SPO comment on first paragraph B-27343 Benefit Banking RFP Answers_03.01_.docx

Benefit Banking RFP Answers

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (“IDES” or “Agency” or “we”) prepared this document in accordance with Section A.6. of Request for Proposal No. 22-427DES-ADMIN-B-27343 for Benefit Banking Services (RFP), which provides:

OFFEROR QUESTIONS AND AGENCY RESPONSE: All questions, other than questions raised at the Pre-Submission Conference, pertaining to this solicitation must be submitted in writing to the Information Contact no later than seven (7) calendar days prior to the bid opening date. Questions received and Agency responses may be posted as an Amendment to the original solicitation on BidBuy; only these posted answers to questions shall be binding on the State. Offerors are responsible for monitoring BidBuy.

Each question submitted by an Offeror in accordance with Section A.6. of the RFP is copied as a question below and followed by the Agency’s answer. Questions are listed in the order of receipt.

1. Question: Can the bid opening be pushed to 30-days after Q&A is posted? We need more time to prepare a response after reviewing answers.

Answer: The revised bid opening due date and time is March 11, 2022, at 11:30 am.

2. Question: Will IDES take ECR rate into account on total cost of a proposal?

Answer: No, IDES will not consider Earnings Credit Rate on the total cost of a proposal.

3. Question: Are debit cards a mandatory requirement? The RFP is written like it is, but it appears to be listed only as a desirable requirement.

Answer: Debit cards are a desirable requirement that is scored more heavily as the Agency is seeking to offer debit cards to claimants as an option.

4. Question: Points assigned to debit cards are overweight when there are many other payment methods. Is this correct? If it is, why?

Answer: Debit cards are greater weighted in scoring because it is highly desirable in relation to paper checks; it is second to direct deposit and more desired than paper checks as the proposed result of the RFP.

5. Question: Is IDES intending for every claimant to receive a debit card when their application is approved? If so, please explain the reasoning.

Answer: It is IDES preference that the claimant be directed to the bank’s portal to immediately sign up for direct deposit.

6. Question: Has IDES conducted any research on how claimants prefer to get paid (i.e. check, ACH (Automated Clearing House), card, digital wallet)?

Answer: No. However, when we offered direct deposit and debit card, our experience was about 70% of the claimants chose direct deposit, and 30% chose debit card.

7. Question: Can the State provide a breakdown of the following amounts for direct deposit, check, and debit card for 2018-2019?

Answer: 70% direct deposit, 30% debit cards, and 0% check.

8. Question: Can the State provide a breakdown of debit card spend for 2018-2019 by, number of transactions, type of transaction POS (point of sales), SIG (signature), ATM (automated teller machine), Teller Cash and average amount of each transaction type?

Total $ amount disbursed Number of disbursements Frequency of disbursement Answer: Data not available from the previous provider.

9. Question: Can the State provide the following information for 2018-2019?

Number of CSR (customer service representative) calls Number of IVR (interactive voice response) calls Total number of minutes spent on IVR and CSR calls Answer: Data not available from the previous provider.

10. Question: Would the State clarify if the 2 free ATM requirements is applicable to ATMs not in the offer’s network or applicable to ATMs within the offers network.

Answer: At a minimum, two free in-network ATM withdrawals per benefit payment. Generally, claimants are paid bi-weekly. Attachment D, ETA Practices, recommends unlimited free in-network ATM withdrawals and partnering whenever possible with other networks. IDES is also seeking two free ATM withdrawals regardless of whose ATM network.

11. Question: In addition to English and Spanish, would the State consider alternative language support in the claimant portal. In addition to English and Spanish, would the State consider alternative language support in the claimant portal?

Answer: IDES is considering all supported languages by the Offeror. Please indicate all languages of support being offered. Please see B.5.2. for scoring evaluations. The languages listed in D.2.7. are mandatory; any additional languages offered are desirable.

12. Question: As some government agencies are restricted by policy to offer references through questionnaires but are allowed to respond to reference inquiries by other methods, will the State accept a point of contact and contact information for each reference in lieu of a reference letter?

Answer: References need to complete and submit the Reference form as indicated in Section 3, Part J.

13. Question: For evaluation purposes, will the State confirm that Offeror’s should use 1% of the cost to the State as the threshold for total contract value?

Answer: Yes, for the BEP (Business Enterprise Program) percentage, the total contract value should be utilized.

