CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of RFP 23-185, Bill Printing and Mailing Services, to Sebis Direct, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $500,000 and for a four-year term
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DEPARTMENT: Finance Department
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Mayer, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The City has approximately 45,000 water/wastewater customers and 60,000 electric customers. While a significant number of customers have moved to receiving their utility bills electronically, the City still mails approximately 30,000 hard copy utility bills monthly.
In addition to the bills, the City also mails courtesy delinquency notices and final bills. Therefore, it is extremely important the City contract with a vendor who has the capacity to receive, print, insert, and prepare delivery to the post office daily.
The last time the City conducted an RFP to hire a vendor for these services was in 2009. The contract was awarded to AB Data for a four-year term with two, two-year options to extend. The contract ended on December 31, 2017. Since then, the City has been waiving the Procurement Code to extend the contract. The intention was to wait to hire a new bill print and mail vendor after the City implemented a new utility billing software.
However, the timeline for the new utility billing software has been repeatedly delayed. The current timeline is to conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2024 and 2025 and implement the new software in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Knowing that a new utility billing software may not be live until 2027, staff have determined it is not appropriate to continue delaying a new procurement for bill print and mail services.
In September 2023, the City issued RFP 23-185, Bill Printing and Mailing Services to hire a qualified vendor to perform bill production, print, insert and mail services related to the issuance of utility bills and courtesy reminders and non-utility bills and statements.
DISCUSSION:
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Advertisement Date: |
09/05/2023 |
Notices Sent: |
75 |
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Opening Date: |
10/11/2023 |
Planholders: |
27 |
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Proposals Received: |
10 |
Proposals were received from the following vendors:
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AB Data, Ltd |
KUBRA Data Transfer Ltd |
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D4 Solutions |
One2One Communications LLC |
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Doxim |
OSG |
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DP2 Billing Solutions |
Sebis Direct Inc. |
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InfoSend Inc |
Third Millennium Associates Inc |
A selection team comprised of staff from the Finance, and IT Department evaluated the proposals, which were scored based upon the criteria set forth in the RFP:
1. Capability, Capacity and Qualifications of the Proposer (30%)
2. Suitability and Quality of the Program (40%)
3. Deliverables and Reporting (20%)
4. Outcomes to be Achieved (10%)
After review and scoring of the proposals, the selection committee invited the top three vendors, Doxium, DP2 Billing Solutions, and Sebis Direct, to attend interviews. Following the completion of the interviews, the selection committee rescored the vendors. The vendor with the highest qualification score, Sebis Direct, is recommended for award. The table below provides a summary of the final qualification scores:
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Vendor |
Qualification Score |
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Sebis Direct Inc. |
89.0 |
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DP2 Billing Solutions |
85.8 |
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Doxium |
80.6 |
The term of the contract is four years March 1, 2024, through February 28, 2028, with four, one-year options to extend.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP #: N/A
Utility bill printing and mailing services are expensed to the Printing Services accounts listed below. In 2024 the Finance Department budgeted $195,000 for printing services. The requested award is within budget for 2024, and staff will ensure the out years of this award are properly budgeted in future years.
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Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
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15171300-531310 |
Electric Utility Fund |
$100,000 |
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15171500-531310 |
Water Utility Fund |
$95,000 |