ESBD_File_346545_Amendment No. 1 RFP 24-042 (1-12-24).pdf

Amendment No. 1

RFP 24-042

AMENDMENT NO. 1

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (“RFP”) 24-042

MUNICIPAL COURT COLLECTION SERVICES

January 12, 2024

The City of Missouri City (“CITY”), Texas has issued this Amendment No. 1 to the above-referenced RFP for the purposes of:

1. Answering the following Questions that were submitted to the CITY in writing per Exhibit

B Procurement Schedule:

Question 1: Why has this bid been released at this time?

Answer 1: The existing contract will expire during the second quarter of 2024.

Question 2: Are bidders permitted to deviate in any way from any manner of quoting fees you may be expecting? For example, if there is a pricing page in the RFP, can bidders submit an alternate fee structure? If there is no pricing page in the RFP, do you have any preference for how bidders should quote fees or can bidders create their own pricing categories?

Answer 2: No; however, any deviations must be clearly annotated on Attachment B Exceptions.

Question 3: If this is a term contract subject to renewal, what is the term and the maximum number of option periods?

Answer 3: See Section 2 of Exhibit C Draft Professional/Consulting/Services Agreement attached to the RFP.

Question 4: Has the current contract gone full term?

Answer 4: No.

Question 5: Have all options to extend the current contract been exercised?

Answer 5: Yes.

Question 6: Who is the incumbent, and how long has the incumbent been providing the requested services?

Answer 6: Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, and they have been providing the requested services since 2003.

Question 7: How are fees currently being billed by any incumbent(s), by category, and at what rates?

Answer 7: Court fees and fines are not billed, nor are there categories; cases have fees and fines set forth by the State and the Judge.

Question 8: What estimated or actual dollars were paid last year, last month, or last quarter to any incumbent(s)?

Answer 8: The incumbent was paid approximately $60,076.18 in calendar year 2023.

Also, see Answer 55.

Question 9: Previous iterations of this contact included alarm accounts. Will alarm accounts be part of this contract?

Answer 9: No.

Question 10: To what extent are these accounts owed by private consumers versus commercial businesses?

Answer 10: No report available.

Question 11: Will accounts be primary placements, not having been serviced by any other outside collection agency, and/or will you also be referring secondary placements? If so, should bidders provide proposed fees for secondary placements also?

Answer 11: Refer to Exhibit C, Section 3 of the RFP.

Question 12: What collection attempts are performed or will be performed internally prior to placement?

Answer 12: Cases follow the legally required court hearing process.

Question 13: Will the selected vendor be allowed to litigate balances exceeding a certain dollar amount on your behalf, with your explicit approval?

Answer 13: No.

Question 14: What is the total dollar value of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog?

Answer 14: No report available.

Question 15: What is the total number of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog?

Answer 15: Refer to page 1 of the RFP. Exact number unknown.

Question 16: What is the average balance of accounts by category?

Answer 16: There are no categories nor any averages.

Question 17: What is the average age of accounts at placement (at time of award and/or on a going-forward basis), by category?

Answer 17: Varies.

Question 18: What is the monthly or quarterly number of accounts expected to be placed with the vendor(s) by category?

Answer 18: There are no categories; varies.

Question 19: What is the monthly or quarterly dollar value of accounts expected to be placed with the vendor(s) by category?

Answer 19: Unknown/Varies.

Question 20: What has been the historical rate of return or liquidation rate provided by any incumbent(s), and/or what is anticipated or expected as a result of this procurement?

Answer 20: Negotiated at Contract.

Question 21: What billing servicer do you utilize?

Answer 21: None.

Question 22: Have all cases been fully adjudicated by the time of placement?

Answer 22: No.

Question 23: If applicable, will accounts held by any incumbent(s) or any backlog be moved to any new vendor(s) as a one-time placement at contract start-up?

Answer 23: Yes.

Question 24: What is your case management/accounting software system of record?

Answer 24: Tyler Technologies.

Question 25: Who is your electronic payment/credit card-processing vendor?

Answer 25: Through Tyler Technologies.

Question 26: What process should a vendor follow, or which individual(s) should a vendor contact, to discuss budget-neutral services outside of the scope of this procurement, but related to it, designed to recover more debt prior to outside placement and lower collection costs?

Answer 26: Submit this as a Value-Added Service per Criteria 4 of Exhibit D of the

RFP.

Question 27: How do your current processes and/or vendor relationship(s) systematically determine if the death of a responsible party has occurred?

Answer 27: Vendor does not handle; refer client to the Court.

Question 28: How do your current processes and/or vendor relationship(s) handle the a death of responsible party?

Answer 28: See Answer 27.

Question 29: Do you have a designated process or policies around deceased accounts today, and what is envisioned in the future?

Answer 29: See Answer 27.

Question 30: Do you currently search and file probated estate claims? Have you considered an automated tool to identify and file probated estate claims?

Answer 30: No.

Question 31: Can you please indicate what inbound and outbound contact methods, beyond phone calls or letters (such as email and text), would be permitted by the scope of work?

Answer 31: Court does not dictate skip tracing practices to the vendor.

Question 32: Who are the incumbents currently providing these services to the City?

Answer 32: See Answer 6.

Question 33: What is the collection success rate (recovery rate/liquidation percentage) of the current incumbents?

Answer 33: This report is unavailable.

Question 34: Is the Statutory 30% the current rate being charged by the incumbent?

If yes, will this continue to be the contingency rate charged, or are bidders allowed to submit pricing below the 30%?

Answer 34: See Exhibit A Section 6 of the RFP.

Question 35: If the rate charged by the incumbent is different than the 30% statutory rate, please advise of the current rate being charged for the services by the current incumbent(s)?