14. Question: Would the State consider a due date extension of three weeks?

Answer: See answer to question 1.

15. Question: Once a card is pinned by the consumer, it becomes consumer-owned funds and this negates the need for collateralization. Additionally, if funds are unpinned, they can be returned to the agency and this also negates the need for collateralization. Would the State agree to remove the collateralization requirement as it is not applicable to prepaid card programs based on how funds are held?

Answer: We will need collateralization of any cash balances in the benefits account. The Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) allows us to keep up to three (3) days of benefit payments on hand in our benefit payment account. Currently, the balance in our benefit account is about $85 million.

16. Question: Must the Offeror be a bank? May the Offeror be a Program provider with a sponsor bank?

Answer: An Offeror which can provide the services solicited by IDES can submit a proposal. The Offeror can be a program provider with a sponsor bank.

17. Question: May the final due date be extended to Tuesday April 5th at 3:00 pm CST?

Answer: See answer to question 1.

18. Question: Agency states that currently there are two benefit payments options: paper and direct deposits. However, Agency desires to add debit card as a third option. Can you estimate the anticipated payment mix between check, direct deposit and debit card?

Answer: Prior to January 2022, the two payment options were debit cards (30%) and direct deposit (70%). Beginning 2022, checks (10%) and direct deposit (90%). There are no estimated percentages breakout IDES can provide with a mix of three options.

19. Question: How many checks does the agency issue per month? Once debit card is introduced as a payment option, how many debits cards does the Agency expect to issue?

Answer: Approximately, 28,000 paper checks. The amount of debit cards to be issued will depend on the payment choices the claimants make.

20. Question: Agency states that the average of benefits paid to claimants was $5.7 billion between years 2018 – 2020. Can you provide the average monthly collected balances associated with the checking accounts supporting $5.7 billion?

Answer: See answer to question 15.

21. Question: Can Agency provide a recent account analysis statement detailing the cash management services that support unemployment benefit payments?

Answer: No, this information is confidential.

22. Question: Is the Agency interested in pursuing other products and services that will provide more efficiencies to the state?

Answer: IDES would consider recommendations for future improvements that are offered by the awarded Offeror.

23. Question: “The Offeror shall provide full customer support services for the IDES claimant and must provide such services at a minimum in English, Spanish, Polish, Cantonese/Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, and Tagalog.” Can you confirm if direct customer support to your claimant is mandatory, or desirable?

Answer: Per the RFP, Mandatory “The Offeror’s claimant portal must be multilingual inclusive of Spanish, Polish, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and Tagalog.” Additional languages the offeror can provide are classified as desirable.

24. In addition, would this multi-lingual support apply only to the customer service call center, or is it IDES’ expectation that the website and paper mailings would also include instructions in all of these languages?

Answer: See answer to Question 23.

25. Question: “To combat Unemployment Insurance Fraud, IDES is seeking real time data on: 1) multiple UI benefits going to the same direct deposit account. 2) multiple debit cards mailed to the same address. 3) undeliverable debit cards. 4) IP addresses used by claimants who enter a bank portal. Only authorized IDES staff will have access to this data which will be utilized to prevent a variety of fraudulent acts.” Responding to each 4 points, can the state please answer if they are leveraging any external resources from the federal government to support the research? In addition is that something that your previous debit card provider provided? Any additional details that can be provided on this question would be helpful in creating our response.

Answer: There is no Federal government support. Yes, the previous debit card provider did provide on the four mentioned points; no additional explanation can be discussed on what the previous provider specifically provided.

26. Question: Agency states “The Offeror shall have the capability to disburse Program benefits to all eligible claimants via paper checks mailed to their homes or preferred address.” Does the Agency utilize a controlled disbursement site to issue checks? If not, is the Agency interested in pursuing the benefits of such a service?

Answer: Yes, the Agency utilizes a controlled disbursement site to issue checks. IDES is also looking to understand other services an Offeror is utilizing.

27. Question: How does the agency reconcile? Does IDES plan on continuing to offer paper checks as an option?

Answer: We reconcile daily online statements to assure the integrity of the bank books. The preferred payments are: 1. Direct deposit 2. Debit cards 3. Checks. Payment by check should be considered least desirable. Offerors can respond to the RFP with any combination of options they offer of the three mentioned.

