2026-15_Online_Tax_Sales_Specifications.pdf

SPECIFICATIONS

The City of Newark, Department of Finance, is soliciting sealed proposals to host online tax sales for the City of Newark. The City conducts two (2) tax sales per year, from approximately

100 to 7500 items. The contract shall be for a period not to exceed (1) year from the date of award, subject to all applicable requirements of N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1 and the Local Public Contracts

Law.

Proposals should be in the form of a flat dollar to be charged for each item. For example, $1, $5, $10, $15 or any amount in between. Proposer shall also identify all component charges and fees, including any setup, hosting, implementation, training, support, data-transfer, payment-processing, or incidental fees. No fees shall be charged directly to bidders or lien purchasers except as expressly permitted by law.

PLEASE RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATIONS WITH A BRIEF

DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICES OFFERED PERTAINING TO THE

REQUIREMENT. WHEN RESPONDING PLEASE ENUMERATE RESPONSES TO

CORRESPOND WITH THE STATEMENTS/QUESTIONS BELOW.

1. Tax lien sale line items shall be publicly available on the vendor's website free of charge without requiring registration, membership, or payment prior to viewing. Bidding shall open no earlier than upon publication of the tax lien sale notice or display advertisement required by law.

2. Bidder registration shall be online and completed prior to submitting a bid. The municipality shall have the discretion to permit bidders to register in person at the Tax Collector's office.

3. Prior to placing a bid, each bidder must post a forfeitable deposit via ACH or other method approved by the Tax Collector. The deposit must be held by the municipality, and not by the vendor. A successful bidder who fails to make payment on a lien certificate shall forfeit the deposit amount to the municipality. Any unused portion of the deposit must be promptly returned to the bidder after conclusion of the tax sale. Deposits may also be submitted in person at the Tax

Collector's discretion.

4. Detailed online instructions on how to utilize the website.

5. The ability to obtain and electronically submit forms, including W-9s and bidder information sheets.

6. A help desk for tax collectors and bidders through the Internet, e-mail, and at least one toll-free number.

7. A dedicated telephone hotline for Tax Collector use until the sale's completion.

8. Web-based training, including online tutorials, for bidders and municipal officials responsible for administering the sale.

9. A method by which bidders can practice bidding on the website.

10. Available in-person training for municipalities, including a working demonstration of the website and overall system.

11. Online display of winning bids immediately upon the auction's completion.

12. Notification of winning bidders by email at the bidder's registered email address.

13. Provision for electronic transfer of information and data to and from the municipality, including Tax Collector access to remove and update the tax lien sale list in real time.

14. A transaction log for the Tax Collector to review all bid submissions and results, along with a detailed history of all funds transferred.

15. A standard complaint procedure for both the municipality and bidders, with a complaint log maintained by the vendor and available for the municipality's inspection.

16. The Tax Collector shall have the discretion to select either direct or proxy bidding for the online sale. In a direct bid auction, participants enter a bid for an item at either a specific rate of interest, from 0% up to 18% in increments of 1%, or a specific dollar amount the bidder is willing to pay as a premium, in increments of $100, with the successful bidder awarded the lien at the bid entered. Participants in proxy bid auctions enter their lowest acceptable interest rate or highest acceptable premium. The auction system monitors other bids and enters competitive bids on the bidder's behalf until the bidder wins the auction or the bidder's minimum interest rate or maximum premium bid is reached.

17. All liens shall be auctioned individually, such that a bid will be placed on each lien with a winning bidder determined for each lien. Bulk sale of liens is prohibited. Bid amounts shall not be visible to the public or to the municipality while the auction is in progress.

18. No officer, employee, or independent contractor of the vendor may participate in the auction.

19. All bid information, participant financial data, transaction logs, sale results, bidder registration records, and related tax sale data shall be deemed the property of the municipality.

20. The online tax sale platform shall enable the Tax Collector to accept and process ACH and wire payments, as well as certified checks or cash if permitted by the Tax Collector. If the Tax

Collector accepts certified checks or cash payments, the Tax Collector must immediately input data into the online tax sale system to reflect such payment. Payment must be made within the time required by applicable regulation and/or as directed by the Tax Collector.

21. The vendor shall notify all registered bidders of any properties that become available again for bidding due to non-payment by a successful bidder. If the parcel is resold, interest shall be recalculated to the new sale date.

22. The vendor's fee for conducting the sale shall not exceed the fee collected by the Tax

Collector under N.J.S.A. 54:5-38. The vendor shall only charge fees to the municipality and not to bidders or lien purchasers. The proposer shall certify compliance with N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1(g) and all applicable fee limitations.

1.0 QUALIFICATIONS

Prosper shall identify and document the basis on which it qualifies as a nationally recognized electronic municipal tax lien service.

Minimum Qualification Requirement: To be considered qualified, the proposer must satisfy N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1(a), including one of the following:

• Presently conducts internet-based electronic municipal tax lien sales in at least two states;

• Has conducted internet-based electronic municipal tax lien sales in the past two years that included bidders from more than one state; or

• Affirmatively markets a system for performing internet-based electronic municipal tax lien sales in more than one state.

New Jersey Experience: Proposer shall also describe its experience conducting online tax sales in New Jersey, including municipalities served, number of tax sales conducted, line-item volumes, bidder participation, implementation timelines, and any tax collector references.

2.0 VENDOR CYBERSECURITY AND INTERNAL CONTROLS

PLEASE RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATIONS WITH A BRIEF

DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICES OFFERED PERTAINING TO THE

REQUIREMENT. WHEN RESPONDING, PLEASE ENUMERATE RESPONSES TO

CORRESPOND WITH THE STATEMENTS/QUESTIONS BELOW.

