PRF84 COMMBUYS QA_~1.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 26 KB Posted May 18, 2023

Attached to: Electronic Payment Solutions
Contract number: PRF84
Issued by: Massachusetts

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Written by GovTribe AI · Jul 10, 2025

This document is a Bid Q&A (Question and Answer) response sheet for PRF84, a state contract vehicle for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, involving multiple payment solution vendors including ACI Worldwide, Grant Street Group, nCourt, Fiserv/BillMatrixNext, and NICUSA. The document captures procurement-related questions and official responses from state representatives, with potential participation from cities, towns, districts, counties, executive/legislative/judicial branches, independent public authorities, public libraries, school districts, public hospitals, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations doing business with the Commonwealth.

The contract focuses on revenue intake and payment facilitation services, with specific attention to transaction fee structures and payment processing mechanisms. Current convenience fees vary by vendor, ranging from 2.29% to 2.79% for credit transactions and $0.35 to $0.40 for ACH transactions. The procurement requires vendors to be U.S. firms, maintain a payment facilitator relationship with Worldpay, and support specific merchant category codes (MCCs) for government-owned lotteries and licensed casinos. A notable requirement is a Supplier Diversity Plan that constitutes a minimum of 25% of the total evaluation points. The contract allows for potential expansion to other states and territories, with an anticipated transition period of 12-18 months and the possibility of supporting over 100 existing programs.

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Other files

File	Type	Posted
PRF84%20Contract%20User%20Guide%2003%2007%202025.pdf	PDF	Mar 10, 2025
PRF84 Request For Response~1.docx	DOCX document	May 18, 2023
PRF84_Intent to Award Notification_05.02.23~1.pdf	PDF	May 18, 2023
PRF84 RFQ-SOW - Template.docx	DOCX document	May 18, 2023
PRF84 Contract User Guide 03 07 2025.pdf	PDF	May 18, 2023
PRF84 WTO Intent to Post~2.pdf	PDF	May 18, 2023

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Sheet1

Bid Q&A Responses
Question #	Question #	Question #	Question #	Question #	Question #

1 2/24/23 Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide EBT Are the Commonwealth?s EBT cards co-branded or private label? PRF84 does not related to issuing EBT cards.

PRF84 relates to revenue intake (facilitating payments to the Commonwealth of MA).

2 2/24/23 Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide Fees If fees are passed to the consumer, what is the dollar amount or percentage the consumer pays? Current convenience fees vary depending on the PRF59AdesignatedOSC vendor:

Fiserv/BillMatrixNext: Credit - 2.3%; ACH - $0.37 Grant Street Group: Credit - 2.29% ($0.50 minimum); ACH - $0.40 nCourt - Credit - 2.35% (V/MC/D), 2.79% (all card brands if Amex is offered); ACH - $0.35 3 2/24/23 Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide Fees If fees are absorbed, what is the cost to the agency for each transaction? Fiserv/BillMatrixNext: Credit or ACH - $0.37 plus direct merchant charges (PRF81 Worldpay and PRF82 Amex, or other eligible entity agreement) Grant Street Group - depends on a number of options; See COMMBUYS for Standard Costs nCourt - Credit - 2.35% (V/MC/D), 2.79% (all card brands if Amex is offered); ACH - $0.35 (fees are the same - convenience fee or absorbed)

4	2/24/23	Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide	US provider	Our parent company is global, but the subsidiary that offers bill payment provides our solution/services only in the U.S. Will we meet the requirement in section 3.1: ?The Bidder must be a United States firm, with no services being provided outside the continental U.S.??	As long as the subsidiary keeps all the work in the US. If the corporate entity (the subsidiary) that is entering the contract meets the RFR requirements, then that is acceptable.
5	2/24/23	Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide	Agency marketing	Please outline the process for marketing to the agencies/entities. Will the state offer any marketing support, or may we leverage existing communication channels?	Payment solutions vendors may market independently to eligible entities via publicly available contact lists (e.g., mass.gov, Commonwealth of MA Key Contact lists), other professional organizations (e.g., Massachusetts Municipal Association, Massachusetts Sheriffs Association); conferences (e.g., CTR Close/Open, CFO); and trade shows such as MASSBUYS. Routine communications from CTR and OSD (i.e., Buy the Way) regarding Statewide contracts also increase awareness of service availability.
6	2/24/23	Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide	Implementation	What is the expected number of agencies to be included in the initial adoption of our solution? What is the requested time frame of the initial adoption? How quickly would the remaining entities need to be rolled out?	As stated in PRF84 RFR Section 1.3.7, any Contract(s) resulting from this Bid will be open for use by the following entities:

Cities, towns, districts, counties, and other political subdivisions Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, including all Departments and elected offices therein Independent public authorities, commissions, and quasi-public agencies Local public libraries, public school districts and charter schools Public hospitals owned by the Commonwealth Public institutions of higher education Public purchasing cooperatives Non-profit organizations that are doing business with the Commonwealth;

Other states and territories with no prior approval by the State Purchasing Agent; and Other entities when designated in writing by the State Purchasing Agent.

Over 100 programs are currently in production. Depending on the outcome of the procurement, those programs may remain with the current vendor(s), or require replatforming with a new vendor. If required, adequate time for transition would be necessary. Transition may take 12-18 months depending on outcome of the procurement.