28. Question: Does the Agency experience a high degree of cost and manual processing with processing unclaimed funds that need to be escheated back to the appropriate agency at the State of Illinois?

Answer: The agency does not experience a high degree of cost and manual processing with processing unclaimed funds.

29. Question: We understand that the amount of UI (Unemployment Insurance) benefit payments is a function of economic conditions and other factors. However, under normal operating conditions, are ACH (Automated Clearing House) Credit files initiated daily or weekly? Can you give us some guidance regarding the highest ACH Credit file amount that you anticipate would be processed in any one day? Also, what is the potential for stacking of ACH files? That is, a situation where received files with future settlement dates are sent along with received files for current settlement? Can you provide us the average weekly ACH volume over the last 4 – 5 months?

Answer: ACH credit files are initiated daily in the lockbox service area. This is very low volume consisting of 5-25 per day.

30. Question: “The Offeror must provide a report that discloses when the benefits of more than one claimant are direct deposited into the same bank account”. Does IDES need the full account number and routing number reported, or just a portion of it? Would IDES be providing each claimants’ social security number and address when payment instructions submitted? If not, how do you desire the social security number and address of the claimant to be obtained by the offeror when a direct deposit (ACH) payment preference is made by the claimant?

Answer: Yes, IDES requires the full account and routing number. Yes, the social security number and address will be provided.

31. Question: 1) Please provide examples of each remittance form.

2) Is the type of remittance coded into the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) scanline or is the remittance type to be determined by manually viewing the transmittal?

3) If manual, is the information in a consistent location for all transmittals?

Answer: It is a form with the OCR scanline on every transmittal.

32. Question: D.2.4.1.4 (page 31) Please provide examples. Are address changes identified with mark sense box?

Answer: Yes, address changes are identified with a mark sense box.

33. Question: Agency states “The images must be available online to IDES staff within the next business day after pickup from the lockbox.” Is IDES referring to pickup between US Post Office by the processor?

Answer: Yes, IDES is referring to the pickup between US Post Office by the processor.

34. Question: Agency states “If IDES is unable to provide the transmittal data before the payment transmission cut-off, the Offeror must fill the empty transmittal fields.” Are you asking the Offeror to fill the empty transmittal with zeros or all nines as a way to deposit the check and suspense the item?

Answer: No, we require a direct deposit date, repayment date, receipt ID, amount, repayment method and/or claimant ID or social security number if provided. The data files are based on parameters needed from IDES.

35. Question: Agency states “The Offeror must be able to accept credit card payments as a repayment option.” Will payment coupons offer a credit payments to be processed by lockbox?

Answer: Yes.

36. Question: Agency states “The Offeror must scan the payments’ MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) lines and transmittals’ Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scan lines to create an electronic file of claimant and repayment data IDES can use to update individual claimant accounts and that both IDES and the Attorney General can maintain for audit purposes and future legal proceedings.” Will a payment file suffice?

Answer: The payment file must contain information from the MICR and OCR scan lines.

37. Question: Agency states “The Offeror must endorse each check or money order and encode their Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) lines with the correct dollar amount of the repayments Per Check 21”, most items clear via Image Exchange where a virtual endorsement is the standard. Does IDES want to amend this requirement?

Answer: No, the requirement will remain. This requirement refers to transmittal of repayments sent to the Lockbox. Transmittals have receipt types, which must be properly credited to the claimant via file.

38. Agency states “The Offeror must scan the payments’ MICR lines and transmittals’ Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scan lines to create an electronic file of claimant and repayment data IDES can use to update individual claimant accounts and that both IDES and the Attorney General can maintain for audit purposes and future legal proceedings.” Is the transmittal OCR scan line weighted with check digit for control of accuracy?

Answer: See answer to question 37.

39. Question: Agency states “By noon of the following receipt, Un-bankable remittances with accompanying envelopes, transmittals, and correspondence and mail misdirected to the lockbox, stamped with the date received at the lockbox.” Dating happens when items are imaged. Is this acceptable?

Answer: IDES accepts images that are dated when items are imaged, but originals must be provided via messenger daily.

40. Question: Agency states “After encoding remittances, the Offeror must digitally image the front of each remittance”. Will IDES remove the comment “after encoding remittances?’’ Answer: IDES requires the Offeror must digitally image the front of each remittance.

41. Question: Agency states “The Offeror must make the daily transmission file available, within one (1) business day, online to IDES staff with secured access on the day of deposit” Can you clarify? Do you want IDES staff to be able to view debits and credits?

