CITY OF OPELIKA
PURCHASING DEPARTMENT
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
SHIRLEYWASHINGTON
PURCHASING AGENT
OFFICE (334) 705-5120
FAX (334) 705-5128
PROPOSAL DATA
BID NUMBER:B08-009
COMMODITY TITLE:Statement Billing
USER DEPARTMENT: Light and Power
BUYER:Shirley Washington
BUYER TELEPHONE:(334) 705-5120
ISSUE DATE:November 27, 2007
PROPOSAL OPENING
DAY/DATE:December 17, 2007
TIME:2:00 PM
LOCATION:OpelikaCity Hall
Conference Room
MAILING ADDRESS:City of Opelika
Purchasing Department
204 S 7th Street
PO Box 390
Opelika, AL 36803-0390
The City of Opelika Purchasing Department will receive sealed proposals to provide Statement Billing Servicesfor the City of Opelika Light and Power Department as per attached specifications. Proposals must be received by 2:00 PM on December17, 2007 at which time they will be opened and read aloud. Late proposals will not be considered nor returned.
PROPOSALS MAY BE MAILED TO:PROPOSALS MAY BE DELIVERED TO:
City of OpelikaCity of Opelika
Purchasing DepartmentPurchasing Department
PO Box 390204 S. 7th Street
Opelika, AL 36803-0390Opelika, AL 36801
GENERAL TERMS AND INSTRUCTIONS
PART 1
SECTION I TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1.1All proposals submitted shall be firm for a minimum of 60 days, unless otherwise specified.
1.2The City reserves the right to cancel or make null and void any purchase order, if delivery cannot be made on the specified delivery date.
1.2.1In case of default by the contractor, the City may procure the articles or services from other sources and hold the contractor responsible for any excess cost occasioned thereby.
1.3All items shall be delivered F.O.B. destination. Delivery costs and charges shall be included in the proposal, unless otherwise stated in the specifications or proposal.
1.4The name and manufacturer, trade name, manufacturer or vendor catalog number mentioned in specifications and proposal sheet is for the purpose of designating a minimum standard of quality and type and for no other reason. Such references are not intended to be restrictive. Bids will be considered for any brand which meets or exceeds the quality of the specifications listed for any items unless, otherwise stated in the specifications or proposals.
1.5Proposal tabulations will not be given over the telephone. Vendors desiring a proposal tabulation shall enclose a stamped and self addressed envelope with their submission.
1.6Proposal awards are not official until a purchase order is issued or the Purchasing Department notifies the successful vendor in writing.
SECTION II SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL
2.1Proposals received after the designated date and time will not be opened nor returned.
2.2All proposals shall be submitted on and in accordance with forms for this purpose, which are a part of this proposal package. Additional supplementary documentation, when requested, shall be submitted on the proposer’s letterhead.
2.3All proposals are to be submitted in sealed, plainly marked envelopes. Envelopes shall be marked in the bottom left corner with the Title of the Request for Proposal, the RFP Number and the Opening Date. Facsimile and telephone submissions will not be accepted.
2.4All proposals shall be typewritten or completed in black ink.
2.5An authorized officer or agent of the company submitting the proposal in order to be considered must sign all proposals.
2.6SUBMIT TWO (2) COPIES of the proposal to the City of Opelika, Purchasing Department.
2.7Proposals, which show any omission, irregularity, alteration of forms, additions not called for, or conditional or unconditional unresponsive bids may be rejected.
2.8Any proposal submitted with corrected errors shall have the correction initialed by the person signing the bid.
SECTION III BID EVALUATION
3.1The City reserves the right to evaluate all proposals, waive any technical or informalities, reject any and/or all bids and proposals, and further specifically reserves the right to make the award and/or awards in the best interest of the City.
3.2The RFP evaluation will be made on the following criteria:
Criteria / Value3.2.1 / Company History & Experience / 25 pts
3.2.2 / References / 20 pts
3.2.3 / Bid Price / 50 pts
3.2.4 / Prompt Pay Discount (meeting requirements of 3.4) / 5 pts
Total Possible Points to be awarded: 100 pts
3.3The City may waive minor differences in specifications, provided these differences do not violate the specification intent, materially affect the operation for which the item or items are being purchased nor increase the estimated maintenance and repair cost to the City.
3.4In order for a prompt pay discount to be considered as a factor in the award of this bid, the minimum days allowed for payment to receive discount shall be 10 days after receipt of a correct invoice.
3.5The City reserves the right to award all submissions in their entirety or in part, whichever, in its opinion, best serves the interest of the City.
3.6The City reserves the right to cancel or make null and void any purchase order if delivery cannot be made on the specified delivery date.
3.7Unless clearly shown on the RFP that it is the intent that a reduced total price is being offered on the basis of receiving an award of all items covered by the total, any totals should be the actual sum of the extension of unit prices; otherwise, in the event of any discrepancy between a unit price(s), extended price(s) and/or total price(s), unit price shall govern and the RFP will be refigured accordingly.
3.8The City shall be sole judge as to an item meeting or exceeding the specifications.
