2-Addendum 1 4446-FINAL.pdf

CITY OF NORWALK

PURCHASING DEPARTMENT

12272024

The bid listed below has had addenda issued. The document number to request will be the same as the project number indicated below.

Project # Addendum # # of Pages Original Issue Date

4446 1 3 08/12/2025

Addendum Issued Date 08/18/2025

Project Number 4446

Addenda Number 1

Electronic Deadline 2:00 PM 08/27/2025

Project Title Payment Processing Services

This Addendum is a contract document modifying previously issued documents, which remain in full force except as specifically modified below.

Quotations appearing on the Proposal are to reflect the provisions of this Addendum. Failure to acknowledge receipt of this Addendum in the space provided on the response sheet may subject the candidate to disqualification.

RESPONSES TO SUBMITTED QUESTIONS

1 Question: What are the primary drivers for issuing this RFP? Is the City looking to replace an existing vendor due to contract expiration, functionality limitations, or service concerns?

Response: Primary drivers are twofold: 1/ service concerns with current provider; 2/ costs of the service

2 Question: Are any departments beyond the Tax Office included in the scope of this project?

If so, could you specify which departments and confirm whether their payment volumes should be included in our pricing assumptions?

Response: No other departments. Not applicable.

3 Question: Is an existing integration with Quality Data Services required at the time of proposal submission, or would a commitment to integrating with QDS during implementation be sufficient?

Response: Existing integration is strongly preferred. We would expect the awarded

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RESPONSES TO SUBMITTED QUESTIONS

proposer to already integrate with QDS. We do not want to be the first test case with QDS.

4 Question: Could the City provide the following annual data (for the Tax Department and any other relevant departments if applicable):

• Number of transactions by payment method (credit card, debit card, e-check)

• Associated revenue per method

• Breakdown by card type (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)

Response: We do not have these numbers available at this time, if obtainable it will be released in another addendum.

5 Question: We understand that citizens currently pay a service fee to make payments.

Does the City intend to continue the government service fee (convenience fee) model, or is it considering a shift toward absorbing transaction fees (e.g., through interchange-plus or blended pricing)?

We ask this because the pricing schedule references interchange pricing, which typically applies when the client absorbs the cost.

Response: No intention of absorbing fees. Convenience or service fees will continue to be paid by the user (customer) not the City.

6 Question: What factors are driving the proposed implementation schedule?

Are there regulatory, fiscal-year, staffing, or system migration timelines we should be aware of when proposing an implementation plan?

Response: We want to implement the change as soon as possible. The slowest month of the year for us is November.

7 Question: Question #4 of the IT Information Security Questionnaire asks," Are you using data from the City in order provide the services/product to the City?". Can you please clarify this question? For example, if the City wants the vendor to host, say the tax bill, the vendor will need to get billing data from the City. Therefore, can you please provide some guidance on this question, and if the City will want the processor to host billing information?

Response: Not sure. As I understand it, the successful service provider will be integrating with our software vendor and using data from their site.

8 Question: Can you confirm whether the City wants to pass along Service Fess, as it currently does, or if it wants to absorb fees? It is unclear in the RFP whether the City is wanting Pricing to be quoted as service fees assessed to the payer, or if it is asking for fees being invoiced to the CIty.

Response: The City does not want to absorb fees. We want to continue to pass along service fees to the user. We are looking for the best price for the taxpayer in response to many taxpayer inquiries about this.

9 Question: Would it be possible to get volume information (number of items and

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dollar amounts) broken down by each department and by payment type (i.e., debit card, credit card and electronic check/ACH)?

Response: See question 4 and its associated responsed 10 Question: Can the City please provide details on the total annual collections for the payments in-scope for this RFP? For each department - the total transaction count and dollar volume of transactions by payment method (Credit Card, Debit Card, ACH, eCheck, PayPal, Venmo, etc.).

Response: There is only one department and this information is not available at this time. See question 4 and its associated response.

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