TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Steve Charelian, Finance Director
Libby Bretthauer, Financial Services Manager
Emy-Rose Hanna, Revenue Services Supervisor
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Approving a Three-Year Agreement with lnfoSend, Inc. for Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) Services and Utility Bill Printing/Mailing Services for an Estimated Annual Amount in the First Year of $40,000, Plus Annual CPI Adjustments for Subsequent Years (Finance Director Charelian).
A) WAIVE FORMAL BIDDING DUE TO SINGLE-SOURCE PURCHASING
B) ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 22-0146
C) AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE TWO ONE-YEAR OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council take the following actions:
a) Waive formal bidding per Municipal Code Section 2.36.140
b) Approve a three-year agreement for Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) Services and Utility Bill Printing/Mailing Services with lnfoSend, Inc. for an Estimated Annual Amount of $40,000 in year one, plus annual CPI increases thereafter.
c) Authorize the City Manager to execute two one-year optional extensions.
d) Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The estimated value of the contract with Infosend, Inc. is $40,000 annually in year one, plus annual CPI increases thereafter. Infosend’s agreement includes printing/mailing services as well as an online payments portal accessible by the City’s 13,500 utility billing customers. The scope of the agreement covers an annual volume of approximately 81,000 regular utility bills and 6,100 late utility bills at an estimated cost of $40,000 annually. Annual adjustments to the initial cost will be no greater than the Los Angeles area Consumer Price Index (CPI). Sufficient funds are included in the Finance Department budget for these services.
BACKGROUND:
In 2009, the City began offering electronic bill presentment and payment services for utility billing (water and sewer) customers. This service includes issuing utility bills online and accepting electronic payments through ACH (automated clearinghouse) or credit/debit cards. The City contracted for this service with InfoSend, Inc. due to their expertise and utilization of the most current technology, which offers user friendly and secure solutions for utility billing operations. InfoSend, Inc is an industry leader that provides reliable and timely data processing, printing, mailing, and Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) services.
In addition to EBPP services for utility bills, InfoSend, Inc. provides cost effective outgoing U.S. Mail service for annual mass mailings such as the 5,000 business license tax renewals and 3,000 animal licenses. They have also provided mail support for citywide notices on special projects and programs pertinent to the City’s residents and businesses.
DISCUSSION:
For over 26 years, InfoSend, Inc. has been one of the leading industry experts in utility billing and payment collection services. Currently, Infosend provides services to around 320 agencies within California, including 140 cities. Some nearby cities using Infosend’s services include El Segundo, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Seal Beach.
Staff believes it would be advantageous to continue working with InfoSend as they are the only partner that can effectively facilitate customer utility bill payments through the City’s existing online bill pay system. Discontinuing service with InfoSend would cause a major disruption to the City’s internal billing processes as well as cause impacts to the City’s 13,500 utility bill customers. As of September, 65% or 8,783 customers (out of 13,500) are enrolled in EBPP services with InfoSend. The percentage of online payments varies each month around 60-65%.
Additionally, staff considered several factors for selecting InfoSend: exemplary customer service, background / experience, staffing, turnaround time, accuracy and technology and other service enhancements including:
• Free Mobile Bill Pay App, which allows customer payments via smart device (phones, tablets, etc.)
• Improved back office payment reports
• Greater electronic bill messaging capabilities for important City messages on utility bills
• Electronic versions of bill inserts for customers opting for paperless billing
• Cost effective full color bill printing for hardcopy customers.
Whenever practical and in the City's best interest, the City may waive formal bidding. This is permissible under the City's Municipal Code, Section 2.36.140. InfoSend is considered a single-source vendor as it provides unique and specialized services that other vendors could not fulfill by maintaining the City's existing online bill pay portal and current bill print operations. Additionally, continuing service with InfoSend allows the City’s utility customers to continue paying their bills through the City’s existing online bill pay portal.
It is important to note that if the City were to discontinue service with InfoSend, a new vendor would not be able to administer the existing online bill pay portal, as it is proprietary to InfoSend. In this scenario, the City would have to abandon the existing online bill pay portal, develop a new online bill pay portal with a new vendor and, consequently, all utility customers would have to create new user account log-ins, add their banking information, set up auto-pay, etc. With so many customers relying on auto-pay, communicating this change to customers is a significant undertaking. Additionally, ongoing support resources would be required to field customer questions and provide extra assistance during such a transition. Therefore, InfoSend is recognized as a single-source vendor based on the unique and proprietary online bill pay platform that is actively utilized by the City’s customers.
InfoSend has proven itself an innovative and reliable partner in facilitating utility bill payments. Therefore, staff recommends the City Council approve a three year contract with InfoSend, Inc. for Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) Services and utility bill printing/mailing services. Staff further recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to execute two one-year extensions if in the City’s best interest.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After a thorough analysis, staff determined that there would be no impact to the public and that public outreach was not required for the approval of this contract.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment; therefore, pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 22-0146
2. Agreement - InfoSend, Inc.