3.9NON-COLLUSION: Vendors, by submitting a signed RFP, certify that the accompanying RFP is not the result of, or affected by, any unlawful act of collusion with any other person or company engaged in the same line of business or commerce, or any other fraudulent act punishable under Alabama or United States law.
SECTION IV BILLING AND PAYMENT
4.1The vendor shall submit an invoice in duplicate to:
City of Opelika
Accounting Department
PO Box 390
Opelika, AL 36803-0390
4.2Payment by the City shall be made within thirty days, unless otherwise specifically provided, subject to any discounts offered.
4.2.1The City will make payment to the vendor upon receipt of invoice and acceptance of the item or service by the City.
4.2.2Any prompt pay discount offered will be computed from the date of delivery of the equipment, supplies, or materials at destination, when final inspection and acceptance are at those points, from the date the correct invoice is received, if the latter is later than the date of delivery.
SECTION V ESCALATION CLAUSE
5.1The bid price stated shall be firm for all purchases under this contract for one year. Price increases from the manufacturer to the successful vendor may be passed on during the life of this contract after the first year, ONLY when the following conditions are met:
5.1.1Notification to the Purchasing Department of price increase, along with proof of price increase from the supplier shall be provided to the Purchasing Department PRIOR to any increase being approved.
5.1.2Failure to comply with above requirements shall deem the prices to be in effect for the entire life of the contract.
5.1.3Any price reduction from the supplier shall also be passed on the City of Opelika automatically.
5.1.4The City of Opelika reserves the right to cancel or make null and void any purchase order, if services are not delivered as required.
5.1.5In case of default by the vendor, the City may procure the services from other sources and hold the vendor responsible for any excess cost occasioned thereby.
SECTION VI ADDENDA AND INTERPRETATIONS
6.1If it becomes necessary to revise any part of this bid, a written addendum will be provided to all bidders.
6.2The City is not bound by any oral representations, clarifications or changes made in the written specifications by the City of Opelika employees, unless such clarification or change is provided to bidders in written addendum form from the Purchasing Division.
SECTION VII CONTRACT PERIOD
7.1 Contract period shall begin immediately upon award and end December 31, 2009. Upon
mutual agreement, this contract may be extended for one (1) additional year.
7.2The City may terminate this contract with a thirty (30) day written notice for unsatisfactory service, or inferior product performance.
Opelika Light and Power
Request for Proposal
- Scope: Opelika Light and Power (OLP) is requesting sealed proposals for
printing, inserting and mailing monthly electric utility
statements and late notices if needed. In addition, inserting additional
material such as flyers, marketing inserts, etc. provided by OLP as
needed. The pricing should be based on 12,000 monthly statements
and 5,000 late notices per month if needed. The proposal must include,
at a minimum, development expense, processing expense, materials
expense, postage and any additional products/services expenses. The
bidder will be required to provide all supplies, materials and services
necessary for printing, inserting bill, return envelope and additional
information/intelligence in envelope and mailing to customers.
- General Information: Opelika Light and Power provides electrical service to
approximately 12,000 customers in Opelika, AL. The billing data for
this customer base is developed primarily from electric meters at each
service location. However, the cost of monthly garbage service is
billed along with electric service. The customer base is presently divided
into 4 billing cycles but could increase in the future. All accounts are
billed monthly with the expectation that payment will be received from
each. It is possible that it will be necessary to prepare, print and mail
delinquent/late notices for a few months after implementing statement
billing.
Opelika Light and Power is requesting proposals for the following
services: Receiving and formatting billing data to print, insert, sort and
mail the bills/statements for electric service. This process is to include
inserting of the monthly bills/ statement(s) in a double window envelope
with a security tinted return envelope. Approximately 6 times per year,
an additional insert will be provided by OLP to be included in the
monthly bills/statements.
- Proposal:
The proposal should include:
- Management Summary-Provide a cover letter indicating the
underlying philosophy of the bidder in providing the service.
- Approach-Describe in detail how the service will be provided. Include
a description of the major tasks and subtasks.
- Corporate Experience and Capacity-Describe the experience of your
firm in providing the service, give the number of years that this service has been delivered and provide a statement as to the firm’s capacity to fulfill the terms of the proposal and/or the need for expansion to handle the service.
- Staffing-Describe the qualifications and experience of the key personnel
performing the work.
- References- Give at least five utility customers references for contracts of
similar size and scope. Include the name of the organization and the name and telephone number of a responsible contact person.
- Additional Information/Data-Provide any additional information that will
aid in evaluation of the proposal.
- Cost Information/Data-Submit unit cost information on the attached
Proposal Sheet.
A clear, concise proposal in the specified format is requested with all the
necessary information included.
- Specifications, Terms and Conditions:
- For the purpose of this proposal, the Service Provider should base their
proposal on approximately 12,000 monthly statements. Also, as a
separate line item, a proposed cost for 5,000 late notices per month.
- OLP requests proposals for the service inclusive of processing, printing, folding, inserting, sorting and mailing, includingpostage, of bills on a monthly schedule basis in four (4) different billcycles.