7	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	Evaluation	Is the Commonwealth able to provide the weightings for the ?Evaluation Components??	See PRF84 Section 6.2 for more information. Supplier Diversity Plan constitutes a minimum of 25% weight of the total available 100% evaluation points. The SST develops scoring weights for other categories of Evaluation Criteria prior to the bid opening.
8	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	MCCs	Regarding the question requesting ?Bidder must state whether the proposed payment solution can support 7800 (Government-Owned Lotteries), and 7801 (Government Licensed Casinos)? has the State?s processor, Worldpay, agreed that these MCCs will be supported for the State?	Yes.
9	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	Worldpay	Section 4.8 in the RFR states ?The selected Bidder must also establish and maintain a payment facilitator relationship with Worldpay to ensure convenience fees are managed for applicable eligible entities.? Can you clarify whether a Bidder?s status as a registered Payment Facilitator (PayFac) with Worldpay will be reviewed during evaluation? Will Bidders who are not registered Worldpay PayFacs be disqualified?	Yes, the bidder's status as a registered Payment Facilitator with Worldpay will be reviewed and scored. Bidders who are not registered with Worldpay will not be disqualified, however, they may not receive full points.
10	2/24/23	Donna DeMaria/ACI Wordwide	Due date	Would the Commonwealth consider extending the due date by one week to 3/22/2023?	We are not able to extend the due date at this time.
11	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	SDP	Do the SDP vendors that will be used to meet the SDP commitment need to be named at the time of RFP submission?	Yes, this is information that is required on the SDP form. However, the SDP vendor can be changed throughout the life of the contract you would just need to notify the contract manager (Patricia Davis) of any changes.
12	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	SDP	Does the Commonwealth have a list of approved SDP vendors? If not, what criteria is used to qualify as an SDP?	Yes, please visit: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/supplier-diversity-office-sdo for more information on approved SDP vendors.
13	2/24/23	Marian Mulholland/Grant Street Group	Confidential Financials	Our company is privately owned and our financial statements are confidential. Can we supply them to the Commonwealth under an arrangement that will protect them from public disclosure?	No. We cam mark the financial statements as confidential in COMMBUYS so they are not publicly visible, however, if a public records request comes in for the bid response, we have to provide the financial statements.
14	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Convenience Fee MIDs	For Convenience Fee services, would the vendor still leverage the State's Merchant Accounts with WorldPay or does the State prefer the vendor to issue MIDs as a Payment Facilitator? If leveraging the State's Merchant Accounts, does the State anticipate directing WorldPay to leverage the Vendor's Fee Accounts for both the Statutory MID (Primary MID) and the Service Fee MID?	For new implementations, the Commonwealth prefers that the vendor issue submerchant accounts under their Worldpay MID going forward. However, some existing legacy programs are configured with an eligible entity MID (as merchant of record) and the convenience fee MID that resides with the vendor (i.e., the convenience fees settle directly to the vendor, and the program fees settle directly to the eligible entity as the merchant of record). These existing legacy programs could be reconfigured to a Payfac model with vendor issued submerchant accounts under the vendor Worldpay MID.
15	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Tracked Change in Attachment 2	Please confirm that vendors can accept the tracked change on page 2 of Attachment 2 and that there is nothing for vendors to provide in that highlighted area.	Yes, the vendor can accept tracked changes. Please ignore (or delete) the blank area on page 2 of Attachment 2. The information that must be filled out (in addition to the entirety of the cost template) are the highlighted areas regarding "Bidder name" in page 1 and at the footer of every page starting in page 2.
16	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Hardware Pricing	Is the Commonwealth asking vendors to provide pricing for hardware solutions to support web POS in their cost response (swipe devices, iPads, etc.) or is the hardware and software pricing section only for the hardware or software needed to run the vendors solution (per RFR section 4.5), if any?	If there are any specific requirements to run the vendor solution, the vendor should specify them. If supported, the vendors may present pricing for web POS hardware in their proposal.
17	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	PFAC	Can the Commonwealth confirm whether it prefers that vendors perform as Payment Facilitators who do not leverage the state-owned Merchant Accounts with Worldpay for Convenience Fee/Service Fee models, or shall the vendors leverage the state-owned MIDs as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) or Third Party Service Provider (TPSP)? Additionally, does the State anticipate the vendor will leverage state-owned or vendor owned Amex agreements?	For new implementations, the Commonwealth prefers that the vendor issue submerchant accounts under their Worldpay MID going forward. However, some existing legacy programs are configured with an eligible entity MID (as merchant of record) and the convenience fee MID that resides with the vendor (i.e., the convenience fees settle directly to the vendor, and the program fees settle directly to the eligible entity as the merchant of record). These existing legacy programs could be reconfigured to a Payfac model with vendor issued submerchant accounts under the vendor Worldpay MID. For new Payfac implementations, the Commonwealth anticipates that the vendor will leverage vendor-owned Amex agreements.
18	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Submission date	Would the Commonwealth consider extending the due date of the proposal by two weeks?	We are not able to extend the due date at this time.
19	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Compliance and Security Audit SOC 1	Attachment 1, requirement 3.9 states ?3.9 BIDDER must provide ongoing compliance and security audits (SOC 1 for internal financial and financial reporting internal controls) and SOC 2 for non-financial controls for both the BIDDER and subcontractors required for services or for which services may be impacted.? Would the Commonwealth consider allowing only a SOC 2 audit when the SOC 2 audit covers the processing integrity, security, and availability trust principals which includes the control activities reported on a SOC1?	Bidder may attest that independent SOC1 and SOC2 audit requirements are met. If awarded, the bidder will provide the required documentation on request during contract negotiations by secure method.
20	2/24/23	clarke russell/NICUSA, Inc.	Audited financials	Attachment 1, requirement 3.17 states ?3.17 BIDDER must submit copies of their last three fiscal years? audited statements.? Please confirm it is acceptable to provide links to the company?s 10-K reports for the last three fiscal years to meet this requirement.	Yes, links are acceptable.

File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated Jul 10, 2025.