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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBID - 7476 UTILITY BILL PRINTING ENVELOPES PERSONALIZATION & MAILING SERVICESADDENDUM No. 1 SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS Description of BID 7476: Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services OPENING DATE: 3:00 PM (Our Clock) March 21, 2013 To all prospective bidders under the specifications and contract documents described above, the following changes/additions are hereby made and detailed in the following sections of this addendum: Exhibit 1 – Questions & Answers Please contact David Carey, CPPB, Buyer at (970) 416-2191 with any questions regarding this addendum. RECEIPT OF THIS ADDENDUM MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY A WRITTEN STATEMENT ENCLOSED WITH THE BID/QUOTE STATING THAT THIS ADDENDUM HAS BEEN RECEIVED. Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6775 970.221.6707 fcgov.com/purchasing Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 1 of 13 EXHIBIT 1 – QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 1. What are the qualifications for award, low bid price or most advantageous to the City? Bid will be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder (having the capabilities, capacity, experience, etc.). The City may elect where applicable, to award bids on an individual item/group basis or on a total bid basis, including awarding to the entire process to one firm, whichever is most beneficial to the City. 2. Are you interested in reading information on complimentary services that we offer such as Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment or Bill Payment Kiosks? Not at this time. Would be willing to discuss if your firm is selected. 3. I would like to request a copy of each of the required documents, front and back. A scan of each is fine, I do not need hard copies. Scans should contain sample data with customer’s confidential info covered up. a. Utility Bills b. EFT Confirmation c. Delinquency Notices d. Final Utility Bills e. Owner Notification Letter f. New Customer Letter See attached files for Utility Bills. 4. Please provide the Specifications for the Pink Delinquency Notice form – is there any pre-printing? There is no pre-printing. Due to special handling of these letters and notices, Utilities has decided to keep in-house for now the printing of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) confirmation, delinquency notices (pink), final utility bills, new customer letters, and owner notification letters, and handle mailing services separately. 5. Please provide the Specifications for the Owner Notification and New Customer Letter forms – Is this a plain white form? Yes. Do you require any pre-printing? No. Also, see response to Question 4. 6. What billing platform / Customer Information System are you running today? Ventyx Customer Information System. Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 2 of 13 7. What is your data file format? ASCII, XML, etc. Utilities would transmit an ASCII flat file and provide the file format. 8. Will you be able to provide the names of the companies this was sent to and/or the names of the companies that respond, a tabulation of results, etc? A bid tally will be posted on the City Purchasing Webpage for 7 days after the bid opening. Bid results are sent to individuals after that date upon request. The City does not provide a list company names that the Bid notification was sent. 9. We print and mail out of our three Facilities located in three states. Is that going to be a problem as in the RFP it states we need to pick up some of the material at your location? Probably not if Utilities goes with the “handle the entire bill process” option, which you can bid separately. Also, reminder that this is a bid and not an RFP. 10. May we propose an alternative ink specification to those detailed on page 3; Inks; Use soy or vegetable-based with low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) of less than 3%? Please note on your bid for the Pre-Printed Utility Bill Form that it does not meet specifications as stated and note your alternative ink specification. 11. If possible I would like the samples for as many of the different mailings as possible. a) Utility Bills b) Electronic Funds Transfer Confirmations c) Delinquency Notices d) Final Utility Bills e) New Customer Letters f) Owner Notification Letters g) #10 outgoing envelope h) #9 return envelope See attached files. 12. It is optional for us to use pre-printed items or blank items that are printed at time of processing. Yes, quote both options. 13. Our Data Processing Center is in Chicago and can take daily transmission of files, etc. The question here is whether it would be acceptable for all items to be mailed out of Chicago (they use the USPS hub at O'Hare International Airport) and would use their own permits--they charge appropriate postage accordingly (and you would see what the per piece cost is on our bid form)? Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 3 of 13 The City and Utilities wants a Fort Collins address on both the envelopes and remittance address. So if that is the case, where items are mailed from probably would not be an issue as long as Utilities’ same day mailing requirements are consistently met. Using your Data Processing Center’s postage permits should be okay and then bill Utilities separately for postage. 14. Is it possible to request a sample to be mailed to the address below of all documents required for current Bid? Will the vendor be required to print envelopes and Bill forms? See attached files of electronic versions of the pieces. Also, vendor will be required to print the envelopes and Bill Form, unless they quote on the entire process, then it will be optional to use a pre-printed form 15. Is there a copy of the input/output file or a detailed description of the format currently used. No copy of the input/output file available. Utilities would transmit an ASCII flat file and provide the file format. 16. Does the contract enclosed in the ITB need to be signed and sent back with our response? The contract attached to the Bid document is for information only and will be completed only with the selected vendor(s). 17. What type of data would be transmitted (CSV, Comma Delimited, XML, PCL, etc.)