Customer Billing, Payment, and Engagement Solution

Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners is requesting proposals for a Customer Billing, Payment, and Engagement Solution to process customer payments through multiple channels for the Water Resources Department, with proposals due August 11, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time and implementation required by February 1, 2027. This is a five-year contract valued at $26.314 million with extensive cybersecurity, compliance, and operational requirements that will function as a decision filter for most bidders.

The solution must process payments for approximately 212,146 active customer accounts from a base of 424,863 total accounts, supporting annual transaction volumes exceeding $73 million in credit card and $111 million in e-Check payments. The contractor must deliver online credit card and e-Check payments, mobile applications, Interactive Voice Response systems, bill printing and mailing services, and customer engagement tools. Daily settlement is required by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time with electronic fund transfers to County bank accounts. The contractor assumes all responsibility for subcontracted services, CIS system interfacing, bill print and mail operations, payment processing, and 24/7 support.

Vendors must comply with PCI DSS Level 1, NACHA, NIST SP 800-53 (Moderate Baseline), NIST AI Risk Management Framework, CIS Critical Security Controls v8, OWASP standards, and WCAG accessibility standards. The County requires SOC 2 Type II certification within 12 months for cloud/SaaS solutions, encryption (AES 256 at rest, TLS 1.2 or higher in transit), multi-factor authentication, annual penetration testing with critical patches deployed within 15 days, and 24/7 security alert monitoring. All County data must remain within the United States. Vendors must appoint a qualified Information Security Officer, maintain cyber liability insurance, and provide annual attestation of compliance. Incident notification is mandatory within 24 hours for suspected compromise and immediately for confirmed breaches.

Proposers must submit two pricing options: one with customer convenience fees for card and e-Check payments and one where the County absorbs all fees. Evaluation criteria are Quality of Proposed System (35 points), Proposer's Organization and Qualifications (35 points), Understanding of Scope and Technical Approach (20 points), and Quote/Cost Total (10 points).

Mandatory compliance documents include Drug-Free Workplace Certification, Direct Deposit Authorization, W-9 form, Affidavit of Compliance under Florida Statutes Section 287.138 (denying business with designated foreign countries of concern), and insurance certificates. Commercial General Liability ($1 million to $5 million), Automobile Liability ($300,000 to $1 million), Workers' Compensation, Professional Liability ($1 million per claim), and Cyber Liability ($1 million minimum) are required; all insurance must be from A.M. Best-rated carriers (A- or better, Class 7 or higher) authorized in Florida.