S000000392 Commercial Card Services.pdf

STATE OF ARKANSAS

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSFORMATION AND SHARED SERVICES

OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT

501 Woodlane St., Ste. 220

Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1023

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

SOLICITATION DOCUMENT

SOLICITATION INFORMATION

Solicitation Number: S0000000392 Solicitation Issued: April 14, 2025

Description: Commercial Card Services

Department: Transformation and Shared Services – Office of State Procurement

SUBMISSION DEADLINE AND DELIVERY OF RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

Proposal Opening Date: May 16, 2025 Proposal Opening Time: 3:00 PM, Central Time

Proposal submissions for this Request for Proposal must be submitted through ARBuy, the State’s eProcurement system. It can be accessed at arbuy.arkansas.gov. Proposals received after the submission deadline may be rejected as untimely.

LIVE PROPOSAL OPENING INFORMATION

Teams Meeting Link: Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 222 735 654 460 Passcode: 3sK7L5Rt Call in (audio only): 501-244-3310, 230767729# or find a local number

TSS OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT CONTACT INFORMATION

TSS OSP Procurement Specialist:

Kimberly Haywood Procurement Specialist’s Direct Phone Number:

501-683-2222

Email Address: kimberly.haywood@arkansas.gov TSS OSP’s Main Number: 501-324-9316

TSS OSP Website: transform.ar.gov/procurement/

Rev 12/2024

SECTION 1 – GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued by the TSS Office of State Procurement (TSS OSP) for the State of Arkansas to obtain pricing and a statewide contract for commercial card services.

Contract will be awarded to the Prospective Contractor determined to have submitted the proposal that is the most advantageous to the State. Direct all questions, comments, or concerns regarding this solicitation to TSS OSP.

1.2 OBJECTIVE AND GOALS

The State seeks to contract with a financial institution having the experience and resources to provide services to the State of Arkansas for its existing purchasing card (P-Card) and travel card (T-Card) programs, (collectively hereinafter referred to as “Commercial Card Program”) for participating State agencies, public institutions of higher education, political subdivisions, and local public procurement units (“Participating Entities”) under the direction of the Statewide Program Administrator.

The State seeks a Commercial Card Program that provides the greatest financial benefit to the State, as well as user-friendly access to data, reporting, and overall services for the Statewide Program Administrator and cardholders statewide.

There will be no direct charge to the State under any contract resulting from this RFP. The State requires each Prospective Contractor to offer a proposal that relies solely on the Contractor’s rebate structure to compensate the Contractor.

Participating Entities will use the Contractor’s services, and the Contractor shall pay the State a cash back rebate percentage (“Rebate”) on every purchase made using a purchasing card issued under the Commercial Card Program.

1.3 BACKGROUND AND CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

The Commercial Card Program, established in 2002, provides an efficient method for Participating Entities to make purchases required to conduct official business.

The State’s most recent data shows one-hundred-seven (107) State agencies, thirty-four (34) colleges and universities, and two (2) political subdivisions participating in the Commercial Card Program with total annual purchases estimated at $130,603,118.

Attachment A: Authorized Entities provides a list of entities currently approved by the State’s credit card manager to participate in the Commercial Card Program, although not all approved entities are participating. Authorized Entities are subject to change based on direction of the State’s Procurement Director and/or changes in legislation.

The State currently administers multiple commercial card options under the Commercial Card Program:

A. P-Cards for purchasing all other goods or services

1. Currently 6,407 individual cardholder accounts

2. Approximately $85,362,365 in spend (see Attachment B: Spend by Agency; column PUR for spend amounts per agency) with substantial increases in spend each year. This spend includes five-hundred-fifty-nine (559) Declining Balance Cards.

3. Average transaction amount $251.64

B. T-Cards for travel-related expenses such as airline tickets, lodging, meals, and rental car fees

1. Currently 3,544 individual cardholder accounts

2. Approximately $33,649,228 in domestic (see Attachment B: Spend by Agency, column TRV for spend amounts per agency)

3. Average transaction amount $329.11

C. Centralized Travel Services (CTS) for travel-related expenses such as airline tickets, lodging, meals, and rental car fees.

1. Currently 601 individual accounts

2. Approximately $11,591,525 (see Attachment B: Spend by Agency, column CTS for spend amounts per agency)

3. Average transaction amount $451.33

D. Emergency response cards, issued to an agency in the event of an emergency

For additional information on the current Commercial Card Program, the Prospective Contractor may reference the State’s current policy manual for the Commercial Card Program found here.

Based on the historical spend data, the estimated total dollar volume that is expected to pass through a contract resulting from this RFP, including all available renewal terms, is seven hundred sixty-three million ($763,000,000) dollars. The State is providing this data for informational purposes only. The Prospective Contractor shall not interpret this total dollar volume amount to be a guarantee of the actual volume of the contract resulting from this RFP. With a Statewide push toward efficiencies, commercial card spend is expected to increase beyond the spend and cardholder volumes provided and widen in overall scope.

