ESBD_389298_1736479827359_RFP #25-15 Debt Collection Services.pdf

RFP 25-15 Debt Collection Services 1

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) #25-15

DEBT COLLECTION SERVICES

PROPOSED SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

This schedule may be modified or changed at the sole discretion of SJCCD.

DATE ACTION

January 10, 2025 RFP issued.

January 21, 2025

Questions and/or Clarifications Deadline

Requests for questions and clarifications regarding RFP documents shall be submitted through the Questions tab in IonWave by 5:00 p.m. Central Time to be considered.

January 23, 2025 Issuance of final addendum, if necessary.

January 30, 2025

Proposal Submission Deadline

All proposal documents shall be submitted before 2:00 p.m. Central Time in IonWave.

The RFP opening will take place digitally through IonWave immediately following time due. A list of vendors who submitted will be made available upon written request to the Procurement Contact.

February 17, 2025 – February 20, 2025

Virtual Presentations / Interviews (top-ranked firms only) “may” be scheduled within these dates.

March/April 2025 Recommendation of award and approval to enter into contract.

Award will be announced after approval received.

E-Bidding Website: IonWave:

https://sanjac.ionwave.net

PROCUREMENT CONTACT

Farrah Khalil, Buyer 281-998-6326 farrah.khalil@sjcd.edu https://sanjac.ionwave.net/ mailto:farrah.khalil@sjcd.edu

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SCOPE OF WORK

1. General

San Jacinto Community College District (“SJCCD” or “College”) is soliciting sealed proposals from qualified firms to provide debt collection services.

SJCCD reserves the right to select one or more companies based on the best value, as determined by SJCCD, overall response(s) submitted to the College, with consideration given to proposals that best meet the desired scope of work and specifications set forth in this request for proposals.

All work performed must be in compliance with existing federal, state and local codes, statutes and requirements.

SJCCD is a public community college district organized under Chapter 130 of the Texas Education Code and is tax exempt in the State of Texas.

2. Debt Collection Services - Contractor Requirements

Contractor requirements shall include, but are not limited to the following:

a. Promptly undertake, through proper and lawful means, the collection of all accounts, including principal, interest, collection costs, and legal fees, referred by the College without regard to the amount.

i. The College will not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by the Contractor in collection of accounts outside of the percentage fee collected.

b. Adhere to all state and federal regulations that are applicable to collection firms.

c. Assist the College in all aspects relating to collection of delinquent tuition accounts and other College receivables.

d. Utilize best practices to achieve maximum recovery of accounts referred for collection.

Best practices shall include, but are not limited to, telephone calls, mail efforts, calls to references, and use of national credit bureau reports in skip tracing procedures.

e. Provide the College with monthly reports that include collections, adjustments, and corrections.

f. Abolish Contractor fee(s) if funds are collected through the Public Employee Lien, National Guard/Reserves or GI Bill Repayment Programs, etc.

g. Abolish Contractor fee(s) when an account(s) is reduced, withdrawn, or canceled by the College.

i. No collection fee(s) will be due to the Contractor for the amount of reduction, deferment, or cancellations based upon verbal or written notification from the College.

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ii. A detailed itemization of all reduction, deferment, or cancellation activities, in compliance with the due diligence requirements, shall be provided to the College at no additional fee(s).

h. Secure written consent of the College before accepting a compromise settlement for any/all accounts.

i. Suspend action on any account upon receipt of notification of bankruptcy, returning all information to the College without penalty or cost to the College. This includes accounts where legal action may have been taken.

j. Review the Student Enrollment Responsibility Agreement (SERA) and meets its legal requirements for collections.

k. In the event legal proceedings are undertaken by the Contractor, copies of summons, complaints, and of any judgment shall be provided to the College within fifteen (15) days of the service and/or judgment.

l. Contractor shall not retain any account for more than one (1) year from the date of placement unless promised payments are being made or account is in the process of litigation or the College or debtor disputes the account balance.

m. Contractor shall not alter the amount placed except as authorized by the College or as required by law.

3. Debt Collection Services - College Requirements

College requirements shall include, but are not limited to the following:

a. The College will mail to the last known address of respective debtor a written demand for payment prior to referring the accounts to the Contractor. Each debtor will be informed that failure to pay will cause his/her account to be referred to a collection agency. The College will add to the account, upon referral, contingent collection fees as mandated by federal regulations or contract.

b. The College reserves the right to obtain third-party services prior to sending students to collection agency.

c. The College will not knowingly refer an account to the Contractor when the debtor is presently a student, serving in the United States Armed Forces, Vista, The Peace Corps or otherwise eligible for deferment. If such an account is referred, Contractor shall not be obligated to accept it.

d. The College will forward accounts which have previously been placed with another professional collection agency and returned. These second placements will be identified by the College as such.

RFP 25-15 Debt Collection Services 4

4. Reporting

a. Contractor shall furnish to the College by the 20th of each month, an electronic statement of account as of the end of the previous month identifying student’s name, identification number, original balance, collection fees, payment received, and outstanding balance in a format that is acceptable by the College.

b. Contractor shall maintain a written record of all collection activity on all accounts referred to the Contractor by the College.