? ASCII flat file. 18. If you decide on a fully-outsourced solution, does the vendor have to be from Colorado? I ask this because we are in the Midwest. No. 19. As a vendor that would provide the entire solution, would I only have to complete the bid form on page 14 entitled “Handle the entire utility bill process” – this would be an all-inclusive price (data processing, materials, imaging)? Yes. 20. Are these services for water billing only, or water, electric, wastewater, stormwater, etc.? Utilities bills for water, sewer, electric, and storm water. Any bill can be a combination of any or all of those services, plus floodlights, or green energy, etc. Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 4 of 13 21. I believe you are using Group One for your postal qualification tool – do you happen to be using Group One for your document composition tool? If not, what is the software that is composing your documents? Yes, Group One does postal qualification. We use Ventyx bill extract files for printing our bills. 22. Your instructions in the "General Requirements" on page 14 of 24 for the entire utility bill process states that we are to submit a separate bid on the Bid Form provided if able to quote WITHOUT using a pre-printed utility bid form. And in your bid form on this page, you have a space for the entire process "using a pre- printed form" and a space for the entire process "WITHOUT using a pre-printed form However, I'm not 100% clear on which line I should record our bid on page 14. Should I record our inclusive price in the "using a pre-printed form" or "WITHOUT using the pre-printed form?" Yes. 23. And pursuant to our intent to bid on the entire Utility Bill process, do we need to fill in any of individual bid forms in addition to the one on page 14 of 24; or do we only fill in the bid form on page 14 to bid on the entire utility bill process, where our pricing would be inclusive of all printing of forms and envelopes, imaging, presorting/mailing, folding and inserting services? Only fill in the bid form on page 14 24. When bidding on the entire Utility Bill process, should we include folding, inserting, mailing services for only the utility bills and electronic funds transfer confirmations; or can we bid on all mailings, including delinquency notices (pink), final utility bills, new customer letters, and owner notification letters? If we are able to bid on all mailings, where can we get more detailed specifications on these additional mailings? See attached sample files. Due to special handling of these letters and notices, Utilities has decided to keep in-house for now the printing of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) confirmation, delinquency notices (pink), final utility bills, new customer letters, and owner notification letters, and handle mailing services separately. 25. What type of data would be transmitted (CSV, Comma Delimited, XML, PCL, etc.) We would transmit an ASCII flat file and provide the file format. 26. If you decide on a fully-outsourced solution, does the vendor have to be from Colorado? I ask this because we are in the Midwest. No. 27. How will the data files for each document type be provided - i.e. will they be split into separate files by type (i.e. Utility Bills, EFT Confirmation, Delinquency Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 5 of 13 Notices, etc.) or will they come in a single data file with data flags to identify type? Only regular Utility Bills would be processed if Utilities decides to proceed with outsourcing the entire utility bill process option. 28. Will the City require the mail vendor to be a USPS Full Service Certified Intelligent Mail Barcode Vendor? As you probably know all automation postal discounts will be discontinued soon for any mailer who is not certified, but I do not see that as a requirement in your RFP, so want to be sure. We are compliant. Have IMB in pace. 29. Is the City currently preparing mail in house now or are you using an outside mail vendor? If using an outside vendor, is your current rate structure available? For Utility Bill mailings, City uses an outside mailing vendor. Rate structure is not readily available. See response to question 3 concerning other pieces. 30. Same-day service is required for utility mailings – In order to guarantee same day mailing can you tell us what time the files will be available each day? Current vendor physically picks up around 10:00a.m. MST and mails same afternoon. So files would be available at the same time. 31. Our company is located outside of Colorado. Is it ok to use our own mailing permit on the envelopes (which does not show where mail was dropped) and drop mail at our local BMEU? Normal delivery time from us to the Fort Collins area is 1 - 2 days. If your company pays postage and bills us. This will be for Utility Bill mailing only. Other pieces, to still be printed in-house, are mailed in the non- permit envelopes and we reimburse the mailing services vendor. 32. The city is not asking for a quote on postage. Some mail firms mark-up postage. Is it assumed that postage will be paid straight-through to the USPS by the city prior to mailings being dropped by the vendor? Are you requiring the mail service firm to give you the Full Service Intelligent Mail Barcode discounted postage rather than the Basic service discounted postage? We need all the discounts we are entitled to from the Post Office whether IMB or not, NO MARK-UPS. Current vendor co-mingles our non-qualifying pieces so we still get some discount 33. Is the city interested in electronic statements as a possible solution for existing customers? We do have electronic statements thru Kubra. Not looking for in this bid. 34. Can you tell us how many copies of the bid response you need? One sealed response on appropriate Bid Form(s). Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 6 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 7 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 8 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 9 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 10 of 13 1 1/2” x 3” L = 4 11/16” B = 1” 8 7/8” 3 7/8” STOP! Before you approve be absolutely sure that all copy, images, and construction are correct. Indicate prominently all changes. You assume full cost liability should changes not be indicated. Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 11 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 12 of 13 Addendum 1 – Utility Bill Form Printing, Envelopes, Imaging & Mailing Services Page 13 of 13