1.4 TYPE OF CONTRACT

A. As a result of this RFP, TSS OSP intends to award a contract to a single Contractor.

B. The anticipated starting date for any resulting contract is August 1, 2025, except that the actual contract start date may be adjusted unilaterally by the State for up to three (3) calendar months. By submitting a signed proposal in response to the RFP, the Prospective Contractor represents and warrants that it will honor its proposal as being held open as irrevocable for this period.

C. The initial term of any resulting contract will be for two (2) years. Upon mutual agreement by the Contractor and Department, the contract may be renewed by TSS OSP for up to five (5) additional one-year terms or portions thereof, not to exceed a total aggregate contract term of seven (7) consecutive years.

1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms defined in Arkansas Procurement Law have the same meaning herein.

B. “Authorized Participant” means any personnel, including elected officials, of a Using Agency authorized by the Using Agency to be a Commercial Card recipient and make official government purchases on behalf of the Using Agency during the term(s) of any contract resulting from this RFP and may or may not be issued a physical card.

C. “Business Hours” means 8:00 am through 5:00 pm, Central Time, Monday through Friday, except during State holidays, found here.

D. “Cardholder(s)” means Authorized Participant(s) to whom a Commercial Card has been issued.

E. “Go-Live Date” means the date the Contractor shall begin providing all services required by this RFP including but not limited to the full implementation and functionality of Contractor’s System. The Go- Live Date, anticipated to be January 1, 2026, will immediately follow the Implementation Period. OSP reserves the right to have the final determination of the Go-Live Date.

F. “Implementation Period” means the period of time beginning on the starting date of the contract, anticipated to be August 1, 2025, during which the Contractor performs all start-up, implementation, and transition activities required to achieve full implementation of the State’s Commercial Card Program by the Go-Live Date.

G. “Prospective Contractor” means a responsible offeror who submits a proposal in response to this Solicitation.

H. “Purchasing Entity” means an Eligible Purchaser that establishes a contract with the Contractor using the terms of the statewide contract resulting from this RFP.

I. The terms “Request for Proposal,” “RFP,” and “Solicitation” are used synonymously in this document.

J. “Requirement” means a term, condition, provision, deliverable, Specification, or a combination thereof, that is obligated under the Solicitation, resulting contract, or both.

K. “Responsive Proposal” means a proposal submitted in response to this Solicitation that conforms in all material respects to this RFP.

L. “Shall” and “must” mean the imperative and are used to identify Requirements.

M. “Specification” means any technical or purchase description or other description of the physical or functional characteristics, or of the nature, of a commodity or service. “Specification” may include a description of any Requirement for inspecting, testing, or preparing a commodity or service for delivery.

N. “State” means the State of Arkansas. When the term “State” is used herein to reference any obligation of the State under a contract that results from this Solicitation, that obligation is limited to the Department using such a contract.

O. “Statewide Program Administrator” means one or more employees designated by the State, located within OSP, for the purposes of aiding the Credit Card Manager with coordinating and monitoring the Commercial Card Program.

P. “User” means a Cardholder, Credit Card Manager, Statewide Program Administrator, or other individual authorized by the Statewide Program Administrator who uses or has access to the Contractor’s System.

Q. “Using Agency” means any Purchasing Entity who is officially participating in the Commercial Card Program.

1.6 SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

For informational purposes, TSS OSP is providing a Solicitation Schedule; however, dates listed and noted with an asterisk (*) are anticipated dates only and are subject to change at the discretion of the State. All times are listed in Central Time.

TABLE A: TENTATIVE SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

ACTIVITY DATE

RFP Release to Prospective Contractors April 14, 2025

Deadline for Prospective Contractor Questions April 21, 2025

Answers to Questions Posted to ARBuy* April 29, 2025

Proposal Due Date May 16, 2025 @ 3pm

Initial Proposal Evaluation* May 27, 2025

Interviews* June 10-12, 2025

Final Proposal Evaluation* June 12, 2025

Discussions Kick Off Meeting* June 18, 2025

Finalize Discussions* June 23, 2025

Post Anticipation to Award* June 27, 2025

Award Contract* August 1, 2025

1.7 CLARIFICATION OF SOLICITATION

A. Submit questions requesting clarification of information contained in this Solicitation via the

Solicitation posting in ARBuy by the date and time listed in Table A.

1. For each question submitted, the Prospective Contractor should reference the specific Solicitation item number to which the question refers, as applicable.

2. Prospective Contractors’ written questions will be consolidated and responded to by the State as deemed appropriate. The State’s consolidated written response is anticipated to be posted to the Solicitation posting in ARBuy by the close of business on the date provided in Table A. If Prospective Contractor questions are unclear or non-substantive in nature, the State may request clarification of a question(s) or decline to answer.

B. The Prospective Contractor should notify the TSS OSP Procurement Specialist of any Requirements that precludes the Prospective Contractor from submitting a Responsive Proposal.

