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RFP NO. 200801
Iowa State County Treasurers Association (ISCTA)
]
B U N D L E D B AN K I N G S E R V I C E S :
SUPPORT FOR ISCTA ONLINE AND IN- OFFICE
PAYMENTS OF PROPERTY TAXES AND
VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS FEES
(Company Cover Page)
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 1 of 22
Table of Contents
1 . (COMPANY INTRO?) ...................................................................................................................... 4
2 . COMPANY INFORMATION ............................................................................................................ 5
2.1 . Contact Information .................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 . Financial Soundness .................................................................................................................................. 5
2.3 . Support Personnel ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 . Company Experience ................................................................................................................................. 6
2.4.1 . Online Banking Services ................................................................................................................... 6
2.4.2 . Credit Card Services ........................................................................................................................... 6
2.4.3 . Automated clearing House (ACH) Services ................................................................................ 7
2.5 . Competitive Position .................................................................................................................................. 8
2.5.1 . Banking services .................................................................................................................................. 8
2.5.2 . Credit Card Services ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.5.3 . ACH Services ......................................................................................................................................... 8
2.6 . References ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
3 . SERVICE REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................................... 10
3.1 . Credit Card Services ................................................................................................................................. 10
3.1.1 . Authorization Services ..................................................................................................................... 10
3.1.2 . Settlement Services........................................................................................................................... 10
3.1.3 . Ticket Retrieval and Chargeback services ................................................................................ 10
3.2 . ACH Services .............................................................................................................................................. 11
3.3 . Disbursements............................................................................................................................................ 12
3.4 . Debit Card Services .................................................................................................................................. 13
3.5 . Additional Banking Services ................................................................................................................. 14
3.6 . Customer Service ...................................................................................................................................... 14
4 . GENERAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................. 16
4.1 . Capacity ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
4.2 . Communications Options ....................................................................................................................... 16
4.3 . Implementation and Testing .................................................................................................................. 17
4.4 . Security ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 2 of 22
4.5 . Disaster Recovery and Backup............................................................................................................. 18
4.6 . Point-of-Sale (POS) Hardware ............................................................................................................... 19
5 . COST PROPOSAL ........................................................................................................................ 20
5.1 . Specific Costs ............................................................................................................................................. 20
5.1.1 . Costs for Interchange-Plus Model ................................................................................................ 20
5.1.2 . Costs for Blended-Rate Model....................................................................................................... 20
5.1.3 . One Time Costs.................................................................................................................................... 21
5.1.4 . Interest Income ................................................................................................................................... 21
5.2 . Cost Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 22
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 3 of 22
1. (COMPANY INTRO?)
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 4 of 22
2. COMPANY INFORMATION
Please use this section to provide general information about your company pertinent to the
requested BBS’s.
2.1. CONTACT INFORMATION
REQUIRED: Each responding company must provide a single contact for all communications
concerning this RFP.
1. Provide name, title, phone number, fax number and e-mail address for your company’s
contact for your response to this RFP.
2.2. FINANCIAL SOUNDNESS
REQUIRED: Each respondent must provide at least two independent and verifiable ratings, e.g.,
Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, etc.
2. Provide two independent and verifiable ratings for your company.
2.3. SUPPORT PERSONNEL
PREFERENCE: From previous experience, the ISCTA will give preference to proposals committing
to a single point of contact for all of the requested services. By single point of contact the ISCTA
means that all issues, concerns, support and advocacy for ISCTA will be through a single,
individual designated by the vendor. In addition, to satisfy this preference, the respondent must
assure that, should the designated contact be unavailable for any reason, the ISCTA will be
notified of a single substitute contact.
3. Provide name, title, phone number, fax number, e-mail address and brief professional
biography for a primary contact with whom the ISCTA will interact in support of the BBS’s.
4. What percent of the primary contact’s total responsibility to your Company will be devoted to
supporting the ISCTA for the BBS’s?
5. In the event the primary contact must be permanently replaced, to what extent will the ISCTA
or its designated representatives be involved in the replacement process? How much prior notice
is the ISCTA assured of getting before the actual replacement?
6. For the principle contact, provide the name, title, telephone number and e-mail address of the
person to whom the principle contact direct reports.
