Bill Processing, Printing and Mailing

City of Cambridge, Maryland
Request for Proposals
Printing and Mailing Services for Bills and Notices
Sealed bids due by:
2:00 p.m. EST
Thursday, November 12, 2026
City of Cambridge
410 Academy Street
Cambridge, MD 21613
410-228-4020
www.choosecambridge.com

1. Introduction
The City of Cambridge, Maryland ("the City") is soliciting proposals from qualified vendors to
provide printing and mailing services for our monthly bills and delinquent notices. The
selected vendor will be responsible for data processing, printing, inserting, and mailing customer
bills and related notices on a regular and timely basis. This RFP outlines the scope of work,
requirements, and proposal submission instructions.
2. Background
The City of Cambridge, Maryland was founded in 1684 and incorporated in 1793. It is the
county seat for Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore and has a diverse population of
over 13,000. Cambridge is located along the Choptank River and is less than 100 miles from
Baltimore, MD, Washington, DC, and Wilmington, DE.
The City provides water, sewer, and garbage collection services to approximately 6,300
residential and commercial customers. Bills are generated 3 times per month on a cycle-based
schedule. Each cycle consists of approximately one-third of the total documents. On average,
5,500 bills are mailed each month.
Currently bills are printed on a postcard sized document and mailed from the local post office
with a due date 10 days after the mailing date. The billing service period dates and due date are
pre-printed on the bill. The City has the ability to produce these bills on a letter-sized sheet of
paper but chose the postcard size as a cost savings in postage fees.
The City provides electronic bills to approximately 800 customers each month. These bills are
generated along with regular bills to be mailed in each of the three-monthly cycles. These
customers do not receive a mailed document. These electronic bills are not in scope for this
request. They will continue to be produced in-house.
The City sends out approximately 900 delinquent notices to customers per month on a similar
three-cycle-based schedule. These notices are printed on letter-sized yellow paper.
In addition, the City produces approximately 20 final bills per month on an on-demand basis to
support property settlements. The final bill notices are printed on letter-sized paper. Final bills
will continue to be produced in-house by the City staff.
The City is seeking to outsource this bill and delinquent notice production service to a reputable
firm with a proven track record of accuracy and responsiveness.
3. Scope of Services
The selected vendor will be expected to provide the following services:
City of Cambridge - Bill Processing, Printing & Mailing Page 2 of 6

a. Bill Format
* Produce the City bills and delinquent notices in their current layout on a 8 12" x 11" sheet
of paper
* Propose a new bill format and/or provide a bill redesign to provide better readability
and/or convenience in processing.
b. Data Processing
* Receive billing data in PDF and/or CSV format via email or secure upload portal.
* Process data to generate accurate bills and prepare files for printing.
* All data must be secured at all times and use encryption to prevent data theft
c. Printing
* Print bills in black and white with color logo, double-sided as needed.
* Include variable data (customer name, address, usage, account number, etc.).
* Print on standard paper stock with organization branding and layout.
d. Mailing
* Bills to the same mailing address for different service addresses should be sorted together
and combined in one envelope.
* Insert bills and required enclosures (e.g., notices), if any, and courtesy reply envelopes
into window envelopes.
* Apply appropriate postage and deliver to USPS within 1 business day of receiving data.
* Mail bills using First-Class Pre-sorted Mail.
e. Implementation
* There is a desire to move this service to a reputable third party as soon as possible. We
believe remaining with our existing format is an expedient means to that end and are able
to provide either pre-formatted PDF documents or a .csv file containing the data.
* The ultimate goal is to redesign the document format and potentially enhance the process
billing process to benefit our customers.
4. Selection Criteria
The selection of the vendor will be based on the following factors, in order of descending
importance:
1. Professional qualifications and experience.
2. Ability to provide the service within the time allotted.
3. Cost.
City of Cambridge - Bill Processing, Printing & Mailing Page 3 of 6

