RE: Request for Proposal for Merchant Credit Card Processing Services, File #

April 25, 2008

RE: Request for Proposal for Merchant Credit Card Processing Services, File #08-000035

Dear Prospective Vendor:

The City of Southfield, Michigan has issued this request for proposal to identify companies qualified to provide merchant credit card processing services as described within the attached document.

Enclose five (5) copies of your response in a sealed envelope labeled with your company name and the statement “Request for Proposal for Merchant Credit Card Processing Services”. This package must be delivered by Wednesday May 14, 2008 at 11:30 am local time to the

attention of the Purchasing Agent, c/o the City Clerk’s Office, City of Southfield, P. O. Box 2055, 26000 Evergreen Road, Southfield, MI 48037-2055.

I can be reached at 248.796.5252 if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your proposal.

Sincerely,

Rae L. Townsel Rae L. Townsel, CPPB Purchasing Agent

opening as indicated on the proposal form. No proposals will be accepted after the time specified for proposal opening. The City reserves the right to postpone the proposal opening for its own convenience. Proposers should use the proposal documents furnished; failure to do so will be considered as an alternate offer and may be cause for rejection. Proposals are considered received when in possession of the City Clerk’s office. It is the proposer’s responsibility to ensure that proposals are received in the proper location.

2. WITHDRAWAL: No proposal will be withdrawn for 60 days from its opening date. Proposers may reduce this period if he states so in his proposal; however, he runs the risk of being declared non-responsive to the specifications.

3. RIGHT TO REJECT: The City reserves the right to waive any irregularity in any proposal, to split awards by items or lots (unless otherwise stipulated either in the specifications or by the proposer) or to award to other than the low proposer, should any of the foregoing be deemed in its best interests.

4. CHANGE OF SPECIFICATION: If for sufficient reason you wish to revise the specifications or get an interpretation, your request will receive consideration if presented to us as much in advance of the proposal opening date as possible. If a change in specifications is found desirable, the City will notify all proposers and postpone the proposal opening date, if necessary.

5. TO COMPLY: For failure to deliver or perform in accord with the accepted proposal, the City may consider the contractor in default and take steps to protect the City's interest. The City may, without impairing its other rights and benefits, purchase all or part of the contract goods or services on the open market and charge any additional costs to the contractor or his surety.

6. PATENTS: Contractors will protect and indemnify against expense of any nature, will bear cost of any suits which may arise and will pay all damages which may be awarded against the City for the use, under this specification, of any patented device, process, apparatus, material or invention.

7. ERRORS OR OMISSIONS: Proposers are not permitted to take advantage of any errors or omissions in specifications since full instructions will be given should they be called to our attention not less than two working days before the proposals are due. 8. LOWEST RESPONSIBLE PROPOSER IS ONE WHO:

a. Submits no restrictions or qualifications beyond those permitted in the proposal request.

b. Have the skill, quality and ability to conscientiously, faithfully and promptly fulfill the contract to its letter and spirit. c. Have integrity, judgment, reputation and experience.

d. Has sound financial resources as well as the ability to furnish any and all bonding and insurance documents required. e. Is able to comply with all terms and conditions stipulated in the proposal requests.

f. Can show the intent and ability to cooperate efficiently and effectively with all Government departments involved in the contractual purchase or service.

g. Has the knowledge of applicable existing laws and ordinances of the City of Southfield necessary to provide smooth and efficient relations.

h. Has unquestionable ability to provide maintenance and service on the contractual items purchased.

9. NON-COLLUSION CLAUSE: By signing and submitting this proposal, proposer states that his proposal is genuine and not collusive or sham; such proposer has not colluded, conspired, connived, or agreed, directly or indirectly, with any proposer or person, to put in a sham bid, or that such other person will refrain from proposing and has not in any manner, directly or indirectly, colluded, conspired, connived, or agreed, with any person, to fix the price of affiant or any other proposer, or to fix any overhead, profit or cost element of said proposal price.

10. NON-DISCRIMINATION CLAUSE: By signing and submitting this proposal for consideration of an award by the City of Southfield, the contractor and any subcontractor covenants not to discriminate against an employee or applicant for employment with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment or a matter directly or indirectly related to employment, because of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, marital status or a disability that is unrelated to the individual's ability to perform the duties of a particular job or position. Breach of this covenant may be regarded as a material breach of the contract. 11. The City of Southfield, Michigan officially distributes bid documents from the Purchasing Department or through the Michigan

Intergovernmental Trade Network (MITN) at www.mitn.info. The City of Southfield cannot guarantee the accuracy and is not

responsible for any errors contained in any information received from alternate sources.