Answer: Yes, we want IDES staff to view debits and credits.

42. Question: Agency states “The Offeror must provide software, if needed, to enable a minimum of fifteen (15) designated IDES staff to view the deposit transmission file and a minimum of twenty (20) designated IDES and Attorney General (AG) staff to access digitally imaged documents via PC” Can you clarify? Do you want IDES staff to view transmission file? Or data, meaning debits, credits transaction activity?

Answer: IDES staff must view Data, debit cards, and transaction activity.

43. Question: Agency states “For payments by check, the agency requires positive pay services.” Is payee positive pay desired?

Answer: Yes, payee positive pay is desired.

44. Question: Agency states that any collected funds retained on the bank’s books for IDES accounts must be collateralized in excess of FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insurance. Since there is a cost associated with pledging collateral, can you provide some guidance on the estimated average collected balances that you anticipate in the IDES accounts in aggregate?

Answer: See answer to question 15.

45. Question: (Vendor) is in the process of acquiring (acquired entity) and is awaiting Regulatory approval. We currently have an application pending with the State of Illinois for a Certificate to conduct business within the State as we do not currently have an office within the State. We have been told that the Certificate cannot be granted until the merger has been approved. Can (vendor) still be eligible to bid pending the approval of the merger?

Answer: Yes, the Offeror is still eligible to bid pending the approval of the merger.

46. Question: Would the State consider providing Offerors a two week extension to produce a quality response? Extending the RFP deadline from March 4th to March 18th? This extension request would also be extended to References that must be received by March 4, 2022 to March 18, 2022; 11:00 am CST.

Answer: See answer to question no. 1.

47. Question: Would the State consider providing Offerors a two-week extension to produce a quality response? Extending the RFP deadline from March 4th to March 18th? This extension request would also be extended to References that must be received by March 4, 2022 to March 18,2022; 11:00am CST.

Answer: See answer to question no. 1.

48. Question: Exhibit F shows 1.72B, 1.74B and 6.7B for 2018-2020 for an average of 3.38B paid to claimants. State requirement references 5.7B for same time period. Please clarify benefit dollars for 2018-2020.

Please provide the statistics for calendar year 2018 and 2019 for:

Number of cards, average amount loaded and total amount loaded Number of Direct Deposit recipients and total amount deposited Number of Check recipients and total amount of disbursed.

Answer: Attachment F only includes regular UI and State share of EB benefits paid. Statistics in Section D.1. include benefits paid for all programs including the new Federal programs created by the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act during the pandemic (e.g. PUA, FPUC, PEUC, Federal EB, etc.…)

49. Question: Is the Offeror/Prime Contractor required to be a financial institution, or can a program manager be the Offeror/Prime Contractor and provide the services in conjunction with an issuing bank/financial institution that is FDIC insured?

Answer: See answer to question 16.

50. Question: What was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to unemployment insurance programs? Would the state be amendable to an alternative approach to the Vendors ability to provide banking and financial services so that public and/or private companies may be included as a qualifying reference?

If so, we propose the following alternative for Question 1 of State Requirement: Part II: Technical Narrative language for because private sector references will not be able to comment on unemployment insurance programs:

1. For Public Sector references, what was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to unemployment insurance programs?

2. For Private Sector references, what was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to your program(s).

Answer: The references are not providing requirements in answers, only an understanding of the experience provided in the past. Alternative questions are not required based on this circumstance. References can provide answers while relating to comparable situations.

49. Question: On the Bid Solicitation page in Bid Buy under the Amendment section it states that a vendor pre-submission meeting document was added as Amendment #2. However, we do not see that document listed under the File Attachments. Can you tell us where we can locate Amendment #2?

Answer: The pre-proposal meeting occurred on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at 12pm CST. There were no attachments. Offerors submitted questions, which are answered within this document.

50. Question: Would IDES consider an extension to the RFP due date of 3/4/2022 to 05/01/2022 to allow for further review?

Answer: See answer to question no. 1.

51. Question: Would IDES consider a bid for only the lockbox service?

Answer: IDES is requesting submissions from Offerors of all requested services.

52. Question: There appears to be a discrepancy between B.6 and B.7. Please clarify whether the price for cardholder fees is 75 points or 175 points.

Answer: Price for cardholders is 175 points, and price for IDES fees are 75 points.