Answer 35: See Answer 34.

Question 36: How much was the current incumbent paid by the city in the last Fiscal Year?

Answer 36: Approximately $61,138.20. Also, see Answer 55.

Question 37: To how many vendors does the city intend on selecting/awarding?

Answer 37: See the last sentence in Section 3 Basis of Award on page 2 of 10 of the

RFP.

Question 38: What is the TOTAL volume, both dollar value and number count of accounts eligible for referral now?

Answer 38: Varies; changes daily/hourly.

Question 39: How will the city provide referrals to the agency (i.e., via secure file transfer, etc.) and with what frequency will the city refer accounts (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)?

Answer 39: See Exhibit A, Section 2 of the RFP.

Question 40: What is the average age of accounts at the time of referral (i.e., 60 days, 120 days, etc.)?

Answer 40: 60 days.

Question 41: How or in what method/manner will the city provide update/payment files to the contractor?

Answer 41: Same manner as original files.

Question 42: With what frequency will the city provide update/payment files to the contractor (i.e., daily, weekly, etc.); (i.e., daily, weekly, etc.); specifically, for payments received directly by the city?

Answer 42: Minimum frequency is established during contract negotiations.

Question 43: Will the inventory currently assigned to existing agencies be pulled and sent to any new agencies awarded? If yes, what is the estimated volume (# and $ value) and the average age of the accounts to be re-referred to a new agency?

Answer 43: Yes and it varies.

Question 44: What collection activities take place on the accounts, by the city, prior to referral to the agencies?

Answer 44: See Answer 12.

Question 45: Will the city continue any collection efforts on accounts after referral to the agencies? If yes, please describe those efforts?

Answer 45: Court does not have a collection division.

Question 46: Is the city seeking a law firm specifically to service this portfolio?

Answer 46: No.

Question 47: Page 4 & Exhibit C “Contract”: Is this for informational purposes only or are bidders required to complete and return with their proposal?

Answer 47: Exhibit C is for informational purposes and is not required to be submitted in the sealed proposal.

Answer 47(A): Refer to Section 41 on page 9 of 10 of the RFP which delineates what documents must be submitted with the sealed proposal.

Question 48: Page 6, Section 26 “Insurance”: Must bidders provide verification of coverage (certificate) with its proposal or is this only required upon contract award?

Answer 48: No, see Answer 47 (A).

Question 49: Page 9, Section 41 “Submittals”: Is it acceptable to provide a Title page & Table of Contents prior to the required information in sequence?

Answer 49: No. All documents must be provided in the sequence delineated in Section 41 Submittals of the RFP.

Question 50: Page 9, Section 41 “Submittals”: Is it acceptable to include an “Attachments TAB” at the rear of the proposal that contains both required (i.e. audited financials) and supplemental (i.e. letter samples, report samples, licenses, etc.)

information? If not, please advise where we should include this information and still be able to comply with the formatting requirements.

Answer 50: No, that information should be included in the portion of your proposal labeled “Qualifications”.

Question 51: RFP Page 13, “Attachment C”: May we provide more than three references?

Answer 51: No.

Question 52: Who is your current software vendor and what version of court record management software is used by the City? Does the City anticipate an upgrade or replacement to the current software?

Answer 52: Tyler Technologies; version 10. No, the City does not anticipate an upgrade or replacement of the current software.

Question 53: What are the value-added services being provided by your current vendor?

Answer 53: None.

Question 54: Please explain how you evaluate a collection vendor during the term of a contract?

Answer 54: Refer to Exhibit A Section 8 of the RFP.

Question 55: Please provide the total amount of fees paid by month for 2021, 2022 and 2023 to your current collection vendor.

Answer 55: See Table A attached herein.

Question 56: Please provide the following information regarding your delinquent court collection portfolio or a report containing the requested information.

Turnover Paid Dismissed Remaining Liquidated Turnover

Year

Total

Answer 56: The Report is Unavailable.

Question 57: We consider our financial statements to be confidential, proprietary, and trade secrets of the firm. Would the City permit us to upload our financials to a third-party secure website for the City’s authorized reviewers to access and review this information?

Answer 57: Yes. This deviation must be annotated on Attachment B Exceptions.

All other terms and conditions specified in RFP 24-042 shall remain the same.

Kevin M. Coleman, MS, C.P.M.

Procurement Manager City of Missouri City, Texas E-mail: Bids@Missouricitytx.gov mailto:Bids@Missouricitytx.gov

Table A

TABLE A

12/12/2023 2,833.66 11/14/2023 3,714.77 10/23/2023 3,867.98 10/16/2023 3,867.98 08/18/2023 8,667.18 07/31/2023 5,490.96 06/15/2023 5,311.93 04/25/2023 10,625.04 03/27/2023 9,758.29 02/28/2023 3,695.34 01/25/2023 2,243.05

60,076.18

12/30/2022 4,798.40 12/16/2022 2,295.50 12/16/2022 2,619.37 11/29/2022 2,425.17 08/16/2022 3,207.97 07/20/2022 5,832.81 06/29/2022 8,294.45 05/19/2022 9,141.31 04/27/2022 13,572.01 04/11/2022 7,996.25 02/16/2022 4,580.51 01/31/2022 4,268.63 01/10/2022 3,399.95 01/05/2022 2,916.50 01/05/2022 4,240.81

79,589.64

Table A

10/15/2021 4,271.23 09/03/2021 3,701.13 07/09/2021 5,812.83 06/23/2021 7,877.85 05/19/2021 8,939.88 05/03/2021 7,864.17 04/09/2021 2,732.27 03/02/2021 4,026.61 01/20/2021 3,803.74

49,029.71