7. For the principle contact, how many employees report directly to this person? Approximately,
how many total employees work under this person’s management?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 5 of 22
8. For each additional contact, should they be required, provide name, phone number, fax
number, e-mail address and area(s) of responsibility (as they related to this RFP).
2.4. COMPANY EXPERIENCE
Please focus responses in this section to experience clearly relevant to the requested bundled
services. Avoid general company history, inclusion of aggregate information that includes banking
services not relevant to this RFP and general marketing material not directly relevant to this RFP.
2.4.1. ONLINE BANKING SERVICES
9. Provide an overview and recent history of your company’s offering of banking services similar
to the BBS’s requested in this RFP.
10. For how long has your company provided these types of online banking services?
11. Does your company use any third party service providers in the delivery of these banking
services/
12. If your company does use third party service providers in the delivery of these banking
services, identify each such company and explain their specific role.
13. What is the number of distinct client companies (include non-profits, governmental entities,
etc.) for which you currently provide these banking services?
14. Of the number of companies provided in your response to the preceding item 13, how many
of those companies have a peak load month, in terms of deposits into merchant accounts, at
least as great as those projected for ISCTA’s BBC’s? Please see Appendix A for ISCTA
historical data on payments of taxes and fees.
15. Of the number of companies provided in your response to item 13, how many of those
companies are actually governmental agencies (federal, state, county, city, etc.)?
16. In dollars, for your largest customer of these banking services, what is the maximum monthly
amount processed by merchant accounts?
2.4.2. CREDIT CARD SERVICES
17. Provide an overview and recent history of your company’s offering of credit card services.
18. For how long has your company provided credit card services?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 6 of 22
19. Does your company use any third party service providers in the delivery of these credit card
services?
20. If your company does use third party service providers in the delivery of credit card services,
identify each such company and explain their role as it applies to BBS for the ISCTA.
21. What is the number of distinct client companies (include non-profits, governmental entities,
etc.) for which you currently provide these credit card services?
22. Of the number of companies provided in your response to the preceding question 21, how
many have peak monthly total CC charges at least as great as those for March 2008 for the
ISCTA online payment application.
23. Of the number of companies provided in your response to the preceding item 19, how many
of those companies are actually governmental agencies (federal, state, county, city, etc.)?
24. What was the total dollar volume of the largest single month of CC charges for a single
customer of your CC services?
2.4.3. AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE (ACH) SERVICES
25. Provide an overview and recent history of your company’s offering of ACH services.
26. For how long has your company provided ACH services?
27. Does your company use any third party service providers in the delivery of these ACH
services?
28. If your company does use third party service providers in the delivery of credit card services,
identify each such company and explain their role as it applies to BBS’s for the ISCTA.
29. What is the number of distinct client companies (include non-profits, governmental entities,
etc.) for which you currently provide these ACH services?
30. Of the number of companies provided in your response to the preceding item 29, how many
have peak monthly total ACH charges of at least as much as those for March 2008 for the ISCTA
online payment application
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 7 of 22
31. Of the number of companies provided in your response to item 29, how many of those
companies are actually governmental agencies (federal, state, county, city, etc.)?
32. What was the total dollar volume of the largest single month of ACH transactions for a single
customer of your CC services?
2.5. COMPETITIVE POSITION
Please use this section to provide any specific features of your company’s services that you believe
distinguish these services from your competitors. This section also requests information on how
your company will continue to enhance the provided services in the future.
2.5.1. BANKING SERVICES
Please include any features of your Company’s experience in providing automated services such as
those requested in this RFP in this section.
33. What experience, general features, market penetration figures, etc. do you believe distinguish
your services offerings from your competitors?
34. List the related associations or organizations of which your company is a member or in which
it has direct representation.
2.5.2. CREDIT CARD SERVICES
35. Are there aspects of your credit card offerings you feel distinguish your company’s offerings
relative to your competitors?
36. List the CC processing related associations or organizations of which your company is a
member or in which it has direct representation.
2.5.3. ACH SERVICES
37. Are there aspects of your ACH payment services you feel distinguish your company’s offering
relative to your competitors?
38. List the ACH services related associations or organizations of which your company is a
member or in which it has direct representation.
2.6. REFERENCES
REQUIREMENT: Respondents must provide at least two (and no more than four) references of
current clients of similar banking services as those posed in this RFP.