City of Southfield Request for Proposals for

Merchant Credit Card Processing Services

Page 3 of 7 1. Executive Summary

1.1. The City of Southfield is soliciting proposals from qualified firms to provide merchant processing services for credit and debit card payments. The City is currently exploring opportunities to offer an expansion of payment methods to its customers. The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to enter into a contract with a qualified vendor to provide credit card payment processing services to include, but not be limited to, the processing of Visa, MasterCard, and pin based and card swiped debit cards (Discover cards

optional).

1.2. The City will not execute the standard Visa and Master Card agreements. The successful company should be prepared to execute an agreement between your firm and Visa/Master Card on behalf of the City, and in turn, your firm and the City will execute an agreement between themselves. Please acknowledge this arrangement as part of your proposal submission.

1.3. The proposals shall cover the need for timely deposit of funds generated from the acceptance of the above mentioned cards, the means by which these services will be billed and the specific integration and coordination requirements.

1.4. The anticipated methods of use are in person swiped transactions and in person non-swiped transactions.

2. Time Line

2.1. The following is a tentative time table for this project: Event Date

Proposals Issued May 2008

Responses Due May 14, 2008

Proposal Evaluation/Interview Period Beginning May 15, 2008

Council Approval June 2008

Implementation Begins TBD

3. Project Overview

3.1. The City currently accepts cash, checks, money orders, and credit cards at select locations. The City intends to roll out acceptance of credit cards for all City payments in the future, but the initial usage will be for acceptance of payments in the Parks and Recreation Department and Cornerstone Development Authority (CDA).

3.2. The average monthly dollar volume and average transaction amounts are as listed below. These figures are estimates and are not guaranteed.

Department

Estimated

Monthly Volume Average Transaction Parks & Recreation $24,152 $90 CDA $2,681 $383 Water & Sewer Unknown Unknown EMS Billing $2000 $325 Library $14,300 $7.50

4. Service Requirements: Services shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

4.1. Credit Card Authorization: Provide a 24-hour, 7 days a week service to include:

4.1.2. Process and seek approval of any non-bank card transactions of Discover cards. 4.1.3. Provide an approval number for all transactions approved.

4.1.4. Provide a toll free voice authorization and back up service. 4.2. Technical Requirements

4.2.1. Be compliant with the City’s financial system; Eden InForum Gold by Tyler Technologies (see attached Tyler Technologies Web Extensions document).

4.2.2. Provide a 24-hour, 7 days a week toll free or local telephone number for technical support.

4.2.3. Offer online access for technical support including the ability to submit trouble reports.

4.3. Reporting: City of Southfield shall approve the format of reports required. 4.3.1. Reports should include the following:

4.3.2. Provide a daily report consisting of: credit card number, transaction date, approval number, transaction type, authorization code and amount of transaction. The report will be separated by merchant number and by terminal.

4.3.3. Provide a monthly report of all transaction totals for the month. The report will include total funds and transactions by card type for each merchant number and terminal number.

4.3.4. Provide an "online" resource for retrieving, reviewing, printing and/or downloading of all transactions.

5. Vendor Requirements: The vendor shall:

5.1. Be a firm or corporation regularly engaged in the acceptance and processing of credit and charge cards, providing online reporting services, and licensed to do business in Michigan.

5.2. Provide connectivity options to include, but not limited to, lease line, modem, Internet (VPN and/or web based) and Application Program Interface (API).

5.3. Provide the City of Southfield a single point of contact for all customer relations. 5.4. Provide all credit card devices and software needed by the City of Southfield.

5.5. Settle all accounts daily; make payments into the City’s accounts the morning following the transaction.

5.6. Provide the City of Southfield with all correspondence for Charge Backs and contested charges.

5.7. Provide training to City employees using merchant card equipment as needed and requested by the City Treasurer.

6. Proposal Submission: Respondent shall submit one (1) original and four copies of their

proposal. Information must be provided in the order and format listed below. Failure to submit this information may be grounds for rejection of proposal.

6.1. Section 1 - Respondent's Profile Summary: Submit a maximum of two pages. 6.1.1. Name, title, and signature of person authorized to discuss the terms of this

proposal; company address, e-mail, phone and fax number.

6.1.2. Respondent's contract manager or primary point of contact for the duration of the contract.

6.1.3. Clearly identify all services available and those requested within this specification.

6.1.4. Provide detailed information regarding charge back procedures including how the process will work and what the turnaround time will be for the City to receive its funds.