Professional qualifications, experience, and ability to complete the project within the time
allotted (technical merit) will have greater weight than cost (financial merit). The contract
will be awarded to the firm whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the
Commissioners of Cambridge and may not necessarily be the lowest bidder. The City of
Cambridge, Maryland reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, and/or waive
informalities or irregularities, and/or to accept or reject any items of any proposal, as it may
deem best for its interest.
5. Proposal Requirements
A complete proposal submission consists of the following documents:
1. A transmission letter containing the contact information for the person responsible for the
proposal and representing your company's interests.
2. Completion of the four sections of requirements:
a. Business (including requested attachments)
b. Functional Requirements
c. Technical Requirements
d. Financial Proposal
3. Completion and signature of the Non-Collusion Affidavit
4. A sample of your standard contract and warranties
5. Confirmation of your business' legal standing to do business in the State of Maryland.
6. Submission Instructions
* Deadline: Proposals must be received by 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 12, 2026
at which time they will be opened and recorded.
* Format: One (1) electronic copy and Two (2) printed original copies of proposals must
be sealed, plainly marked with the proposal name "Processing, Printing and Mailing
Services for Bills and Notices" and returned to:
City of Cambridge
Attention: Supervisor of Billing and Payments
410 Academy Street
Cambridge, Maryland 21613
Late or incomplete proposals may not be considered.
7. Questions
All questions related to this RFP must be submitted via email to
billing@choosecambridge.com by 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, October 23, 2026.
City of Cambridge - Bill Processing, Printing & Mailing Page 4 of 6

If you do not have questions but would like to be included on all responses to any
questions received, please send a message stating your intention to respond to this RFP to
billing@choosecambridge.com no later than 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, October 23, 2026.
Answers will be sent via email on Friday, October 30, 2026, to all people who have
submitted them or have stated an intention to respond to the RFP.
8. General Conditions
* Offerors should give specific attention to the identification of those portions of their
proposals that they deem to be confidential, proprietary information or trade secrets and
provide any justification why such materials, upon request, should not be disclosed by the
State under the Access to Public Records Act, State Government Article, Title 10,
Subtitle 6, Annotated Code of Maryland.
* MBE / WBE firms are encouraged to respond to this solicitation.
* The vendor must be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
* This is a highly visible project. The vendor must be committed to providing the highest
level of accuracy and data confidentiality.
* By submitting a response to this solicitation, a vendor shall be deemed to represent that it
is not in arrears in the payment of any obligation due and owing the State of Maryland,
Dorchester County, or The Commissioners of Cambridge, including the payment of taxes
and employee benefits, and that it shall not become so in arrears during the term of the
contract, if selected for contract award.
* All costs incurred in proposal preparation are the responsibility of the vendor.
* Contract award is subject to funding availability and organizational approval.
9. Timeline Summary
Date Time Activity
Friday, 10/9 10:00AM RFP Posted to City's website
Friday, 10/23 4:00PM RFP Questions due to billing@choosecambridge.com
Friday, 10/23 4:00 PM Notice of intent to respond due to
billing@choosecambridge.com
Friday, 10/30 2:00 PM City to email responses to questions to all registered firms
Thursday, 11/12 2:00 PM RFP Responses from vendors due. All responses received
will be opened and recorded.
City of Cambridge - Bill Processing, Printing & Mailing Page 5 of 6

NON-COLLUSION AFFIDAVIT
State of ___________________ County of __________________
, being first duly sworn, deposes and says that he is
*(sole owner, partner, president, secretary, etc.) of
, the party making the forgoing bid; that such bid is not made
in the interest of or on behalf of any undisclosed person, partnership, company, association,
organization, or corporation; that such bid is genuine and not collusive or sham; that said bidder
had not directly or indirectly induced or solicited any other bidder to put in false or sham bid, and
has not directly or indirectly, sought by agreement, communication or conference with anyone to
fix the bid price of said bidder or of any other bidder, or to fix any overhead, profit or cost element of
awarding the contract or anyone interested in the proposed contract; that all statements submitted
in his/her bid price or any breakdown thereof, or the contents thereof, or divulged information or
data relative thereto, or paid and will pay any fee in connection therewith to any corporation,
partnership, company association, organization, bid depository, or to any member or agent
thereof, or to any other individual except to such person or persons as have a partnership or other
financial interest with said bidder in his/her general business.
SIGNED:
___________________ __ ____________
Signature Title Date
Certificate of Acknowledgement
State of ___________________ County of __________________
On___________________________, before me, _______________________________________,
(date) (notary)
personally appeared, _____________________________________________________________,
(signers)
personally known to me OR proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s)
whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that
he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies),and that by his/her/their
signature(s) on the instrument the person(s) or the entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted,
executed the instrument
WITNESS my hand and official seal
__________________________________________
(notary signature)
My Commission Expires: ___________________ (seal)
City of Cambridge - Bill Processing, Printing & Mailing Page 6 of 6