Sheriff Sale RFP Questions and Answers Opportunity 21250325095647.pdf

City of Philadelphia Department of Revenue Questions and Answers for Opportunity 21250325095647

1. Has the current contract gone full term?

Yes, the current contract has gone full term.

2. Have all options to extend the current contract been exercised?

Yes, all options to extend the current contract have been exercised.

3. Who is the incumbent, and how long has the incumbent been providing the requested services?

The current incumbents are Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP (“Linebarger”) and Goehring, Rutter & Boehm, P.C. (“GRB”) and they have been providing the services since at least 2013.

4. How are fees currently being billed by any incumbent(s), by category, and at what rates?

Both are paid a contingent fee of 18%, the maximum fee authorized by Section 19- 3101 of The Philadelphia Code pursuant to the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law.

GRB also has collected current year taxes on which it receives a commission of 6%.

5. If applicable, how much collection fees were paid to/earned by your current collection provider(s) this past calendar year? The year prior to that?

The City pays on a fiscal year basis:

Linebarger was paid approximately: $1.6M for FY 24 (July 2024 – June 2025), $1.2M for FY 23 (July 2023 – June 2024) GRB was paid approximately: $2.7M for FY 24 (July 2024 – June 2025), $3.2M for FY 23 (July 2023 – June 2024)

6. To how many vendors are you seeking to award a contract?

7. While the City reserves the right to award the contract to one or to more than two providers, it anticipates selecting two providers.

8. To what extent are these accounts owed by private consumers versus commercial businesses?

There is a mix of private consumer and commercial accounts and they vary from year to year.

9. 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?

We anticipate referring new delinquencies each year, although some of them may already have been worked prior to oƯicial delinquency. In addition, we may refer older accounts, most of which will have been worked under existing contracts, by the Law Department, or both. At this time we do not anticipate a separate fee structure for first or second placement.

10. What collection attempts are performed or will be performed internally prior to placement?

Most accounts are worked internally through mailings (at least 3) and/or emails, some accounts are placed with a collection agency when they are overdue, when the account becomes delinquent they are then placed with either the Law Department or with a collection agency.

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

See RFP Section 2.4

12. What is the total dollar value of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog?

Property delinquency data is available to the public at opendataphilly.org

13. What is the total number of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog?

14. What is the average balance of accounts by category?

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

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

Placements are generally twice a year (but may be more frequent), once in January and once in April, the number of accounts vary.

17. 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?

Tax and water delinquency trends can be found at https://www.phila.gov/departments/department-of-revenue/reports/

18. 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?

The City is willing to review any proposals that include email and text communication.

19. Please reconfirm the due date for this procurement by providing it in response to answers to questions.

The due date can be found at https://philawx.phila.gov/econtract/ Opportunity 21250325095647

20. Why has this bid been released at this time?

City contract rules permit one year contracts with a maximum of four renewals. The current contracts have run through all four renewals.

21. If there was a previous solicitation for these services, what was its title, number, release date, and due date?

Title: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS for a Collection of Delinquent Real Estate Taxes and Other Municipal Claims Eligible for SheriƯ Sale for The CITY OF PHILADELPHI Opportunity Number: 21200617135334 Release Date: June 30, 2020 Due Date: July 31, 2020.

22. 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?

No proposal that exceeds the fees authorized by law will be considered.

23. Regarding Service Requirements, page 12, Does the City have a Train-the-Trainer process? What is the length of training?

The City does not anticipate a train the trainer process but will be available to answer any questions and provide guidance.

24. Regarding E. Specific Performance Standards, page 13, Does the City anticipate awarding to multiple vendors?

See question 6 above.

25. Regarding G. Organization and Personnel Requirements, page 13, we are not able to specify the collectors who would perform work on this contract at this time, so we would not be able to detail their experience and education levels. Would providing the required information for key personnel satisfy this requirement?

Yes, identifying key personnel satisfies this requirement.

26. Page 10 of the RFP under Scope of Work states the pool of delinquencies may also include water liens for water service and/or municipal services. Will the water liens to be collected consist of commercial and residential properties? What will be the approximate age of this portfolio of accounts to be collected?

We anticipate it will be a mix of commercial and residential properties. The approximate age of the portfolio accounts is undetermined at this time.

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

T he City will permit the Applicant to upload the financials to a third-party secure website, however, if the financial statements are not viewable, the Applicant will be required to submit the financial statements as an additional document.