C. Prospective Contractors may contact the TSS OSP Procurement Specialist with non-substantive questions at any time prior to the proposal opening.

D. An oral statement by TSS OSP will not be part of any contract resulting from this Solicitation and may not reasonably be relied on by any Prospective Contractor as an aid to interpretation unless it is reduced to writing and expressly adopted by TSS OSP.

E. Only an addendum written and authorized by the State will modify the Solicitation.

1.8 RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

A. All proposal responses must be submitted through ARBuy, the State’s eProcurement system. The system can be accessed at arbuy.arkansas.gov.

1. Prospective Contractors must be registered in ARBuy to submit proposals responses.

B. Technical Proposal Packet

1. Prospective Contractors shall utilize the Technical Proposal Packet to submit their responses.

2. The following items are proposal Submission Requirements and must be submitted as part of a Prospective Contractor’s proposal response.

a. Signed Proposal Signature Page; signature may be ink or digital.

b. Technical Proposal response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Technical Proposal Packet, which must be in the English language.

c. Completed Official Solicitation Rebate Form attached to the Solicitation in ARBuy.

i. Quantities stated are estimates only and are not guaranteed. Prospective Contractor must submit unit price on the estimated quantity and unit of measure specified.

The State may order more or less than the estimated quantity on term contracts, and the Contractor shall sell to the Department quantities ordered at no more than the submitted price.

ii. If rebate documents do not allow for accurate rebates, Prospective Contractor should notify the OSP Procurement Specialist at least seventy-two (72) hours before the proposal opening time.

iii. Rebates must be firm offers and shall not be subject to revision, except where expressly required by federal or state laws.

iv. Discount from list pricing is not acceptable unless requested elsewhere in the Solicitation.

v. State or local sales taxes should not be included in the price. Trade discounts should be deducted from the unit price and the net price should be shown in the pricing response.

d. Recommended Options Form

i. The Recommended Options Form included in the Technical Proposal Packet allows Prospective Contractors to identify any recommended options or optional service ideas that may benefit the State that were not included in the Requirements and the proposed solution.

ii. Prospective Contractors may include information regarding card services specified in the Potential Future Services subsection (see RFP section 2.17) on the Recommended Options Form.

e. Copy of Prospective Contractor’s Equal Opportunity Policy

i. Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 19-11-104, OSP requires a Prospective Contractor bidding on a state contract to submit a copy of the Prospective Contractor’s Equal Opportunity (EO) Policy.

ii. Prospective Contractors not required by law to have an EO Policy must submit a written statement to that effect.

f. Proposed Subcontractors Form (see SRV-1, section 14)

3. The following items, which must be submitted prior to a contract award to the Prospective Contractor, may also be included with the Prospective Contractor’s proposal:

a. EO 98-04: Contract and Grant Disclosure Form (see SRV-1, section 11)

b. Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), if applicable

4. Prospective Contractors should not include any other documents or ancillary information, such as a cover letter or promotional/marketing information.

C. Redacted copy of the Technical Proposal Packet

1. One (1) redacted (marked Redacted) copy of the Prospective Contractor’s proposal response (see Proprietary Information), if applicable.

D. Prospective Contractors should not alter language in Solicitation document(s) or Official Solicitation Rebate Form provided by the State.

E. Prospective Contractor’s proposals cannot be altered or amended after the proposal opening except as permitted by law or rule.

F. Prospective Contractors may submit multiple proposals.

SECTION 2 – REQUIREMENTS

2.1 PROSPECTIVE CONTRACTOR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A. The Prospective Contractor shall currently have a minimum of two (2) large institutional clients, which may include both private and public-sector clients, each having a minimum dollar annual spend amount of at least one million dollars ($1,000,000).

B. The Prospective Contractor shall offer a major credit card product, such as MasterCard or Visa, with worldwide merchant acceptance.

C. The Prospective Contractor shall have a secure, single point of entry, web-based card management tool with real time capabilities currently available.

D. The Prospective Contractor shall be in compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and if awarded a contract, shall maintain compliance with the PCI DSS throughout the life of the contract.

2.2 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall fully implement a comprehensive Commercial Card Program as defined in this

RFP by January 1, 2026, the anticipated Go-Live Date, unless otherwise agreed to by TSS OSP.

B. The Contractor shall offer these types of liability for cards:

1. Commercial Liability: Purchasing Entity is liable for the card transactions and fees.

2. Individual Liability: Cardholder is liable for the card transactions and fees.

3. Joint & Several Liability: Cardholder is liable for all transactions and fees initiated on the card account and the Purchasing Entity is liable for all transactions and fees on such accounts that are closed for any reason or are ninety-one (91) days past due.

4. State Agencies will use Commercial Liabilities for cards, but other jurisdictions may use Individual Liability or Joint & Several Liability

C. The Contractor shall pay the State a Rebate on every purchase made using a commercial card issued under the Commercial Card Program.

1. Rebate amounts must be based on total volumes less write-offs, returns, and fraudulent.

2. Currently, the State receives both electronic and physical Rebate payment disbursements and prefers to continue multiple disbursement options under a resulting contract.