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 8 of 22
For each provided reference, please provide the following information:
39. Provide the name, title, client company or organization name, phone number(s), e-mail
address and mailing address of the provided reference.
40. Provide a brief description of the banking services used by the reference client.
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 9 of 22
3. SERVICE REQUIREMENTS
Respondents are encouraged to review Section 1 carefully prior to addressing the specific
requirements in this Section. In particular, respondents must tailor their proposals to the enterprise
application architecture depicted in Error! Reference source not found.Figure 1. The ISCTA’s IT
software and service provider use their payment service, ABC Virtual-PS, to handle CC, ACH and
disbursement transactions.
REQUIREMENT: Respondents must address only those requirements necessary to support the
third party online banking, CC and ACH transactions behind the ABC Virtual-PS. Proposals that
include use of the respondent’s web applications to support payments at the user interface level
will be deemed failing to meet this essential requirement
3.1. CREDIT CARD SERVICES
As highlighted in Section 1, the ISCTA and its designated IT service provider are seeking automated
(i.e., accessible via secure and standard Internet protocols) CC services through a single gateway.
This gateway may be provided directly by the respondent or by a third party CC processing partner.
3.1.1. AUTHORIZATION S ERVICES
41. Does your CC processing software support Purchasing Card Levels II and III?
42. To what gateway will the ABC Virtual-PS be directing CC authorization requests?
43. Specifically, e.g., direct HTTPS with 128-bit encryption, what protocol will be used to submit
CC authorization requests?
44. Provide a specific process flow specification of the interaction required between the ABC
Virtual-PS and the proposed gateway.
45. Specifically, what data format(s) are required by the gateway to which the ABC Virtual-PS will
submit CC authorization requests? If generally accessible, published standards are used, a
reference to the governing standard suffices. If proprietary data format is required, details of this
format must be provided.
3.1.2. S ETTLEMENT SERVICES
Please use this section to describe the process and timings for your proposed settlement services.
46. From the point in time the ABC Virtual-PS receives authorization for a CC payment, and until
the point in time a disbursement request is accepted, describe the process and timing for
crediting the designated merchant accounts.
3.1.3. TICKET RETRIEVAL AND CHARGEBACK SERVICES
.Please provide an overview of your Company’s services for resolution of issues and for CC
chargebacks.
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 10 of 22
47. Should the ISCTA or one of its designated representatives, have an issue to raise with your
Company concerning CC payments, how will such issues be reported? How are they tracked
and how is this tracking made visible to the ISCTA?
48. How will chargebacks be handled? Are you proposing any automated messaging, or other
automated communication, for dealing with chargebacks?
49. What assistance, if any, are you proposing to provide to the ISCTA or its designated
representatives for dealing with chargebacks?
3.2. ACH SERVICES
At least with the ISCTA’s experience to-date, there appears to be more variability in the processes
and services offered by automated banking services. This includes timing of submission of ACH
payment requests, notification back to the requesting system of invalid routing numbers, etc.
Changes to the process specified in Section Error! Reference source not found.1.1.1 may require
modifications to the ABC Virtual-PS, hence the need to provide accurate and complete specifications
in this Section.
The ISCTA requests that respondents provide a clear and detailed description of the proposed ACH
Services.
50. In what data format will requests for ACH payments be delivered to your automated ACH
services?
51. What protocol is used for delivering ACH payment requests to your automated ACH services?
52. What is the frequency with which requests for ACH payments are to be made to your
automated ACH Services, e.g., once every 24 hours, hourly, real-time, etc.? If your automated
ACH services can support various frequencies, does choosing one over the other have any
impact on the cost of the service?
53. What initial validation is done upon initial receipt of requests for ACH payments, e.g., routing
number only?
54. In what data format are the results of the validation in question 53 expressed? How are these
validation results “keyed” to the original request?
55. What protocol is used to deliver the validation results referenced in questions 53 and 54?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 11 of 22
56. What is the expected latency between the time an ACH payment request is delivered to your
automated ACH system and when the ABC Virtual-PS will have the results of the initial
validation?
57. Describe all the additional data interchanges that will occur between your automated ACH
services and the ABC Virtual-PS. In particular, include a specification of how the ABC Virtual-PS
will obtain information on payment request approvals and eventual failures to transfer funds. For
each such interchange, specify the data format, the transmission protocol and the timing –
relative to the initial payment request – of the specific exchange.
