Provision of Merchant Processing Services on a Multi-Year Contract

RP026-19 Page 1
Failure to return this page as part of the proposal document may result in rejection of proposal.
July 8, 2026
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
RP023-26
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners is soliciting competitive sealed proposals from qualified service
providers for the Provision of Merchant Processing Services on a Multi-Year Contract for the Department of
Financial Services.
Proposals must be returned in a sealed container marked on the outside with the Request for Proposal number
and Company Name. Proposals will be received until 2:50 P.M. local time on July 30, 2026 at the Gwinnett
County Financial Services - Purchasing Division - 2nd Floor, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30046.
Any proposal received after this date and time will not be accepted.
The proposal opening will be virtual ONLY. To access the proposal opening virtually, visit this link. A list of firms
submitting proposals will be available the following business day on our website www.GwinnettCounty.com.
Questions regarding proposals should be directed to Blake Christopher, Purchasing Associate II at
Blake.Christopher@GwinnettCounty.com or by calling 770-822-8820, no later than July 16, 2026. Proposals are
legal and binding upon the vendor when submitted. One unbound original and four (4) copies should be
submitted.
Successful service providers will be required to meet insurance requirements. The Insurance Company should
be authorized to do business in Georgia by the Georgia Insurance Department, and must have an A.M. Best
rating of A-7 or higher.
Gwinnett County does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission or access to its programs or
activities. Any requests for reasonable accommodations required by individuals to fully participate in any open
meeting, program or activity of Gwinnett County Government should be directed to the ADA Coordinator at the
Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center, 770-822-8165.
The written proposal documents supersede any verbal or written prior communications between the parties.
Selection criteria are outlined in the request for proposal documents. Gwinnett County reserves the right to
reject any or all proposals to waive technicalities, and to make an award deemed in its best interest.
Award notification will be posted after award on the County website, www.GwinnettCounty.com and companies
submitting a proposal will be notified via email.
We look forward to your proposal and appreciate your interest in Gwinnett County.
Blake Christopher
Purchasing Associate II

RP026-19 Page 2
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
A. Purpose of Request for Proposal ("RFP")
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners ("the County"), through the Department of Financial Services
(DOFS), requests sealed proposals to provide merchant processing services to the County.
This RFP includes information regarding the County's current systems, service requirements, regulatory
requirements, and estimated transaction volumes. This information should be used as the basis for
preparing the proposals. Due to the infrastructure the County has in place that is unique to the various
departments, the solution submitted must work with and support the systems the County currently has
without any additional costs to the County. The County is looking for a solution that will work seamlessly
with current systems. Service providers should submit proposals that conform directly to the baseline
service requirements.
Service providers are encouraged to submit clear and concise responses, and excessive length or extraneous
information is discouraged. In an effort to ensure the ability to evaluate and choose a successful service
provider for this project, service providers are encouraged to be responsive to the specific range of issues
requested in this solicitation. Submission of excessive "boiler plate" information, including sales brochures,
is discouraged. Service providers should not submit website links in lieu of written responses. Website links
and any information contained within may not be reviewed or considered by the County.
All responses should follow the format in the RFP.
B. Objectives
It is the intention of the County to award the contract to a single Service Provider.
The County's objectives include:
1. Providing exceptional customer service and enhanced level of convenience for customers and
taxpayers in financial dealings with the County;
2. Maximizing the use of existing technology and leveraging the use of new technology solutions, where
appropriate, without additional costs to the County.
3. Providing services necessary to maintain current payment card acceptance operations and expand
these services to support future growth using secure and reliable payment processing solutions.
C. Card Processing Services Overview
County departments and offices that accept merchant card payments are listed in this RFP. Merchant
Identification Numbers (MIDs) are assigned by department, payment channel or departmental division. The
County currently uses Elavon to process Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and E-Check
transactions. Certain departments and offices may maintain merchant processing agreements with other
service providers outside of the scope of this proposal.
The current contract with Elavon, Inc. expires December 31, 2026. As of June 1, 2026 Gwinnett County has
a total of 53 Merchant ID's (MID) assigned to them and 175 terminals (see below). In 2025, the County
processed 1.9 million transactions totaling $278.4 million. These transactions were processed in person,
online, and over the phone.

RP026-19 Page 3
Terminals
# of
Department Terminal Type
Terminals
Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) UMax via Paymentus to Converge (Online) 1
Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) Five9 to Converge (IVR) 1
Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) iNovah through Bluefin (in person) PAX A80 terminals 9
Dept. Of Community Services CivicPlus through Converge (online) 2
Dept. Of Community Services Converge hosted payment page (online) 3
Dept. Of Community Services CivicPlus through Converge (in person) LANE5000 terminals 73
Dept. Of Community Services Ingenico Desk3500 (in person) 2
Courts INGENICO Desk3500 52
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) iNovah through Converge (online) 1
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) iNovah through Bluefin (in person) PAX A80 terminals 2
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) Teller through Converge (in person) Link3600 terminals 6
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) Accela via Teller to Converge (online) 1
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) Converge hosted payment page (online) 1
Police Department Teller through Converge (in person) Link3600 terminals 2
Police Department Ingenico Desk3500 (in person) 8
Fire & Emergency Services Converge hosted payment page (online) 3
Dept. of Transportation Ingenico Desk3500 2
Dept. of Human Resources Converge hosted payment page (online) 1
Dept. of Support Services Converge hosted payment page (online) 1
Dept. of Support Services iNovah through Bluefin (in person) PAX A80 terminals 2
Sheriff Department Converge mobile (in person) RP457C card reader 1
Law Department GovQA through Converge (online) 1
Transaction and Sales Volume
Department # of MID's 2025 Transaction Volume 2025 Sales Volume
Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) 3 1,730,744 $231,066,025.84
Dept. Of Community Services/Parks & Rec 8 126,981 $7,170,660.60
Courts 20 56,370 $4,662,755.19
Dept. of Planning & Development (P&D) 5 30,680 $29,957,292.64
Police Department 8 9,325 $361,979.96
Fire & Emergency Services 3 11,619 $2,455,702.29
Dept. of Transportation 1 1,202 $487,927.64
Dept. of Human Resources 1 3,296 $1,143,058.92
Dept. of Support Services 2 919 $878,015.89
Sheriff's Department 1 17 $91.19
Law Department 1 4,988 $222,695.95
Please refer to Gwinnett County's website, www.GwinnettCounty.com for a complete listing of departments,
elected officials, appointed positions and courts.