3. Rebate payments must be accurate and timely.

D. With the exception of any Finance Charge (including interest and Fees) or other Charges that may be considered as program costs related to the Commercial Card utilization, the Contractor shall provide all services required by this RFP at no cost to the State, Authorized Entities, or Using Agencies.

1. Any extraordinary costs related to the services required by this RFP must be mutually agreed upon by the State of Arkansas and the Contractor before being implemented.

E. The Contractor shall provide Mastercard or VISA ghost accounts and credit cards with customizable credit limits and category restrictions (per cardholder and per Using Entity) that have no access to cash advances or ATMs.

F. The Contractor shall assist the State with modifying and/or enhancing existing Commercial Card Program policies and procedures.

G. The Contractor shall not perform individual credit checks, including credit bureau hard or soft inquiries, on Authorized Participants, with the exception of Individual Liability Cardholders.

H. Commercial Card Program activity must not show up on Authorized Participant’s or Cardholder’s personal credit history.

1. The individual Authorized Participant or Cardholder Account shall not be reported to the credit bureau agencies.

I. The Contractor shall comply with all applicable Federal and State regulations and industry standards in the performance of a resulting contract.

J. The Contractor shall adhere to all audit standards of the State.

K. In the performance of any contract resulting from this RFP, the Contractor shall comply with all applicable IRS requirements and shall provide information required for IRS reporting to each Using Agency as necessary.

2.3 PURCHASE CARD TYPES

A. The Contractor shall provide all the following Card Types to Participating Entities as requested by the

State:

1. Declining Balance Card/Managed Spend Card – Specialized P-Card with a pre-set spend limit and expiration date that is typically non-replenishing. Card product with an established limit that reduces as transactions occur.

2. Emergency Card – Specialized Purchase Card that is always open, active and ready for use, often with no or an extremely high credit limit.

3. One Card/Integrated Cards – A physical or virtual (no plastic) type of hybrid card in which a single card is issued to an employee for more than one category of expenses (e.g., goods/services and travel expenses), eliminating the need to carry two cards.

4. Purchase Card – Physical or virtual (no plastic) card intended as a method of payment for goods and services either at the point of sale or to pay an invoice for goods or services.

5. Travel Card – Physical card used by organization and their employees for travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses. This product may be used to make travel arrangements, or by a cardholder at the point of sale.

6. Electronic Payable/Single Use Accounts/Virtual Card – Virtual, single time use card intended as a method of payment for goods and services at point of sale or to pay an invoice.

7. Central Travel Services (CTS) Card – Physical or virtual (no plastic) card used by organization and their employees for travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses. This product can also be used by departments to book travel on behalf of employees who travel infrequently and are not issued an individual card.

8. It is preferable Prospective Contractors have the capability to provide fleet card services and pre-paid debit card services to the State, as these card products may be needed during the terms of a resultant contract.

2.4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall provide a modern web-based and User-friendly data management and reporting system (the “System”) for the Commercial Card Program.

B. The System must allow Users the ability to administer the System approval process and User’s access and privileges online.

C. The System must allow for Program Administrator to setup new accounts online, including ordering and registering cards, establishing User IDs and passwords.

D. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to add, edit, or remove single or multiple Merchant Category Codes (MCC) from multiple card accounts at once.

E. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to initiate one-time overrides per transaction.

F. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to establish roles, access, and authority levels for all user types (i.e. managers, approvers, cardholders) within the State.

G. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to unlock system access, reset User ID and reset password for any User within the State.

H. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to update all cardholder information online.

I. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to see changes made to an account profile and who made those changes.

J. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to view cancelled, deactivated, and suspended cards within the State.

K. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to order and issue replacement cards (singular or multiple simultaneously) online.

L. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrators and Cardholders to access statements online.

M. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrators and Cardholders to mark accounts for paper or paperless statement delivery.

N. The System must notify the Statewide Program Administrators and Cardholders of statement availability.

O. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator and Cardholder to check status of cards and view account information including but not limited to:

1. Balances

2. Limits

3. Charges

4. Declined transactions

5. Spend history

6. Default accounting codes

7. Demographics

P. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to choose the billing cycle close date for the State.

Q. The System must have the ability to roll-up billing to managing account level or bill at department level as determined by the State.

R. The System must display all transactions in US Dollars.

S. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to edit User ID, role and authority level online.

T. The System must have a minimum of seven (7) program hierarchies.

U. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator account with access to view and pull reports for all transactions made by the State.

V. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to simultaneously activate, deactivate, suspend, and terminate cards online.

W. The Statewide Program Administrator must be able to cancel a card (or a group of cards).

X. When a card (or group of cards) is closed, a credit may be due to the card based on an overpayment, transaction credit, or something similar.

Y. The System must be able to route transactions through approval/workflow path as established by the Statewide Program Administrator.