58. Describe the process whereby the ABC Virtual-PS is to be made aware of ACH payment
requests that fail to fund.
59. What data format is used to express information on ACH payment request that fail to fund?
60. By what transmission protocol is information on ACH payment request failures to fund?
61. Please discuss the timing of these failures to fund notifications. (The ISCTA understands the
potentially large variance, but is interested in your company’s experience in this issue.)
3.3. DISBURSEMENTS
As covered in Section Error! Reference source not found.1.1.1, requests for disbursement of
funds are generated by the ABC Virtual-PS.
REQUIREMENT: the ABC Virtual-PS will generate Requests for disbursement of funds. The
successful response will not require ISCTA administrative users to use a separate web application
to initiate requests.
62. Does your automated banking services system provide an online, programmatic interface for
handling disbursement requests? (By programmatic in this context, we mean the ABC Virtual-PS
delivering requests to your automated banking services.)
Question 62 is included simply to emphasize the importance of the requirement. The remaining
questions and information items in this Section assume your response to question 62 is affirmative.
REQUIREMENT: Your Company must meet the ISCTA’s debit filter requirement – requiring two
source authorization of accounts to which funds are to be disbursed.
63. Do your current online disbursement services support the two-source account authorization
described in Section Error! Reference source not found.1.1.1 (p. Error! Bookmark not
defined.5)? If not, provide a deadline by which your Company will implement this mandatory
requirement and any cost to be incurred by the ISCTA for such implementation.
64. What data format is used for the disbursement requests?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 12 of 22
65. What transmission protocol is used for disbursement requests?
66. Describe the process by which results of disbursement requests are to be provided to the
ABC Virtual-PS.
67. What is the data format used to express the results of disbursement requests? How are
these results “keyed” back to the original disbursement requests?
68. What is the timing of delivery of information on failed disbursement requests?
3.4. DEBIT CARD SERVICES
The ISCTA is interested in exploring the feasibility of offering PIN-based debit card services.
Offering these services cannot be detrimental to the offering of CC payment services (including Visa
and MasterCard debit cards) or ACH payment services or the business terms under which these
services are offered – including convenience fees.
69. Is it feasible to offer of PIN-based debit card services in conjunction with the other payment
services requested in this RFP?
In the event your answer to the immediately preceding question 69 is affirmative, please provide
answers and the information requested in the items below.
70. To what online service for PIN-based debit card processing will the ABC Virtual-PS be
directing PIN-based debit card payment requests?
71. Specifically, e.g., direct HTTPS with 128-bit encryption, what transmission protocol will be
used to submit PIN-based debit card payment requests?
72. Provide a specific process flow specification of the interaction required between the ABC
Virtual-PS and the proposed gateway for PIN-based debit card payment requests.
73. Specifically, what data format(s) are required by the gateway to which the ABC Virtual-PS will
submit PIN-based debit card payment requests? If generally accessible, published standards are
used, a reference to the governing standard suffices. If proprietary data format is required,
details of this format must be provided.
74. For each data exchange between the ABC Virtual-PS and the online service for PIN-based
debit card payments, other than the initial request covered above, identify each exchange and
provide the data format specification for the exchange.
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 13 of 22
75. For each data exchange between the ABC Virtual-PS and the online service for PIN-based
debit card payments, other than the initial request covered above, identify the transmission
protocol used for each exchange.
3.5. ADDITIONAL BANKING SERVICES
Please use this Section to describe any additional, specific services your Company is including in its
RFP response.
76. Is your Company proposing the payment of interest on the ISCTA’s Clearing Account? If so,
is the transfer of the interest earned to an Operational Account to be done automatically? And, if
so, be sure to provide the requested information concerning the interest rate in Section 5.1.2.
77. Are there additional banking services your Company is including in its response to this
request for BBS’s? For each such service, be sure to indicate whether the service is accessed
through your online banking services systems and whether use of the service requires any
enhancements to the ABC Virtual-PS.
3.6. CUSTOMER SERVICE
The ISCTA will give preference to those respondents demonstrating not only the proven capability to
respond to questions, concerns and specific issue/ticket items, but also the commitment to advising
the ISCTA on how best to optimize its services for online and in-office payment services for Iowa
citizens and the ISCTA.