53. Question: Can the State provide required forms in a fillable PDF or Word format if available?

Answer: All available document types were utilized. Please utilize the provided forms.

54. Question: The numbering sequence in the RFP goes from D.2.4.1.6 to D.2.3.1. We believe D.2.3.1 should be D.2.4.1.7. Please clarify.

Answer: Please refer to the numbers listed on the RFP, regardless of any numbering errors.

55. Question: Would the State consider providing Offerors a two week extension to produce a quality response? Extending the RFP deadline from March 4th to March 18th?

Answer: See answer to question no.1.

56. Question: Exhibit F shows 1.72B, 1.74B and 6.7B for 2018-2020 for an average of 3.38B paid to claimants. State requirement references 5.7B for same time period. Please clarify benefit dollars for 2018-2020.

Answer: See answer to question no. 48.

57. Question: Please provide the statistics for calendar year 2018 and 2019 for:

· Number of cards, average amount loaded and total amount loaded

· Number of Direct Deposit recipients and total amount deposited

· Number of Check recipients and total amount of disbursed Answer: Data not available. Previous provider did not provide the requested data.

58. Question: Is the Offeror/Prime Contractor required to be a financial institution, or can a program manager be the Offeror/Prime Contractor and provide the services in conjunction with an issuing bank/financial institution that is FDIC insured?

Answer: See answer to question 16.

59. Question: Would the state be amendable to an alternative approach to the Vendors ability to provide banking and financial services so that public and/or private companies may be included as a qualifying reference?

Answer: Reference checks can refer to comparable services offered and can be answered in applicable ways.

60. Question: If so, we propose the following alternative for Question 1 of State Requirement: Part II: Technical Narrative language for because private sector references will not be able to comment on unemployment insurance programs:

Answer: References can refer to alternative experiences for the Offeror to showcase what comparable experiences can showcase.

61. Question: Does a BEP subcontract have to be affiliated with the Unemployment Insurance or Accounting/Financial NIGP (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing) codes (953-91 and 209-11), or can any subcontractor certified by the Department of Central Management Services as a BEP vendor be utilized to meet the Business Enterprise Program Goal?

Answer: A participating BEP subcontractor must be able to perform a commercially useful function through direct participation.

62. Question: What was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to unemployment insurance programs? Would the state be amendable to an alternative approach to the Vendors ability to provide banking and financial services so that public and/or private companies may be included as a qualifying reference?

If so, we propose the following alternative for Question 1 of State Requirement: Part II: Technical Narrative language for because private sector references will not be able to comment on unemployment insurance programs:

3. For Public Sector references, what was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to unemployment insurance programs?

4. For Private Sector references, what was the overall Vendor’s ability to provide services banking services /financial services related to your program(s).

Answer: See answer to question no.50.

63. Question: On the Bid Solicitation page in Bid Buy under the Amendment section it states that a vendor pre-submission meeting document was added as Amendment #2. However, we do not see that document listed under the File Attachments. Can you tell us where we can locate Amendment #2?

Answer: The pre-proposal meeting occurred on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at 12:00 P.M. CST. There were no attachments. Offerors submitted questions, which are answered within this document.

63. Question: Would IDES consider an extension to the RFP due date of 3/4/2022 to 05/01/2022 to allow for further review?

Answer: See answer to question no. 1.

64. Question: For the benefit of all bidders, we kindly request that if an extension is granted, that bidders also have additional time to submit questions, such as maintaining the seven calendar days deadline currently in place.

Answer: See answer to question no. 1.

65. Question: As debit cards are defined as a desirable service, is it the States’ intent to have the benefit payments disbursed to the card as a default payment method, or must the claimant select and enroll to the payment method of their choose. i.e., direct deposit or card and if neither option is selected payment method defaults to check?

Answer: IDES is looking to replace checks with debit cards. It is IDES preference that the claimant be directed to the bank’s portal to immediately sign up for direct deposit. We will work with the vendor to delay the card request as a last resort, but the balance is prompt receipt of benefits to the claimant. As of the last time debit cards were offered, the provider only had 30% of claimants utilizing debit cards as 70% of the remaining utilized direct deposit.

66. Question: Will IDES please clarify what calculations are used to identify the 45% of goods and services provided by the subcontractor?

Answer: IDES chose this percentage to ensure the prime Offeror ensures a majority percentage of the services being offered.