REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
SUPPLY OF BANKING SERVICES
CONTRACT NO. 12-156
A D D E N D U M NO. 1
The following shall form part of the tender documents issued by the City of
Guelph’s Purchasing Department, September, 2012.
NOTE: the acknowledgement of this addendum must be indicated on FT2R.
Under Separate Cover
12-156 Banking Volumes.xlsx
DELETE
12-156 BANKING RFP FP1-FP5
ADD
12-156 BANKING RFP FP1R-FP5R Addendum 1(under separate cover)
DELETE FROM PAGE 16
Lockbox ServiceBidders are requested to include a detailed description of their lockbox service. Include procedures in place for bank payment collection, mail collection, extraction/sorting, payment processing, item endorsement, handling of exception items, scanning, credit of funds, billing procedures and the responsibilities of parties.
Include a description of transmission procedures; including security procedures, data file layout and example reports. Include a description of troubleshooting procedures
including item tracing, handling of encoding errors and turnaround time on such requests.
Questions
Q1. You have indicated that the City requires that a Line of Credit be made
available. What size of a Line do you require?
A1. $2M
Q2. We have transferred data from Page 19 Schedule 1 to the table on the
following page. In doing so, we have made some assumptions as to the
nature of the transactions. Please review the table attached and confirm if
our interpretation of the data is accurate. Also, you will note several blank
cells with question marks. Please provide responses for these particular
categories. Please provide the monthly totals for all data.
A2. We are decentralized with many departments throughout the City able to
complete their own deposits. Each department is also able to book their
entries into the accounting system. We reconcile daily activity between the
bank account and the accounting system.
Q3. On Page 11 paragraph 4 of “Background and Overview” you indicate that
you have provided “a summary of current average monthly transaction
history and average month end as detailed in Schedule 1.” Some of the data
provided in Schedule 1 appears to represent annual volumes. Please clarify
what, if any, data contained in Schedule 1 represents annual totals.
A3. Schedule 1 represents annual totals
Q4. Please provide the average balances held in your general and trust accounts separately.
A4.General account ranges from $30M to $100M from month to month. Trust accounts range between $200k to $300k in aggregate.
Q5. On Page 19 Schedule 1 you make reference to 15,000 electronic deposits/credits. Please provide details as to what these payments represent and how they are transacted.
A5.Deposits from Moneris are transferred directly into our account.
Q6. On Page 19 Schedule 1 you make reference to 1,922 EDI Payments. Please provide details as to what these payments represent and how they are transacted.
A6.They are payments to third parties in which we have given them our banking information and they automatically withdraw the funds.
Q7. On Page 19 Schedule 1 you make reference to 68,294 EDI Remittances. Please provide details as to what these payments represent and how they are transacted.
A7. These are property tax payments from property owners to the City. They have been set up on PAP and provided us with their banking information so that we can
automatically take out their payments on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Q8. Please describe the methodology you presently use to send and/or receive files to/from your present bank for collection of tax payments, payroll disbursement, EDI, etc. (Please be specific with regard to web-based communication, mainframe communication, etc.)
A8. Collection of tax payments – tax payments are set up in our software –
Vailtech. At the end of each month we upload a file to the bank’s online
service. The file includes new accounts on PAP, changes in existing
accounts and existing accounts.
The bank collects taxpayers’ payments from various banks. Then a bank
product that serves as a receivables link collects the payment information
from the bank and is used to update our tax system to reflect payment. A file
is extracted and uploaded to our tax system (Vailtech).
Reports are available on line with the bank that are run by the City a couple
of times in the first weeks of the month to see if there are payment issues
such as account closed, NSF etc. The report contains the roll number,
amount, reasons for the payment not clearing, and the date.
In addition we al so need a report that reflects any bank information change
such as a bank buying out a credit union.
Payroll and payroll related disbursements are uploaded to the bank’s online
software and from there payments are disbursed. There are between 30 and
35 monthly uploads.
EDI – Tax payments received from taxpayers through internet or telephone
banking. Payments to 3
rdparties’ automatically taken out of the City’s bank
account
Q9. How many departments or locations initiate deposits and how are these transacted?
A9.Decentralized – about a dozen departments throughout Guelph do their own banking and enter entries into accounting system. We reconcile the bank account. Deposits may be hand delivered or through Brinks. Deposits may take place in the daytime or there may be night deposits.
Q10. You indicated that you require the capability to generate US Fund Transfers. How do you currently perform these transactions (i.e. Wire Payment / Cheque / ACH / transfers between your own accounts)?
A10. Wire Payment
Q11. In the Terms of Reference you indicate that the bank must be able to provide credit reports on individuals as required. Please clarify your requirement and provide a specific example.
A11. If required by the City it would be a standard industry credit check.
Q12. In the Terms of Reference Page 15, under Payments, you indicate that the City processes 8800 transactions monthly and 3300 transactions quarterly related to pre-authorized tax payments. Are those transactions included in the data provided in Schedule 1 on Page 19? If so, please reconcile these numbers to your Schedule 1 on Page 19.
A12. This section totals 119,000. Schedule 1 was based on taking the first seven months of the year and extrapolating a forecast to end of year. Variance is 3,000. Both are approximations.
Q13. The Contractual Requirements section RFP seems to contain “boiler-plate” clauses that would be included in most non-banking RFP’s (Construction / Contractors / etc). Some do not seem relevant in a banking context (For example – insurance
requirements re vehicles and Commercial General Liability Insurance). While you indicate the inclusion of such clauses is required, this may not be feasible for banks to comply with. How should we address these matters?
A13. Remove the requirement for Auto insurance only
Q14. Are you currently using a payment service which permits payments and remittance details to be sent to your trading partners in settlement of accounts payable etc.? If so, please provide details as to the nature of these transactions along with
transaction volumes, means of communication, etc.
A14. No. Pay by wires and cheques. When paying by wires we email details of the payment. As mentioned in paragraph 3 page 13 we would like to move to EFT when paying vendors. We require a cost breakdown of this activity.
Q15. Question 8 Page 14 seems to imply that you will maintain your merchant service arrangements with Moneris/Paymentis. Page 16 “Debit and Charge Card Payments” requests that “fees per (Merchant Service) transaction should be reported in the pricing summary. Should we propose merchant services and pricing for same in our proposal? If so, please provide transaction volumes. The best way for us to analyze transaction volumes is to be provided with copies of statements for three
representative months from your current merchant services provider.
A15.Please ignore reference to Paymentis. Moneris is our principal. There are 51 accounts and the terminals are connected via the internet. Average transaction size is 7,500 monthly. We are PCI compliant. Merchant service is not part of the RFP.
Q16. With regard to “Investments” on Page 14, please elaborate on the types of investments that you currently have and average dollar values.
A16. Short and Long term investments in various vehicles such as bonds, GIC’s, debentures and notes. Currently there is about $140M in various investments.
Q17. With regard to “Post Box within Bank” on Page 16, please elaborate on the following:
Q17a. Where is the box located?
A17b. How frequently is it cleared out and by whom? Q17c. Does it contain cash or coin or other valuables?
Q17d. Is it secure?
Q17e. Is it cleared out by city personnel or Brinks? Q17f. Who used the box?
A17a. In the bank that we use
A17b. A City employee clears it out a couple of times a week A17c. No
A17d. Yes A17e. City