PREFERENCE: Responses demonstrating a clear commitment to providing prompt and effective
feedback to ISCTA-originated issues and to initiating advice to the ISCTA how to improve its
services and control costs will be given preference.
78. Does your Company have, and will ISCTA personnel have access to, resources supporting
questions or concerns about compliance issues (legal, industry standard, Company enforced)
pertinent to the BBS’s proposed?
79. For specific processing issues, e.g., an apparently “dropped” payment request, specifically
how will the ISCTA or its designated representatives report such issues? If a specific Issue
Tracing system is used, which one?
80. For specific processing issues, what are the days of the week and hours of operation of
personnel providing issue support? Please specify the time zone in which these hours apply.
81. Once a specific issue has been reported using the process described in your response to the
preceding question 79, how will the ISCTA and its designated representatives track the status of
the reported issues?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 14 of 22
82. Does the responding company have a standard maximum elapsed time prior to responding to
the reporting entity? If so, what is this response time agreement?
83. For less specific issues and concerns with the provided BBS’s, how, and to whom, will the
ISCTA or it’s designated representatives report these less specific issues?
84. For these less specific issues, is the respondent company making a commitment to a
maximum allowable elapsed time for an initial response to the question or concern? If so, what is
the time constraint?
85. Should the officers of the ISCTA have major concerns or questions about the BBS’s provided,
or should there be instances in which issues are not resolved to the satisfaction of the ISCTA, to
whom and by what mechanism are such major concerns to be reported?
86. What features of your BBS proposal do you anticipate you would monitor and subsequently
recommend strategies to lower costs and/or increase interest revenue?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 15 of 22
4. GENERAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
This Section addresses general IT issues pertinent to the online banking services addressed with
respect to functional detail in Section 3.
4.1. CAPACITY
This section addresses the capacity of the hardware and software infrastructure(s) supporting the
online banking services detailed in Section 3.
The ISCTA is aware that CC processing, and related merchant account services, may be hosted in a
different IT environment than is that for ACH and other treasury account services. The next question
asks respondents to identify each hosting infrastructure environment pertinent to the online banking
services to be used by the ISCTA.
87. Identify each hosting environment to be used by the ISCTA in meeting its need for BBS’s. If
any of the services proposed are to be provided by a third party, be sure to include the third
party’s hosting environment.
Please address each of the following questions or information items for each of the hosting
environments enumerated in your response to information item 87. Should you be addressing these
items for more than one environment, please identify the items in your response as 88.a. - 90.a. (for
the first environment), 88.b. - 90.b. (for the second environment), etc.
88. Using the data provided in Appendix A as indicative of ISCTA usage, approximately what %
of the load (as measured in average payment transactions per month) will the ISCTA use of
services represent?
89. What performance measures does your Company track for the environments and systems
proposed to meet the BBS’s requirements? For each tracked performance variable, is it tracked
automatically? If so, do you use a third party performance tracking tool and, if so, which one(s)?
90. Does the hosting environment have a remote, hot backup site? If not, what service level
agreement is being offered in the event of a disaster rendering the primary hosting site
inoperable?
4.2. COMMUNICATIONS OPTIONS
There are several places in Section 3 where information on transmission protocols (e.g., HTTPS) is
requested. However, your Company may have a preferred network layer technology over which the
transmissions are to occur. Please address any such preferences in this section.
91. Does your Company have a preferred or required network connectivity preference (VPN,
Internet, etc.) to be used by the ABC Virtual-PS? If the answer to this question varies by hosting
environment or individual data exchange, please identify which network connectivity applies to
which environment or individual exchange.
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92. For any of the network connectivity options listed in your answer to question 91, does your
Company provide a backup line? For example, if all requests for services and data exchanges
occur via HTTPS over the Internet, does your Company have a redundant, separate Internet
Service Provider (ISP)?
93. For any of the network connectivity options listed in your answer to question 91, is there any
special hardware or software required by the ISCTA’s designated IT service provider? For each
required hardware or software system, provide the complete specification of the required
resource and an approximate price.
94. For any proprietary network connectivity, e.g., VPN, enumerated in your answer to question
91, does your company provide automated monitoring of the line and how is the ISCTA’s
designated IT service provider notified of any issues?