Z. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to add, edit or remove security features (temporary or permanent) in real time at the card account level including, but not limited to:

1. Dollar per transaction limit

2. Maximum daily/weekly/monthly spend

3. Transactions per day/week/month limit

4. Merchant Category Code (MCC) blocks

AA. The System must automatically lock transaction accounting code data from editing after a time specified by the State.

2.5 DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS

A. The State must have the ability to capture and display transaction data as made available from the merchant, as well as overall Commercial Card Program information.

B. The System must capture and display transaction data at the following minimum levels:

1. Cardholder

2. Approving official

3. Using Entity office or unit

4. Account/billing (available at different levels)

5. Using Entity Program Administrator or alternates (available at different levels)

C. The System must have the ability to view transaction authorization/declines in real time.

D. The System must post transactions within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours.

E. The System must have the ability to capture and display Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 transaction data as made available from the merchant.

F. The System must allow for Users to add notes, comments, and additional descriptions to a transaction in a separate field. This field must:

1. Allow for alpha, numeric, and special characters.

2. Be searchable

3. Be reportable

4. Be accessible to all hierarchies within the system

G. The System must capture the merchant Tax Identification Number (TIN) and display the TIN to Users.

H. The System must allow for user to input a minimum of 150 character of State defined accounting code structure/segments at the transaction level.

I. The System must allow for the State to set requirements for accounting code segments (i.e.

mandatory, non-mandatory, etc.)

J. The System must allow for the State to define, edit, maintain, and upload valid value tables for each accounting code segment.

K. The System must actively validate accounting segment data against valid value table data as determined by the State.

L. The System must allow for the Statewide Program Administrator to assign, edit, and delete "default" accounting codes for all program hierarchies within the State.

M. The System must allow for User to save and edit frequently used accounting codes.

N. The System must allow for a minimum of 99 accounting code splits per transaction.

O. The System must allow for User to manually enter tax detail at the transaction level.

P. The System must allow the Statewide Program Administrator to download the entire Purchase Card number for use in other systems.

Q. The System must allow the Statewide Program Administrator to access past transaction detail data in real time for a minimum of thirty-six (36) months throughout the life of the contract.

R. The System must allow for User to upload and attach supporting documentation to the transaction in the following formats (at a minimum): pdf, jpg, tiff, png.

S. The State understand that as technology and regulations change, system changes will occur, and that as a good partner, the Contractor will actively and continuously improve the systems capabilities, functionality and usability including platform transition.

1. Changes and upgrades must be made at no additional cost to the State.

T. When changes are made, the Contractor shall, at a minimum, notify the Statewide Program Administrator prior to changes being put in place.

U. The Statewide Program Administrator must provide approval of any notification communication prior to distribution to Users.

V. The State will not accept forced/pushed ‘top-down’ system changes unless required by federal law.

2.6 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

A. The State must have access to generate reports including detailed transaction data.

B. The System must provide robust reporting capabilities.

C. The System must time-stamp transactions and reports according to the time zone of the transaction location or report request.

D. The System must allow the Statewide Program Administrator or Cardholder to run a transaction detail report which includes all User-inputted data.

E. The System must allow for reports to be accessible as defined by roles and access levels.

F. The System must have the ability for reports to be available in multiple formats (e.g. PDF, text, Excel, HTML, browser).

G. The System must have the ability to provide program and transaction data reports at various frequencies to including but not limited to:

1. Daily

2. Weekly

3. Monthly (billing cycle and calendar)

4. Quarterly

5. Annually (fiscal and calendar)

H. The System must extract/download data at any given time so that a report can be generated by the following areas:

1. Department/program Name

2. Cardholder name (if applicable)

3. Last 4 digits of Credit Card number

4. Merchant Name

5. Merchant Category Code

6. Merchant Spend

7. Merchant transaction number

8. Date transaction occurred

9. Date transaction processed

10. Charge amount

11. Transaction reference number

12. City in which the transaction occurred

13. State in which the transaction occurred

14. Accounting string (Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity, etc.)

I. The System must provide exception reports including, but not limited to:

1. Overrides

2. Back-to-back transactions

3. Decline report

4. Miscellaneous transactions

5. Split Transactions

6. Duplicate Transactions

J. The Contractor shall provide quarterly Rebates report no later than thirty (30) days after the end of the yearly term to the Statewide Program Administrator, which at a minimum must include:

1. Gross spend for the Rebate period

2. Any credits for the Rebate period

3. Any write-offs for the Rebate period

4. Net spend for the Rebate period

5. Net spend for each Rebate type

6. Incentive Share/Rebate Rate per Rebate type

7. Rebate by Rebate type

8. Total rebate paid to the State

K. The Contractor shall provide a rebate report that reflects the type of Rebate applied to each transaction no later than thirty (30) days after the end of the quarter, which at a minimum must include:

1. Transaction date

2. Merchant name

3. Merchant TIN

4. Transaction amount

5. Applicable Rebate type

6. Applicable Rebate BPS

7. Rebate amount earned

L. The System must have the ability to schedule on-demand and Ad Hoc reports.

M. The System must capture and report sales by Merchant Category Code (MCC).

N. The Contractor shall provide comparative Rebate reporting comparing the previous quarterly and annual Rebate to the then current quarter/year as requested by the State.