5. Special Requirements

a. Contractor shall not institute legal proceedings in the name of SJCCD without the expressed written authorization from the College. The College may request the placement of non-sufficient funds (NSF) check with appropriate law enforcement agency. Any such request will be in the form of written notification from the College.

b. Contractor shall have and exercise sole exclusive authority and control over the method and manner of the performance of its obligations hereunder. Contractor agrees to maintain strict confidentiality concerning all records, placements, reports, etc. having to do with this RFP.

c. Contractor shall provide immediate electronic responses to inquiries made by the College with regards to the status of specific accounts. In an effort to service students who need to register, certain inquiries may require response within an hour.

d. Contractor shall provide the College with a link to fast, efficient, and secured transfer of collections account data and have the ability to accept placement of accounts in any format both electronic and manual.

e. Contractor shall not assign any interest in the contract and shall not transfer any interest, whatsoever, to another agency (whether by assignment or notification) without written consent to the College.

f. Contractor covenants that it presently has no interest and shall not acquire any interest, direct or indirect, which would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of services hereunder.

g. Contractor shall allow the College to inspect all records to all students’ accounts including review of the Contractor’s procedures and forms at any time during regular business hours

6. College Locations

a. District Offices – 4620 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, TX 77504

b. Central Campus – 8060 Spencer Hwy, Pasadena, TX 77505

c. North Campus – 5800 Uvalde, Houston, TX 77049

d. South Campus – 13735 Beamer Road, Houston, TX 77089

e. Maritime – 3700 Old Hwy 146, La Porte, TX 77571

f. Generation Park Campus – 13455 Lockwood Rd., Houston, TX 77044

RFP 25-15 Debt Collection Services 5

g. Edge Center – 13150 Space Center Blvd., Houston, TX 77059

7. Supplier Diversity Reporting

SJCCD does not give preference to historically underutilized or small business in the awarding of contracts. However, if the awarded contractor utilizes a subcontractor(s) to fulfill the proposed requirements, the contractor will be required to track and report the amount paid to each subcontractor along with the subcontractor’s supplier diversity classification. This information will only be used for the purpose of statistical tracking. The reportable classifications include:

• African American

• Asian Pacific American

• Caucasian

• Hispanic American

• Native American

• Small Business

• Veteran Owned

• Minority Owned

• Woman Owned

• LGBTQ

• Other / Non-disclosed

8. Contract Term

The contract term, if any, for contract(s) awarded from this solicitation will be two (2) years with renewal options of three (3) one-year time periods subject to the termination provisions as further described in the sample contract terms and conditions on the Attachments tab section of this solicitation.

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EVALUATION CRITERIA

An Evaluation Committee will review all proposals according to the criteria stated herein. The committee’s evaluations will be based on all available information, including qualification statements, subsequent interviews/presentations, reports, discussions, reference checks, and other appropriate review.

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Factor Points

Section 1: Qualifications and Experience of Firm 15

Section 2: Qualifications and Experience of Personnel 10

Section 3: Scope Understanding, Approach, and Management 30

Section 4: References 10

Section 5: Exceptions to Terms and Conditions 5

Section 6: Price Proposal* 30

Total 100

* The price proposal for each firm will be evaluated in comparison with the other firms’ price proposals;

however, the number of points possible may be evaluated in proportion to each respondent’s evaluation score received for Section 2: Scope Understanding, Approach, and Management

The College’s Evaluation Committee will evaluate and rank each submittal based on the criteria detailed above. The highest rated proposer(s) evaluated by the Committee may be invited to presentations / interview with the Evaluation Committee. If interviews occur, they will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Presentation / Interview Max Points Presentation 20 Interview 20 Total 40

If interviews are held, the final score for selection of a firm will be obtained by combining the Evaluation Committee’s total points of the qualifications, price, and interviews as follows:

Qualifications and Price 100 points maximum Interviews 40 points maximum Total 140 points maximum

RFP 25-15 Debt Collection Services 7

PROPOSAL RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

All proposal response requirements must be submitted through IonWave. The system does not allow a proposal submission unless all requirements have been met, including Attributes and Response Attachments. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following:

Written Proposal:

Written Proposal shall be submitted as a Response Attachment in IonWave and shall include responses to Section 1 – 3. Written Proposals shall be a single PDF document with a maximum of twenty (20) pages (numbered 1-20). Sections must be in order and clearly labeled as outlined below.

Include a coversheet that includes your firm’s name, representative, and contact information.

Coversheet does not count towards the 20-page limit.

1. Qualifications and Experience of Firm

a. Include a description of the firm including firm’s history and size. Provide information regarding how long the proposer has provided the services requested in this RFP.

b. Describe previous experience with SJCCD or other public entities and/or colleges. Include how many public entities and/or college accounts are in your current client base. Did your company perform satisfactorily to the terms and conditions of the last award given to your company? Were there any discrepancies, issues or complaints reported concerning your organization’s performance?

c. Provide your firm’s experience in collection services as outlined in this RFP for a period of not less than five years. Include a detailed description of similar projects completed and/or presently engaged.

d. What is your firm’s collection success percentage rate for the following:

i. New Accounts (90-180 days)

ii. Old Accounts (over 180 days)

e. Describe your organization related to other competitors who may be submitting proposals. How do you differ? What are your strengths? How do you perceive that your service philosophy differs from other organizations?