95. If any portions of your proposed online BBS’s in support of the ISCTA rely on third party
solutions, for each such third party solution, specify the transmission protocols and network
connectivity used.
4.3. IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING
96. Provide a suggested implementation plan for the ISCTA BBS’s you are proposing. Please
include important milestones and your best estimate of the time it will take for each milestone
task. Highlight the tasks which are responsibilities of the ISCTA or its designated
representatives.
For each of the hosting environments enumerated in your response to item 87, please address the
following items. If you are responding for more than one environment, please number your items
97.a. 98.a., 99.a. (for the first environment), 97.b., 98.b., 99.b. (for the second environment), etc.
97. Does your Company provide a corresponding test environment accessible to the ISCTA’s IT
service provider?
98. If your response to the preceding question 97 is negative, describe the process by which the
ISCTA’s IT service provider will test its interactions with the hosted system. Be sure to
enumerate the functionality and data that can be tested and the functionality and data that cannot
be tested.
99. If your response to the previous question 97 is positive, describe the process by which the
ISCTA’s IT service provider gains access to the test system and how they will interact with your
Company’s designated quality control / quality assurance personnel in the testing process.
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4.4. SECURITY
100. With respect to data security, transmission security or any other aspect of the functional
interactions between the ABC Virtual-PS and your proposed online banking services systems, are
there any additional security issues, features or requirements of client systems not covered
elsewhere in your response? If so, please include them here.
101. Does your Company’s IT staff regularly execute tests of your intrusion detection and denial
of service security?
102. Does your Company engage an external third party to regularly execute tests of your
intrusion detection and denial of service security?
103. Do the hosting environments enumerated in your answer to question 87 undergo regular
external security reviews (other than for PCI compliance – covered in the following item)? If so,
by whom? Do these reviews result in any standard security certifications?
104. For each disparate software system, both those of your Company and any third party
systems involved in providing the proposed BBS’s, identify the system and indicate whether the
system is PCI compliant –and the level at which it is compliant.
4.5. DISASTER RECOVERY AND BACKUP
105. For each of the hosting environments enumerated in your response to item 87, when was
the date of the most recent need to restore data from backup systems? How long were clients
such as the ISCTA without service? In hours, how much data loss did clients such as the ISCTA
incur?
106. Does your Company have a documented disaster recovery plan (DRP)?
If your answer to question 105 is affirmative, please address the following questions and items.
107. In the event your DRP for IT infrastructure is not based on the hot backup mentioned in item
90, describe the DRP for IT infrastructure. In particular, what is your target time for having
services to clients such as the ISCTA back online?
108. Does your DRP address support services, e.g., issue reporting? How are the personnel
resources augmented? How will clients such as the ISCTA receive notice of any changes in
contacts, processes, etc.?
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 18 of 22
4.6. POINT-OF-SALE (POS) HARDWARE
There is no requirement that respondents address hardware needs for the in-office payment system
currently under development. However, the ISCTA would appreciate learning about your
Company’s experience with in-office hardware systems along with any recommendations you might
make.
109. Does your Company have experience with in-office point-of-sale hardware used to interface
with the BBS’s contained in your response?
If your Company has such experience, please provide the information requested below.
110. With which two or three in-office point-of-sale hardware has your Company had the best
experience – with respect to reliability and overall cost of maintenance?
111. For each hardware system enumerated in your answer to question 110, can the system be
used to host a pure browser-based solution? In particular, would you anticipate the hardware
system could be used to provide the thin-client connectivity required of the in-office payment
system under development by ABC Virtual? Assume in your response that no off line functioning
is required.
The ISCTA wishes to thank any responding company providing guidance in response to items in this
Section.
ISCTA RFP #200801: Bundled Banking Services Page 19 of 22
5. COST PROPOSAL
The ISCTA will consider the completeness and clarity of your Company’s cost proposal one
indication of your ability to provide good customer service.
REQUIREMENT: Your cost proposal must include all costs to be incurred by the ISCTA should your
Company be selected to provide the requested BBS’s. The costs presented in a response to this
RFP are to be the complete and total costs of the requested services.
In all pricing instances, respondents must provide sufficient detail to perform the cost analyses
requested in Section 5.2.
