ESBD_File_338348_1 RFP Specifications v11.pdf

Williamson County Request for Proposal

Armored Courier Services

Proposal Specifications

Williamson County is soliciting proposals for Armored Courier Service to begin January 12, 2024, for the transport of cash, checks and general mail, for delivery from the County Treasurer’s Office and Tax

Assessor-Collector’s Office to a designated bank or the bank’s “Vault”. Contract term is for three years, with one optional 12-month renewal.

Armored courier service is being considered under the terms and conditions outlined below but these specifications should not be considered as a complete list of possible needs. Using your expertise in providing secured transport of departmental bank deposits, you may add to the response additional items that should be addressed in establishing a contract for timely and efficient services.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Williamson County is an urban county located in the central part of Texas. Georgetown serves as the

County seat, serving a population of approximately 650,000 residents.

Williamson County is transitioning to a system whereby items are picked up from locations around the

County and delivered to the County Treasurer’s office and Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office for further processing using internal personnel. Items from the County Treasurer’s office and Tax Assessor-

Collector’s Office will then need to be transported to the Vault.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Only cash and associated documentation will need to be transported to the Vault. All items are receipted and placed into sealed bags prior to expected pick-up.

Williamson County is interested in considering the option of using cash management safes to streamline the cash deposit process and to reduce the frequency of transportation.

Appendix A of this RFP lists required location pickups, the days of pickup, and the location to which items are delivered from each location. Appendix A additionally sets forth information regarding cash volume.

All sealed bags for deposit are to be dropped off daily, no later than 3:00 pm, and no later than the next business day after bags are picked up, at:

Wells Fargo Vault Services

Austin, TX or San Antonio, TX

The County will reserve the right to change the deposit location, subject to negotiation of appropriate terms with the provider.

Approximately once weekly, cash will need to be picked up at the Wells Fargo cash vault and delivered to the Treasurer’s office, Tax Assessor-Collector’s office, a Justice of the Peace office, and/or the Justice

Center.

The Successful Respondent shall comply with all county, state and federal regulations applicable to performing work within public thoroughfares and rights-of-way. The Successful Respondent shall be licensed to do business in the State of Texas and shall provide copy of License with proposal.

The Successful Respondent must comply with all Immigration and Naturalization Laws as are currently in force on each potential employee. Employee or Subcontractors are to be registered with the United

States Citizenship and Immigration Service. The Successful Respondent must provide a photocopy of the

Alien Registration Card to Williamson County prior to any of its employees/subcontractors being permitted to work under this Contract on Williamson County property. The Successful Respondent must also inform Williamson County of all Immigration and Naturalization status changes and arrests of its employee/subcontractors working under this contract on County property for the duration of the

Contract. All employees and staff are subject to background checks by the County at any time.

STATEMENT OF WORK

A. Objectives

1. Ensure that bags are safely transported from individual County locations to their assigned destination in a timely manner.

2. Minimize the time, labor and expense associated with getting check and cash deposits from point of sale to ultimate deposit.

3. Establish effective communication with the armored courier vendor regarding schedule, schedule changes, and any other concerns.

B. Scope

1. The scope of this procurement is to provide check and cash handling options to Williamson

County.

2. This RFP is intended to provide options for the County to consider in determining the most effective and cost-efficient manner of achieving its objectives. This may include utilizing

County employees for some portions of item delivery between County departments.

3. Williamson County appreciates the Respondent’s expertise and capabilities. The intent of this RFP is to allow vendors to provide the best solution given the requirements set forth by the County. This approach enables the County to take advantage of the most beneficial system available while allowing fair evaluation of all responses and remaining within standard purchasing procedures established by the County.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

A. Process and Procedures-Please describe your ability to provide each of the features listed in the items below. If any of these features are not available, please describe why the feature is not available and what alternative solution you will offer.

1. Bags should be picked up from designated locations between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm Monday through Friday as set out in Appendix A. Drivers will give department contact a receipt for

(or sign for) sealed bags. The drivers will not accept unsealed bags from County locations.

This element is subject to revision by agreement in the event a cash management safe option is implemented.

2. The Successful Respondent should provide all needed supplies, i.e., bill of lading book, manifest, pick-up sheets, tags, and forms.

3. The County requests that all services be provided by the respondent and not subcontracted.

Do you subcontract any of the services that would be provided to the County?

4. What is your plan for implementation? What will be the timeline for implementation of services?

5. The County’s depository, Wells Fargo, requires use of a clear, tamper-evident plastic deposit bag. Explain your process in working with these bags and any electronic capabilities to ease the burden of filling out a multi-part bill of lading for each bag.

