Cost_Formula-reward_average_cost_for_RFP.docx

This document is a cost formula reference guide related to the City of New Haven's Citywide Payment Modernization RFP in Connecticut. The RFP seeks proposals from qualified vendors to provide a unified payment ecosystem replacing fragmented, department-specific payment systems across municipal operations. The system must support mobile wireless payment acceptance via handheld devices, digital wallet and online portal functionality, peer-to-peer platforms, text-to-pay capabilities, and mandatory integration with the Munis ERP and other existing system platforms. The platform is required to accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and major credit cards, with ACH and wire transfer capabilities. The objective is to standardize payment operations across all city departments while eliminating operational fragmentation and reducing administrative burden.

The cost evaluation methodology outlined in this document uses a "Reward Low Cost" scoring formula to calculate point values based on proposal pricing. Under this approach, the lowest overall cost proposal receives the maximum points available, while subsequent proposals receive proportionally fewer points calculated by dividing the lowest cost by each proposal's cost and multiplying by the total possible points. The City has specified a requirement for a single universal payment processing fee of 2.5% or less across all payment methods. This cost-based evaluation ensures that pricing competitiveness is weighted appropriately against other proposal evaluation criteria, with the formula demonstrating that proposals significantly exceeding the lowest cost will receive substantially reduced scoring.