ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER (EBT)

The State of South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS) is seeking a comprehensive Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) services contractor through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) solicitation number 5400020111. The procurement covers multiple program benefit delivery channels, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, TANF cash payments, Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), foster care and adoption subsidy payments, and child care provider payments. The selected vendor must provide a complete EBT system with capabilities for account establishment, card issuance and replacement, transaction processing, customer service operations, retailer management, settlement and reconciliation, reporting, and POS equipment deployment. Mandatory vendor qualifications include three successful comparable installations, five years of organizational experience, and a state manager with at least five years of experience and Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Key proposal submission dates include a May 12, 2022 deadline for questions, June 3, 2022 as the response submission deadline, and an anticipated award date of June 9, 2022. The contract term spans seven years, consisting of an initial five-year period with two optional one-year renewal terms, commencing June 21, 2022, through June 20, 2029.

The solicitation does not specify explicit set-aside designations or restrictions for disadvantaged enterprises. The incumbent contractor currently operates the existing system, which processes approximately 3 to 6.6 million monthly transactions for SNAP, serves over 5,000 authorized retailers, and manages approximately 18,000 monthly card replacements. The current SNAP caseload ranges from 274,000 to 310,000 cases monthly, with pricing structured as a fixed Cost Per Case Month (CPCM) for the contract's duration. While specific award values are not explicitly stated, the procurement requires vendors to amortize setup costs and overhead across the seven-year contract term. Funding sources include State and Federal appropriations, specifically FNS funds for SNAP and State budgeted funds for cash benefit programs. The State estimates SNAP caseloads at approximately 300,000 cases and requires separate pricing for optional services and fee-for-service items, including disaster card production and wireless POS devices. The current system infrastructure includes approximately 17 EBT-only terminals and 5,087 authorized retailers, which the new contractor must successfully integrate and support.