5.1. SPECIFIC COSTS
The ISCTA is aware that responding companies may offer an Interchange-Plus cost model, a
Blended Rate cost model, or both for online merchant account services. It has been the experience
of the ISCTA to-date that merchant account services and treasury management services are
handled and priced separately. However, in case there are providers who have varied pricing for
treasury management services based on the model for merchant account services, respondents are
asked to complete all the information in each of the following two sections.
5.1.1. C OSTS FOR INTERCHANGE-PLUS M ODEL
Respondents need only handle the questions and items in this Section if they are presenting an
interchange-plus model for merchant account services.
112. What is your Company’s interchange-plus pricing? Recall you must provide sufficient detail
in this cost proposal so the analyses requested in Section 5.2 can be performed – and validated
by the ISCTA review committee.
113. What additional fees will be incurred by the ISCTA for use of your merchant account
services under this model? In particular, will you charge, and, if so, how much, for assessment
fees? Authorization fees? Settlement fees? Other fees related to merchant accounts?
114. Provide all fees associated with the treasury management services as requested in this
RFP. Specifically list any and all fees associated with the maintenance of the Internet Clearing
Account, the Operational Account, processing ACH transactions, the disbursement of funds, etc.
5.1.2. C OSTS FOR BLENDED-RATE M ODEL
Respondents need only handle the questions and items in this Section if they are presenting a
blended-rate model for merchant account services.
115. What is your Company’s blended-rate pricing? Recall you must provide sufficient detail in
this cost proposal so the analyses requested in Section 5.2 can be performed – and validated by
the ISCTA review committee.
116. What additional fees will be incurred by the ISCTA for use of your merchant account
services under this model? In particular, will you charge, and, if so, how much, for assessment
fees? Authorization fees? Settlement fees? Other fees related to merchant accounts?
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117. Provide all fees associated with the treasury management services as requested in this
RFP. Specifically list any and all fees associated with the maintenance of the Internet Clearing
Account, the Operational Account, processing ACH transactions, the disbursement of funds, etc.
5.1.3. ONE TIME COSTS
Please use this section to detail any one-time costs, charges fees, etc., that could be incurred by the
ISCTA in the implementation of your BBS’s.
118. In the event that the IT service provider must make programming changes to its ABC
Virtual-PS, e.g., to accommodate a Company-proprietary data format, will your Company cover
the costs of these changes?
119. What additional one-time costs will be incurred by the ISCTA in the implementation of your
BBS’s? Be sure to provide a detailed description and sufficient specification of the cost so the
total charge can be included in the ISCTA’s evaluation of your response.
120. What, if any costs are associated with the setup and operation of the Debit Block Filter?
5.1.4. INTEREST INCOME
121. What fees are associated with the ongoing operation of the Internet Clearing Account?
Does it include unlimited withdraws?
122. Does your proposal include payment of interest on the Clearing Account?
If your answer to question 122 is affirmative, please address the additional items in this section.
123. By what formula will the interest rate be determined?
124. What will be the frequency (quarterly, annually) with which the interest rate will be adjusted?
125. Does your company offer the ability to have the interest generated from the Internet
Clearing account automatically deposited into a different account? Is there a fee associated with
this feature?
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5.2. COST ANALYSIS
The cost proposal(s) contained in the preceding Section 5.1 should be sufficiently detailed and
comprehensive so the responding company can use the Payment History Data contained in
Appendix A to provide an accurate cost of proposed BBS’s under this payment profile.
REQUIREMENT: Respondents must apply each proposed cost model to the payment profile data
contained in Appendix A. Respondents will be evaluated on both the resulting absolute cost
amount and the clarity of analysis.
126. If you are proposing interchange-plus pricing, apply your complete pricing to the data from
Appendix A. Your analysis should result in a total cost for all services used in supplying the
requisite BBS’s. In the event you have to make assumptions not given explicitly in the profile of
payments provided in the Appendix, please be sure to state them explicitly.
127. If you are proposing blended rate pricing, apply your complete pricing to the data from
Appendix A. Your analysis should result in a total cost for all services used in supplying the
requisite BBS’s. In the event you have to make assumptions not given explicitly in the profile of
payments provided in the Appendix, please be sure to state them explicitly.
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