B. Quality of Goods and Services

1. Describe your process for dealing with suspension of service because of delivery vehicle malfunctions, an act of God, including flooding, or other weather -related problems. What is your process for notifying the County of any delays in service?

2. Describe your policies for adjusting or eliminating charges for days upon which service is suspended at the County’s request.

3. The Successful Respondent shall comply with all county, state and federal regulations applicable to performing work within public thoroughfares and rights-of-way. The Successful

Respondent shall be licensed to do business in the State of Texas.

4. Please provide details regarding the following:

a. The type of firearms carried by your personnel. A copy of your company's firearm policy, procedure and training requirements will be required if you are awarded the Contract.

b. The type of vehicle that will be used for services. Service vehicles must be in good repair and provide secure transport of County funds and documents.

c. Your employee background check policy, security compliance and experience of your driver base.

d. The ability of your customers to track shipments. Is this tracking real time?

5. The County wants one point of contact concerning contract issues. Explain how issues will be dealt with and the timeliness we can expect in solving any problems that may arise.

Please also describe in detail your billing dispute process.

6. Cash Management Safes-Williamson County is seeking proposals for the use of Cash

Management Safes in certain locations. This RFP includes requests for pricing with and without cash management safe options so that the County can analyze such proposals.

Regarding the implementation of cash management safes:

a. Please describe the cash management safe solution that you would propose for each of the following locations:

i. Williamson County Treasurer’s Office

ii. Williamson County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office-see subsection b below

In responding to this question, please specifically describe the capacity of the device(s) that you propose and any ability to deposit cash to multiple accounts.

b. The Williamson County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office would require a cash management safe in its Georgetown location.

i. The Williamson County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office deposits to two different accounts daily. Please describe the ability of your cash management safe solution to allow deposits to multiple accounts.

ii. On certain days, especially during property tax season, each Tax Assessor-Collector’s

Office may have daily cash deposits that are more than the safe’s capacity. See

Appendix A for a summary of cash amounts. As part of your proposal, please describe the capacity of the safe(s) that you are proposing to be used. What would be your solution for days on which cash amounts exceed the capacity of the cash management safe?

C. Scheduling-Please describe your ability to adapt the pick-up schedule to the County’s needs. For example, is there an ability to change a pick-up window for a certain day based upon the

County’s schedule?

D. Price-The County requests price proposals for options with and without cash management safe solutions. The details of the requested price proposal are set forth below.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS

A. Introduction-The Proposal evaluation and selection process is detailed in this section, as are other factors, and the format in which the Price Proposal of each Proposal must be submitted.

B. The Respondent must utilize the form provided in Appendix B in its submission of a Price

Proposal in response to this RFP. The Price Proposal must be included in each copy of the

Proposal. Any reworked version of the Appendix that is intended to be a substitute and that is provided by a Respondent may be determined as non-responsive, and may, at Williamson

County’s sole discretion, result in the Respondent’s disqualification.

C. Proposal Evaluation and Selection

1. Evaluation-All Proposals received by the designated date and time will be evaluated based on the Respondent’s Proposal. Other information may be taken into consideration when that information potentially provides an additional benefit to Williamson County, and further helps Williamson County in receiving the services listed in the RFP.

2. Evaluation Committee and Selection Process-All Proposals will be evaluated by a County-appointed Evaluation Committee. The Evaluation Committee will be composed of County

Staff that may have expertise, knowledge, or experience with the services and/or goods being procured hereunder. Those Respondents meeting all requirements and deemed most qualified may receive further evaluation via telephone or in-person interviews with members of the Evaluation Committee. The County will select a Respondent determined best and most responsible who meets minimum specifications and qualifications.

Respondents are advised that the Evaluation Committee, at its option, may recommend an award strictly based on the initial RFP responses, or in addition, may have interviews with firms to determine its final recommendation. The Evaluation Committee will present its recommendation to the Williamson County Commissioners Court for approval and award of contract. At such time the Commissioners Court will award the contract to the overall best

Respondent as determined by the Court.

Williamson County reserves the right to award a contract for any or all areas of this RFP.

It is the responsibility of the Respondent to provide sufficient information/data in a convincing manner to the Evaluation Committee to assure all the terms, conditions and expectations for satisfactory performance of the services requested herein will be met.

All contact during the evaluation phase shall be through the Williamson County

Purchasing Contact only. Respondents shall neither contact nor lobby evaluators during the evaluation process. Attempts by Respondent to contact and/or influence members of the

Evaluation Committee will result in disqualification of Proposal.