- OLP will occasionally have inserts for the bills. Proposals will include a
billing and services sample contract/agreement. The term of this full service contract/agreement shall be for a period of two (2) year subject to
annual renewal for one (1) additional year. The contract/agreement will commence on a mutually agreeable date and end on the anniversary date.
At the end of the three (3) year period, the contract/agreement may be extended on a month –to-month basis by agreement of both parties.
- OLP reserves the right to evaluate the vendor’s qualifications. Only those
vendors/contractors who, in the opinion of OLP, meet the minimum necessary qualifications will have their cost and contract/agreement proposal evaluated.
- License Requirements: Service Provider will furnish with the proposal
documents a copy of the appropriate City, County or State business
license.
- Termination: The contract/agreement will be subject to the terms and
conditions included in the Service Agreement. OLP reserves the right to cancel the contract/agreement due to nonperformance or violation of or noncompliance with contract/agreement terms.
- Scope of Proposal:
- Service Provider will design, in conjunction with OLP, a two color
(black with a second variable laser highlight color of blue, green or red),
one-sided form that is 8 ½” x 11” in size. The bill design will include an appropriate scan line for remittance processing, a message area (variable data text messages shall be printed in the highlight color ink), different size fonts to enhance readability, a bar chart, if requested by OLP, and an OLP logo. Service Provider will agree to purchase and maintain a sufficient supply of billing forms and envelopes to ensure an uninterrupted supply for printing requirements.
- Service Provider will notify OLP in writing, and receive approval from
OLP, of any required changes to forms or envelopes prior to implementation.
- OLP will provide Service Provider with any additional forms to be
inserted with the bills. The Service Provider must agree to receive a drop shipment of the inserts necessary to supply a one-month cycle of bills. OLP will work with the Service Provider to design the inserts to conform to the specifications required for successful insertion by the equipment used by the Service Provider.
- Programming:
Service Provider will provide a quote for initial programs required to print
billing information from the data/print file provided by OLP to the approved OLP bill form. OLP will compensate Service Provider for program changes involving bill layout changes requested by OLP after the initial program has been put in place. Provide quote for the programming fee for set-up and changes on the Proposal Sheet.
- Computer Related Processing Requirements:
- Utility data/print files will be transferred to the Service Provider via file transfer protocol (FTP).
It will be the responsibility of the Service Provider to assist OLP during
the configuration process of the FTP link. OLP will transmit approximately 12,000 data/print files to the Service Provider each month. OLP uses HTE utilitybilling software.
- Currently OLP bills 4 cycles of approximately 2500 to 4,000
bills per cycle per month and as such will transmit approximately 12,000 data/print files to the Service Provider each month. Each one of these data/print files will be treated as a separate billing and each shall be subject to the requirements set forth in this proposal.
- OLP is always seeking ways to be more efficient and to position itself for
the future utilizing the latest technology to meet the needs of the ever-growing variable data applications. Service Provider should comment on ancillary services that they are able to perform, for future use, such as on-line services and electronic bill presentment, along with other existing or new features and offerings,etc.
- Performance Requirements:
- Service Provider will print, insert and mail all electric bills for OLP
within 24 hours after successful receipt of the data/print file.
- The Service Provider shall provide OLP a document, or another method,
indicating the number of bills received electronically for printing, as well as the postage breakdown as USPS Automation Qualified starting at First Class 5-Digit Rate of the billing cycle prior to mailing of bills.
- Upon award of contract, the successful Service Provider must be ready to
accept the first production data/print file within six (6) weeks from date of receipt of all required information from OLP.
- Record Retention and Data Backup:
Service Provider will retain the OLP billing data/print file until the Service
Provider receives the next data/print file. Service Provider should
comment on daily backup rotation and storage of data in the proposal
package.
- Service Provider Invoice Procedure:
The Service Provider will provide OLP a monthly invoice broken down
by each data/print file or cycle sent by OLP. The invoice will include the
number of bills processed and the amount of postage paid for each
data/print file along with any other itemized charges.
- Postage Rates:
- All postage costs will be incurred initially by the Service Provider and
billed at cost to OLP as part of the monthly bill. OLP will allow vendor to set up an escrow account for postage , if needed. The vendor will provide a monthly manifest detailing the total bills printed, mailed and the cost billed to OLP for postage services.
- OLP stipulates that the price of the contract may change only as a result of
changes in the United States Postal Service (USPS) postal rates. It is dependent upon the Service Provider to keep OLP informed of any changes in postal rates.
- The Service Provider must mail the bills starting at the USPS 5-Digit Rate
(or lowest) as qualifies to obtain the largest postage discounts. The Service Provider must have postal software in-house to process and sort. The Service Provider must CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) certify each cycle.
- Bar coding, arranging and sorting of the mail shall be utilized to qualify
for the lowest postage charges consistent with USPS standards. It is required that the Service Provider have an on-site USPS-MERLIN system
for verifying mail quality prior to entry into the USPS distribution system.
The mail should be delivered to the USPS within 24 hours of receipt of FTP file from OLP.
- Detached Mailing Unit:
OLP would prefer utilizing the services of a Detached Mailing Unit
(DMU). If your firm is a DMU, include a complete description of the