Collection Services for the collection of Provincial Offences Act fines
Scope of work:
The purpose of this RFP is to select qualified collection agencies whose specialized professional collection services will complement the City's collection of outstanding Provincial Offences Act (POA) fines, as required by the Court Services Division.
The City intends to award up to a maximum of three (3) contracts for each of, the three categories as follows:
1.First (1st) Assignment Accounts;
2.Second (2nd) Assignments; and,
3.High Balance Accounts.
The term of contract anticipated by this Request for Proposal is for one (1) year from date of award, with the option to renew for three (3) additional one-year periods, at the sole discretion of the City.
Option to renew for any one (1) year period will be based on a review by City staff of the Proponents performance level over the prior period of the contract and meeting satisfactory recovery requirements. The City will be under no obligation to exercise any renewal option.
3.1Vendor(s) must be able to carry out the work described below:
1.Assign one individual to represent the Vendor for the purposes of reporting to the Divisions Project Manager;
2.Remit collections monthly, on a gross basis (without fees taken) with separate invoices for relevant associated commissions (GST/ HST shown separately);
3.Accommodate partial payments which can be made on an account with the understanding that if the license is under suspension, MTO will not reinstate the license until payment is made in full.
4.Report to the Division any payment in full on suspended license accounts immediately upon receipt and forward such payments (cheques) to the City in order to expedite license reinstatement.
5.Confirm via e-mail within 24 hours, that the Assignment Data file (in Excel) was safely received. This confirmation email must identify the total number of accounts and total dollar value of the accounts received. .
6.Provide both weekly and monthly progress reports on all active accounts.
7.Assume responsibility for all collection costs (credit checks, corporate and Ontario Ministry of Transportation searches, etc.)
8.On December 31st of each contract year or upon Citys request at any time during contract year, the Vendor will provide the City with a report on the total inventory of accounts placed with the Vendor for collections, from the starting date of the original assignment to December 31st of the current contract year, or time of report request. This will serve as Audit verification that the City will in turn use to reconcile with its own records.
9.Transfer all debtor information to and from the Vendor primarily (but not limited to) electronically in a secure (encrypted) format compatible with PC/Microsoft based environment;
10.Scrub all new files using address correction software and return files to the City as required;
11.Provide draft material such as samples of collection letters for Division staff to review prior to finalization, and present materials, collection process strategy and status reports to the City as required. The Management Team at Court Services will ensure that all letters and collection process strategies to be deployed are in compliance with the Citys work standards. This in turn will ensure that the Citys best interests are being met.
12.Provide an information and training session for Division staff that is based, in part, upon the Vendors experience collecting POA fines upon Citys request;
13.Prepare minutes of meetings between City and Vendor to document decisions with respect to the progress of the collection services;
14.Must be capable of accepting data information via computer disk (CD or hard disk), electronic mail, hardcopy and/or other formats; and
15.Goodwill approach must include at a minimum the following:
a)All Vendors must approach defendants in a professional and courteous manner.
b)Intimidation or harassment of debtors is not condoned nor is it tolerated.
c)Collection officers must be trained in diffusing potentially explosive interactions.
d)Collection agencies must not contact debtors prior to 9:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m.
Monday through Friday;
e)Collection agencies must not call debtors on weekends or Statutory Holidays;
f)Collection agencies may provide debtors with the City of Torontos POA web-site to make payments and the Ministry of Government Services contact information (including phone number) in any correspondence sent to the debtor; and, when requested by the debtor;
g)Collection agencies must document and forward to the City any and all complaints received by the collection agency within 72 hours of the complaint being made. The documentation must identify the debtors name, telephone number, the nature of the complaint, and a detailed explanation of the resolution attempted or made; and
h)Where complaints are received and are being investigated by the City, collection agencies must provide any information and documentation as requested by the City within 72 hours of such requests.
15.Vendors must have automated communication platforms which will deliver personalized messages via telephone (IVC-Interactive Virtual Communication technology).
16.The City of Toronto is in negotiations with Techcom Software Solutions to license their hosted software system for the collection of POA fines. Vendors will be required to use this database. It is intended that the Vendors will be permitted third party user licences under the Citys license. The Vendors will be required to be bound by all terms and conditions of the Agreement. The City of Toronto will charge a monthly fee, based on the volumes placed with the agency ,for use of the Techom Delinquent Recovery System (DRS).It is firmly anticipated that the Vendors will recover such license fees through their monthly commissions.
The types of accounts forwarded to the Vendors will be divided into the following three categories:
Category 1 -First (1st) Assignment Accounts
Category 2 - Second (2nd) Assignment Accounts
Category 3- High Balance Accounts
The collection Services shall be on a commission basis only. The Vendor will only be compensated through a commission applied to collected accounts.
Proponents may submit pricing for any one, two, or all three categories of assignments. Cost of Services Scores will be evaluated separately for each category.
A Proponent will not be awarded more than one category.