2.7 DATA TRANSFER/INTEROPERABILITY REQUIREMENTS

A. The System must be accessible in accordance with Section 508 (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation

Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), August 7, 1998) - accessibility.

B. The System must be supported (at a minimum) by Edge, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

C. The System must allow for downloads, data transmissions, and integration in support of non-standard/standalone financial management systems, including legacy systems.

D. The System must be able to provide Purchase Card information and transaction detail in a format compatible with all Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or e-procurement systems utilized by the State, including but not limited to any SAP, Banner, Oracle, Periscope, Workday, or systems.

E. The Contractor shall provide, at no cost, the entire banking information flat file at the frequency requested by the State in accordance with standard File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

1. At a minimum, file outputs must include CSV (comma delimited) format and XLS.

F. The System must have the ability to create custom extract files/mappers at no charge to the State for automatic feed into their financial systems (i.e. SAP, Oracle, SMFA, SQL, Excel, etc.).

1. This custom file must be created in such a manner that it can be imported into the State’s financial system with no interaction, special programming, or manual entry of transaction data.

2.8 SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENTS

A. The System must be PCI DSS compliant throughout the term of the resulting contract.

B. System Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards must be compliant with ANSI ASC.

C. The Contractor shall keep State and Cardholder information confidential and shall not share, use, or sell data acquired through providing services under the resulting contract.

2.9 CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall provide at least one (1) designated Relationship Manager assigned to the State.

1. It is preferred that the relationship Manager be located in the State of Arkansas.

B. The Relationship Manager may provide service to multiple states as long as service level meets the Requirements specified in this subsection.

C. The Relationship Manager does not have to be assigned full-time to the Arkansas account but must be available to address issues.

D. The Relationship Manager shall be familiar with all aspects of services of the Commercial Card Program.

E. The Relationship Manager shall be available to the Statewide Program Administrator Monday through Friday during Business Hours.

F. The Relationship Manager shall provide managing account support to the Statewide Program Administrator.

G. The Contractor shall provide at least one (1) designated Account Coordinator assigned to the State.

H. The Account Coordinator may provide service to multiple states as long as service level meets Requirements specified in this subsection.

I. The Account Coordinator shall be familiar with all aspects of services of the Commercial Card Program.

J. The Account Coordinator shall be available to the Statewide Program Administrator Monday through Friday during Business Hours.

K. The Account Coordinator shall provide day-to-day account management support to Program Administrators and Cardholders.

L. The Contractor shall provide a domestic and international toll-free numbers available to cardholders 24/7/365.

M. The Contractor shall provide a designated customer service team familiar with all aspects of purchase card services of the Commercial Card Program in order to provide consistent, relevant, and effective front-line customer service via phone or on-line, 24/7/365.

N. The designated customer service team may provide service to multiple states as long as services level meets Requirements specified in this subsection.

O. The Contractor shall have an established escalation process.

P. Upon request from the Statewide Program Administrator, the Contractor shall replace the Relationship Manager, Account Coordinator, or both within reasonable timeframes requested by the State.

2.10 IMPLEMENTATION AND TRANSITION REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall fully cooperate with the State’s current Commercial Card Program provider during all phases of the Implementation Period and transition.

B. Implementation and transition activities must occur at no cost to the State.

C. The Contractor shall supply the implementation and transition process prior to Contract Award.

D. The Contractor shall provide an Implementation and Transition Communication Plan that meets the approval of the Statewide Program Administrator prior to implementation.

E. The Contractor shall provide qualified personnel during the implementation and transition process

F. The Contractor shall provide Implementation Training Plan that meets the approval of the Statewide Program Administrator prior to implementing.

G. The Contractor shall provide access to online test-environment for State testing during all phases of the account setup process.

1. The System must look, act, and demonstrate all aspects of the "live" system.

2. If the State finds issues in testing the System, Contractor shall fix all issues and shall allow the State to test the product until all issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the State.

3. All issues must be fixed and approved by the State prior to the Go-Live Date.

H. Should the conduct another procurement and award a new contract, the Contractor shall work with the State to ensure that an efficient and effective transition takes place within reasonable timeframes established by the State.

2.11 CARD DESIGN/EMBOSSING, DELIVERY AND ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall emboss and print the cards to the State’s specifications and artwork (digital file) provided to the Contractor.

B. Should the State choose to change the card design during the resulting contract, the State will provide the artwork needed to make changes, and the Contractor shall implement the changes within reasonable timeframes established by the State.

C. Physical cards must be delivered to the State at the address(es) specified by the State within two (2) business days of completion of account set-up.