City of Southfield Request for Proposals for

Merchant Credit Card Processing Services

Page 5 of 7

6.2. Section 2 - References: List a minimum of three references for the company. Provide the name, address, telephone number and point of contact of at least three

organizations for which the proposer has provided similar services within the preceding 5 years. References may be checked prior to award.

6.3. Section 3 - Pricing Submission: Submit pricing using the format listed on the attached pricing sheet. Attach additional sheets as necessary.

6.3.1. One discount rate covering the processing of all Master Card and Visa transactions.

6.3.2. Any additional fees for processing non-bank cards (i.e. Discover) 6.3.3. Any additional fee for processing declines.

6.3.4. If the proposal includes providing alternative point of sale devices, indicate the price per device.

6.3.5. Indicate when the discount charge will be collected (i.e. cumulatively at month end, after each transaction, etc.).

6.4. Section 4 – Hardware Requirements

6.4.1. Provide detailed descriptions of the hardware to be provided. At a minimum, a modem and a TCP/IP internet connection must be provided.

7. Proposal Evaluation: Proposals will be evaluated by a committee based on the following

criteria:

7.1. Past experience in successfully providing this service (20%);

7.2. Responsiveness to the service requirements and level of service proposed (20%); 7.3. Reporting capability that meets the needs of the City of Southfield (15%);

7.4. On-line services (15%); 7.5. References (10%); and 7.6. Fees (20%).

8. Interview and Discussions: The City of Southfield may request that selected companies

meet with the City to review their proposal. Should the City require such a meeting, it will be evaluated by City representatives using the following criteria:

8.1. Responsiveness to the service requirements and level of service proposed.

8.2. Ability to provide the City of Southfield the best value and service for the taxpayers.

9. Award:

The City of Southfield reserves the right to award on the basis of best value to meet the requirements of this service.

___________________________ ________________________________

Description Fee Structure

Interchange Fees

Visa $

MasterCard $

Assessment Pass-through Fees

Visa $

MasterCard $

Transaction Fees

Visa $

MasterCard $

Authorization Fee Per Transaction

Visa $

MasterCard $

Online Debit Transactions $

Charge backs $

Voice Authorization Fee (if applicable) $

Additional Processing Costs $

Check Acceptance Fees

Verification $

Guarantee $

ACH processing $

Electronic checks $

Hardware Costs: Please provide detailed, itemized

pricing for the hardware described under the Hardware Requirements section. Indicate if pricing is for the rental, purchase, or lease of this equipment.

Optional Fees

Discover card processing (please itemize) $

Application fee $

Annual fee $

Statement fee $

Business card rate $

Online fees $

Manual keyed transaction fee $

Page 7 of 7

Web Extensions

E-Commerce

If you plan to accept credit card payments with any of the EDEN Web Extensions you will be required to establish E-Commerce components prior to going live with a module that accepts payments on the web. Below is a listing of the required components for credit card payments with the EDEN Web Extensions:

The Digital Certificate will be installed on the Web Server that is hosting your website. The digital SSL certificate will provide secure transmissions of confidential information. You may choose to purchase the 128 bit or 40 bit digital certificate keeping in mind that the 128 bit certificate will provide a higher level of security encryption.

• Payment Gateway

There are two payment gateways that can be used with EDEN Web Extensions. PPI can assist you with

obtaining the Paymover software. PayPal can assist you with obtaining the PayFlow Pro software. The payment gateway will be used by EDEN to send the credit card payments to the payment processor for authorization.

• Internet Merchant Account

An Internet merchant account is needed for you to be able to accept credit card payments over the Internet. Your bank may be able to set you up with such an account. PPI can assist you with creating the merchant account.

• Payment Processor

A VeriSign-Supported Payment Processor is required so that your customers’ payments get processed and sent to your internet merchant account. You can contact VeriSign for the most up to date list of supported Payment Processors. PPI can also assist you with obtaining a payment processor.

There are several options for acquiring the E-Commerce requirements. You will need to contact VeriSign to obtain the digital SSL certification. There are two options for acquiring the payment gateway, internet merchant account, and payment processor. You can contact the different vendors directly or you may choose to receive assistance from EDEN’s E-Commerce partner Payment Processing, Inc. (PPI). As an EDEN certified partner, PPI will provide the best customer support when acquiring your E-Commerce components as well as added support once you have gone live with accepting credit card payments online. If you choose PPI to assist with setting up your E-Commerce components, EDEN will provide your contact information to a PPI representative and they will contact you to assist with choosing the best E-Commerce solution that meets your agency’s needs. Email Matt Kime at [email protected] if you would like a PPI representative to contact you.

For more information: http://www.verisign.com/

https://www.paypal.com/ - Merchant Services http://www.paypros.com/