile and text-n-pay capability: 6