D. The Contractor shall be able to deliver cards overnight when requested by the State.

E. Customization options to the front side of the card must include verbiage and/or logo or graphic and embossing including but not limited to:

1. The seal or logo of the State of Arkansas, Using Agency Department, or both

2. Using Agency, Department name, or both

3. Cardholder Name

4. Phrase (i.e. "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY")

5. Embossing Line, ALPHA OR NUMERIC VERBIAGE

6. Contractor supplied options, as applicable

F. Cards must be delivered in an inactive state.

G. The Contractor shall deliver cards in batches as requested by the State.

2.12 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall provide system User guides online and accessible through the web-based card management system.

B. The Contractor shall provide web-based training during implementation and throughout the resulting contract as requested by the Statewide Program Administrator.

C. The Contractor shall provide virtual training for Program Administrators during implementation.

D. The Contractor shall provide virtual User group forums.

E. The Contractor shall provide written User reference guides, both extensive and quick.

F. The Contractor shall pro-actively communicate updates to the user guides.

2.13 PAYMENT TERMS

A. The full amount of the State’s monthly balance or billing cycle balance, except for disputed or reported fraud items, will be due within forty-five (45) days from the billing cycle date of the monthly account statement.

B. The Contractor shall provide a monthly statement to each Cardholder and/or the Statewide Program Administrator.

C. The Agency will receive a bill for all the cards under their account.

D. Statements for payment must accurately reflect all credits, where applicable, due the State.

E. Credits on purchases must be paid back to the State through a check/warrant for unusable credit on an account, even if the account does not have a credit balance, within a timeframe agreed upon during the Discussions Phase.

F. If the statement is not postmarked within three (3) days of the billing cycle, the payment term can be extended the equal number of days between the third day after the billing cycle and the actual latest postmark date of the statement.

G. Payments will be posted to the system within two (2) business days to ensure the prompt payment/speed of pay incentive is fully realized and real credit limits are available.

H. Payment sent via mail is considered paid on check or electronic issue date as long as it is postmarked by the third day after check issue date.

I. A ten (10) day grace period for payments pulled from automated clearing house (ACH) process is required to avoid penalty or negative hit on Rebate.

2.14 LIABILITY REQUIREMENTS

The State shall have no liability for lost or stolen cards or fraudulent use of any card products.

2.15 FRAUD PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

A. The Contractor shall report fraud transactions, and the resulting credit issuance(s) to the Cardholder and the Statewide Program Administrator through real time notifications.

B. The Contractor or System must be capable of providing a daily (at a minimum) fraud and declined transaction report as requested by the State.

C. The Contractor shall provide external fraud protection coverage for the following types of occurrences including, but not limited to:

1. Lost/stolen cards

2. Counterfeit cards

3. Skimmed cards

4. Unauthorized internet transactions

5. Merchant disputes

6. Fraud patterns

7. Account takeovers

D. The Contractor or system must provide a way for the State to report fraudulent activity, lost, or stolen cards.

E. The Contractor or system must provide a way for the State to track reported fraud transactions to completion (closure).

2.16 DISPUTED TRANSACTIONS

The Contractor shall provide a resolution procedure for dealing with disputed transactions resulting from unauthorized charges, errors in cardholder billings, or problems with charges for merchandise or services that are not resolved between the Cardholder and Merchant.

2.17 POTENTIAL FUTURE SERVICES

A. The State currently uses fleet card services for fuel, vehicle repairs, and maintenance on State vehicles, as well as prepaid debit card services for use in making payments such as to child support or unemployment recipients.

1. Prospective Contractors who offer either or both of these types of card services in addition to the Commercial Card Program services specified in this RFP are encouraged to provide information about either or both of their programs in the Recommended Options Form of the Technical Response Packet.

B. The State is planning to implement SAP Concur Travel and Expense Management. Prospective Contractors should provide information on integration with SAP Concur in the Recommended Options Form of the Technical Response Packet.

2.18 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

A. State law requires that qualifying contracts for services include Performance Standards for measuring the overall quality of services that a Contractor shall provide.

B. The State may be open to negotiations of Performance Standards prior to contract award, prior to the commencement of services, or at times throughout the contract duration.

C. Performance Standards shall not be amended unless they are agreed to in writing and signed by the parties.

D. Failure to meet the minimum Performance Standards as specified will result in the assessment of damages.

E. In the event a Performance Standard is not met, the Contractor will have the opportunity to defend or respond to the insufficiency. The State has the right to waive damages if it determines there were extenuating factors beyond the control of the Contractor that hindered the performance of services. In these instances, the State has final determination of the performance acceptability.

F. Should any compensation be owed to the Department due to the assessment of damages, Contractor shall follow the direction of the Department regarding the required compensation process.

SECTION 3 – SELECTION

3.1 SELECTION PROCESS

A. TSS OSP will review each Technical Proposal Packet to verify Submission Requirements have been met. Technical Proposal Packets that do not meet Submission Requirements will be rejected and will not be evaluated.