Subsection (r) of N.J.A.C 5:33-1.1 sets forth a cybersecurity framework that must be followed by an online tax sale vendor. Elements addressed in the proposal must include:

1. System hosting, including whether the system is hosted on dedicated servers or in a

FedRAMP Moderate Impact Level Authorized Cloud, and a description of hosting-provider credentials and contractual controls.

2. Encryption of stored and transmitted financial information and personal identification information.

3. Password policy, access controls, and staff security education.

4. Risk assessment, vulnerability management, stress testing, patching, and regular security updates.

5. Background checks for staff with access to financial information or personal identifying information.

6. Limitations on the maintenance and use of personal identifying information, including prohibition on the use of Social Security numbers as system identifiers.

7. Information backup, information disposal, and disaster recovery plans and procedures, including testing frequency.

8. Cybersecurity incident response plan, computer security incident response team (CSIRT), and immediate notification to the municipality of any cybersecurity incident, whether or not the incident results in confirmed data compromise.

9. Annual evidence of satisfactory internal controls to the City Chief Financial Officer and

Tax Collector, including an unqualified SOC 2 report addressing Type I and Type II control effectiveness, as required by N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1(s).

10. Data ownership, data return, data export, and transition procedures upon contract expiration, termination, or transition to a successor vendor.

3.0 PAYMENT TERMS

Although total contract costs will not be the determining factor, budget or allocations of funds will be considered.

a.) For the services set forth in the Scope of Work, the proposer shall submit a complete cost proposal for hosting and administering online tax sale services during the contract term, including the proposed per-line-item fee and all component charges.

b.) The cost proposal must identify any setup, implementation, hosting, support, training, data-transfer, payment-processing, administrative, or incidental fees.

c.) The proposer shall certify that its fee structure complies with N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1(g) and

N.J.S.A. 54:5-38 and that no fee shall be charged directly to bidders or lien purchasers except as expressly permitted by law. Vendor payment shall be subject to the City purchase order process and all applicable City payment procedures.

4.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA

Category

Weight Representative Factors

Cost/Fee

Structure/Compliance with

Fee Restrictions

35% Per-line-item fee; full disclosure of component charges; compliance with vendor-fee cap; absence of unauthorized bidder/lien purchaser charges;

reasonableness of total cost.

Technical Approach, Platform Functionality, 30% Completeness and responsiveness of proposal;

Implementation, Training, and Support platform functionality; real-time Tax Collector access;

bidder registration; payment processing; transaction logs;

complaint log;

implementation schedule;

training; help desk and tax collector hotline.

Qualifications, Experience, NJ Municipal Tax Sale

Experience, Cybersecurity, and Internal Controls

35% Satisfaction of minimum qualification requirements;

New Jersey municipal tax sale experience; ability to handle Newark sale volumes;

references; cybersecurity framework; SOC 2/internal controls; disaster recovery;

data ownership; audit and transition capacity.

5.0 EVALUATION PROCEDURE

The Selection Process and Evaluation Process

• It is intended that this RFP describe the requirements and response format in sufficient detail to secure comparable proposals. Proposers shall submit proposals that are complete, thorough, and accurate. Sales brochures and similar materials should not be included unless directly responsive to a specific RFP requirement.

• All proposals will be evaluated by the City and/or its consultants or representatives. The

City may conduct oral interviews with finalists to clarify information provided in the proposals. The City will make its final selection based upon the criteria set forth in this

RFP and the factors deemed by the City to be in its best interests.

• The award shall be made to the most responsive and responsible proposer whose proposal is determined to be most advantageous to the City, price and other factors considered, in accordance with the Local Public Contracts Law, competitive contracting requirements, and the RFP criteria.

• No proposal information or results will be provided by telephone. No proposal may be withdrawn for 60 calendar days after the public opening date. Late proposals, late amendments, and late withdrawal requests shall be void, regardless of when mailed.

Conditional proposals will not be accepted.

• The City reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal deemed non-responsive and to waive minor variances or irregularities if such waiver is in the best interest of the City and does not materially alter RFP requirements or excuse compliance with applicable legal requirements.

• In addition to the Model Evaluation Criteria set forth in N.J.A.C. 5:34-4.2, proposals will be evaluated and scored on the basis of the criteria and relative weights listed in this RFP.

6.0 CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

• The contract shall be reviewed and approved by the Tax Collector prior to execution as to terms, including satisfaction of N.J.A.C. 5:33-1.1.

• The contract shall be awarded by the governing body, notwithstanding contract value.

• The contract shall contain adequate indemnification provisions protecting the municipality against losses incurred as a result of vendor actions or inactions.

• The vendor shall be responsible for the errors and omissions of its employees, contractors, agents, and system providers.

• Upon reasonable notice, the vendor shall permit audit or examination of internal controls as required by applicable regulation and contract terms.

• All disputes shall be submitted in writing in accordance with the contract; New Jersey law shall govern the contract and the relationship between the municipality and vendor.

• The contract shall include provisions for dispute resolution, service of process, application of New Jersey law, termination for failure to perform, data return/export, and transition cooperation.

COST SHEET

Please provide a detailed cost overview for hosting online tax sale services during the contract term, including anticipated sales from approximately 100 to 7,500 line items. The cost sheet must list all component charges and fees, including any per-line-item fee, setup fee, hosting fee, training fee, support fee, data-transfer fee, payment-processing fee, implementation fee, and any other cost to the City. The proposer must certify that no fees will be charged directly to bidders or lien purchasers except as expressly permitted by law.