2. Qualifications and Experience of Personnel

a. Include a project-staffing plan and organizational chart for all proposed key staff members who will be assigned to this project. Identify their respective responsibilities for this project. If personnel substitutions are contemplated on a contingency basis, they should also be identified.

RFP 25-15 Debt Collection Services 8

b. Provide brief resumes for key staff members outlining the qualifications and experience directly related to this RFP.

c. Describe the training that is provided to personnel. Who undergoes the training and how often?

3. Scope Understanding, Approach, and Management

a. Describe how your debt collection services meet the scope listed in this RFP. Address any variances between your proposal and the scope.

b. Describe specific methods of achieving collection objectives. Include the priorities for achieving the objectives of the scope of services.

c. At a minimum, provide or describe the following items:

• A sample of the letter(s) that will be used for collection notices.

• A sample of the dialogue used during telephone notices.

• Method used for “skiptracing” delinquent accounts.

• Describe your accessibility to various data bases.

• Amount of training telephone collectors receive.

• Expected College staff’s involvement in accomplishing the scope of services.

• Payment schedule for funds that will be remitted to the College.

• Method of keeping accounts from being commingled.

d. List any value-added services your company provides. If these services are not included in the price proposal, clearly indicate the respective fees for these additional services.

4. References

Include references in the Attributes tab in IonWave for the following:

a. The proposer shall provide at least five (5) references on recent projects for which the proposer's company is currently providing or has provided the same type and level of service required in this RFP within the past three years. Include the name, telephone number, and valid email address of a reference person who may be contacted for further information. It is highly preferable that these references are other colleges or public sector accounts comparable in size or larger.

b. All references will be contacted by email. Evaluations will be based on responses received from references. It is advisable to notify your references ahead of time that a reference will be requested by email.

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5. Exceptions to Terms and Conditions

An exception includes any addition, deletion, or other modification. Submit exceptions to terms and conditions as an attachment in the Response Attachment tab in IonWave as follows:

a. If you select Yes to “EXCEPTIONS TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS” under the Attributes tab, you must submit a written summary of each exception to this RFP, including the scope, specifications, and/or sample contract, as applicable. The summary shall include supporting justification that clearly identifies the specific reference, page, section, and sub-section of the change, relevance of the change, the vendor’s rationale for the change, and benefit to the College for accepting the change for the submitted exceptions to be considered in the evaluation.

b. The College’s evaluation of submitted exceptions will address the quantity of exceptions, type of exceptions, and justification(s) for exceptions. Fewer exceptions and/or exceptions with a lower risk to the College, if accepted, will equate to a higher score.

c. Any exceptions not explicitly stated may not be considered during contract negotiations, if any. The submittal of exceptions to terms and conditions does not guarantee the College’s acceptance of exceptions. The College reserves the right to accept or reject any exceptions as necessary to negotiate a mutually beneficial contract.

6. Price Proposal

a. Proposer shall furnish all resources and services necessary and required to perform the debt collection services, in accordance with the scope of services and the general terms and conditions of the sample contract documents.

b. Proposers shall propose a commission rate for both 1st and 2nd accounts receivable referrals, as it is the College’s intention to make one or two awards relating to accounts receivable. The College does not intend to award both 1st and 2nd accounts receivable referrals to the same vendor.

• One award will be made for first referral.

• The College reserves the right to make an award for the second referral concurrently within award of the first referral, or at any time during the first two (2) year contract period following an award for the first referral.

c. Proposed fee (to be paid to SJCCD) shall be based on money actually collected and paid to the Proposers or SJCCD.

d. Include pricing on the Line Items tab in IonWave for the following:

• Debt collection services for delinquent student accounts (tuition and fees) without the filing of lawsuits

1. First Referral %

2. Second Referral %

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• Debt collection services for non-sufficient funds student accounts without the filing of lawsuits

3. First Referral %

4. Second Referral %

• Debt collection services for non-sufficient funds student accounts with submission to appropriate law enforcement agency

5. First Referral %

6. Second Referral %

Upload a Response Attachment document, if needed, to provide details of any costs not listed in the Line Items section. Any costs not explicitly stated in a proposal response shall not be charged to the College.

The College reserves the right to consider pricing submitted through the Line Items, Line Notes, and Response Attachments. If there is a discrepancy among the Line Items, Line Notes, and Response Attachments, the Line Items pricing shall prevail.

List of Response Attachments:

Include the following documents in the Response Attachments tab in IonWave.

All forms are available to download under the Attachments tab in IonWave. Except when listed as Optional, all Response Attachment documents are required and failure to provide a required document may deem the proposer non-responsive and disqualify the response from consideration for award.

1. Written Proposal

2. Conflict of Interest form

3. Proof of Insurance Requirements

4. Exceptions to Terms and Conditions (optional)

5. Additional Costs Not Included in Pricing (optional)