1. The State may conduct cost checks based on the cost submitted by each Prospective Contractor on the completed pricing response.

a. Prospective Contractors submitting Responsive Proposals with a proposed cost that falls twenty-five percent (25%) or more from the average submitted cost may be asked to justify their submitted cost.

b. Should TSS OSP request clarification and/or additional information regarding cost, Prospective Contractors shall provide clarification and/or additional information as specified by the request.

B. A Department-appointed Evaluation Committee will evaluate and score Responsive Proposals.

Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s response to the Information for Evaluation section included in the Technical Proposal Packet and the pricing submitted by the Prospective Contractor.

1. Rebate information will be provided to the members of the Evaluation Committee (Evaluators) to allow them to determine which proposal(s) is the most advantageous to the State.

2. Evaluators will individually review and evaluate proposals and complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each proposal. Individual scoring for each Evaluation Criteria will be based on the scoring description in Table B: Scoring Table.

TABLE B: SCORING TABLE

SCORE DESCRIPTION

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics suggesting that the Prospective Contractor’s level of performance may be acceptable, but it does not clearly establish that the Prospective Contractor is reliable and capable of fully performing the required services.

The response provides metrics clearly establishing that the Prospective Contractor is unreliable and incapable of fully performing the required services.

3. After initial individual evaluations are complete, the Evaluators will meet to discuss their individual scores. At the initial consensus meeting, each Evaluator will be afforded an opportunity to discuss his or her score for each evaluation criteria.

4. After Evaluators have had an opportunity to discuss their individual scores with the committee, the Evaluators will be given the opportunity to change their initial individual scores, if they feel that is appropriate.

5. The final individual scores of the Evaluators will be recorded on the Consensus Scoresheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each proposal.

6. Other agencies, consultants, and experts may also examine documents at the discretion of the Department.

C. Prospective Contractors submitting Responsive Proposals will be contacted by TSS OSP to schedule an interview.

1. Prospective Contractors shall attend the interview as scheduled by TSS OSP.

2. Evaluators will complete an Individual Score Worksheet for each interview. Evaluation will be based on Prospective Contractor’s responses to questions presented during the interview Individual scoring for each interview will be based on the Scoring Descriptions in 3.1.B.2, Table B.

3. During a final consensus meeting, after all interviews are complete, Evaluators will have the opportunity to discuss the interviews and change their individual interview scores on the Consensus Scoresheet, if they feel that is appropriate.

a. The final individual scores of the Evaluators will be recorded on the Consensus Scoresheets and averaged to determine the group or consensus score and rank for each proposal.

4. Should the State receive only one (1) Responsive Proposal, the State may forgo the interview portion of the evaluation if the proposal has received the Maximum Weighted Score Possible for the Experience, Solution, and Risk subsections.

a. In this scenario, the proposal would automatically receive the maximum weighted score possible for the interview subsection.

D. Should the State request clarification and/or additional information Prospective Contractors’ responses, Prospective Contractors shall provide clarification and/or additional information as specified by the State.

E. TSS OSP will submit responses and rebates received from the interviewed Perspective Contractors, along with the Evaluation Committee’s recommendation to the Department for review and approval to move into Discussions.

3.2 TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SCORE

A. The Information for Evaluation section has been divided into subsections.

1. Each subsection has been assigned a maximum point value of ten (10) points. The total point value for each subsection is reflected in the table below as the Maximum Raw Points Possible.

2. The Department has assigned Weighted Percentages to each subsection according to its significance.

INFORMATION FOR EVALUATION

SUBSECTIONS

MAXIMUM

RAW

POINTS

POSSIBLE

SUBSECTION’S

WEIGHTED

PERCENTAGE

* MAXIMUM

WEIGHTED

SCORE

POSSIBLE

Experience 10 20% 140

Solution 10 30% 210

Risk 10 20% 140

Interview 10 30% 210

Total Technical Score 40 100% 700 *Subsection’s Percentage Weight x Total Technical Maximum Weighted Score = Maximum Weighted Score Possible for the subsection.

B. The proposal’s weighted score for each subsection will be determined using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Actual Raw Points received for subsection in evaluation B = Maximum Raw Points possible for subsection C = Maximum Weighted Score possible for subsection

D = Weighted Score received for subsection

C. The proposal’s weighted scores for subsections will be added to determine the Total Technical Score for the proposal.

3.3 REBATE SCORE

A. When scores are applied, the maximum amount of Rebate Points will be given to the proposal with the highest Standard Volume Basis Points, Non-Standard Volume Basis Points and Average Prompt Payment Incentive as shown on the completed Official Solicitation Rebate Form. (See Grand Total Score for maximum points possible for rebate score.)

B. The amount of Rebate Points given to the remaining proposals will be allocated by using the following formula:

(A/B)*C =D

A = Highest Rebate offering B = Second (third, fourth, etc.) highest Rebate offering C = Maximum Points for highest Rebate offering D = Total Rebate Points received

3.4 GRAND TOTAL SCORE

The Technical Proposal Score and Rebate Score will be added together to determine the Grand Total Score for the proposal.