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D. Settlement and Chargeback Account Information
Transaction settlements along with reversals and chargebacks related to the service provided under this RFP
will be posted to bank accounts maintained by the County under its banking services agreement with Wells
Fargo Bank, NA. Bank account information will be provided at time of award.
E. Contract Administration
The Gwinnett County Department of Financial Services (DOFS), Treasury Division, will administer this
contract and oversee the implementation and/or transition of service provider by department and by
merchant. The Department of Financial Services Treasury Director may approve changes to the contract
including additions, removals, or modifications to merchant products and services. The Treasury Division is
responsible for establishing new merchant ID's, setting budget for processing and coordinating billing,
equipment and related services.
F. Gwinnett County Payment Channels Include:
* Interactive Voice Response (IVR):
* Telephone Call Centers
* Web-based collections through proprietary systems
* Retail Point of Sale
SECTION II: SCOPE OF SERVICES
A. Services Included
The following services are included in the scope of this request for proposal:
1. Credit Card and Debit Card payment processing services
2. Managed Service Fee Program for selected Departments, Agencies, and Courts
3. Electronic Check (e-check) payment processing services
B. Services Excluded
The following services are specifically excluded from the scope of this RFP:
1. EBT, Gift Card and Loyalty Card programs
2. Payroll Card programs
3. POS Prepaid programs
4. B2B or B2C electronic invoicing, bill presentment or payment
5. Disbursement or accounts payable solutions
6. Purchasing Card (P-Card) programs
7. Website development services
8. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system development
C. Other Accounts
The merchants described herein constitute the MID's required and requested by the County at the time of
issuance of this RFP. Information provided within this RFP should be used by the selected Service Provider
to establish, configure, and implement payment processing services for the identified merchants.
The selected service provider will agree to provide additional MIDs as requested by the Department of
Financial Services - Treasury Division for any Office of a Gwinnett County elected official, Court, agency, or
any Gwinnett County Department. Any additional MIDs established during the contract term shall be subject
to the same pricing structure, service levels, terms, and conditions awarded under this Agreement unless
otherwise mutually agreed upon in writing.
D. Other Services
The Gwinnett County Department of Financial Services - Treasury Division will review and approve any
additional merchant services, MID requests, and associated fees or charges not specifically identified within

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this RFP. The awarded service provider will assist the County with the transition of existing current merchant
services processing in accordance with a pre-determined, phased implementation schedule established by
the Treasury Division. The selected service provider shall cooperate fully in coordinating implementation
activities, testing, training, and deployment - including providing on-site support for County specified
merchants, to minimize operational disruption to County departments.
Upon expiration or termination, the service provider shall continue to provide uninterrupted services under
the existing pricing, terms, and conditions until all merchant processing services, data, equipment and related
operations have been successfully transitioned to the County or newly awarded service provider. The service
provider shall provide reasonable transition assistance, including data conversion, token migration, file
transfers, reporting access, equipment decommissioning, and operational support, at no additional cost to
the County. The service provider shall not impose termination assistance fees, deconversion fees, early
termination, token migration, or data extraction fees upon contract expiration or termination.
SECTION III: PROPOSAL FORMAT
Proposals should be responsive to all items noted in the request for proposal. It may also include supplemental
material(s) that further illustrate the responder's ability to successfully provide the scope of services outlined in
this request.
A. Qualifications
1. Introductions
a. Name of Company
b. Relationship management team org chart
i. Biographical information
ii. Contact information
iii. Roles and responsibilities
c. Contact information for customer service manager
d. Contact information for information technology manager
e. Total number of active tier-3 support clients
f. Address for proposed processor site
2. Company Overview
a. Detail company's experience providing the products and services under consideration. Include at a
minimum:
i. Number of years providing merchant processing and related services
ii. Description of services and capabilities
iii. Key attributes, qualifications and technical competencies
iv. Experience with supporting utility clients and government entities as well as experience with
high-volume transaction processing environments
v. Customer service and support capabilities
vi. Integration experience with utility billing systems, ERP systems and other payment platforms.
b. State why the service provider should be selected over a competitor.
c. Discuss the service provider's representation on MasterCard, Visa, NACHA or other payment industry
boards or committees.
d. Has the service provider ever filed for bankruptcy? If yes, what is the status of bankruptcy filing?
e. Has the service provider ever experienced a loss of customer data? If yes, please describe the
incident(s) as well as corrective actions taken and security improvements implemented as a result.
f. Please provide the monthly overall volume of merchant processing transactions for the service
provider's largest customers.
3. Third Party Processing
Please explain if the service provider will provide all services directly for the County or if third parties will
be utilized to provide any portion of the services. Include copies of third-party processing agreements.

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a. If the service provider contracts with a third party, please describe the years of service the company
has been doing business with the third party and the relationship.
b. How will the County be assured of service quality and responsiveness?
c. Will the County be required to contract with any networks or associations directly for processing
services, settlement services, or both as a condition of your company providing processing services?
If so, please include agreements.
d. If there is a third-party processor used, list the escalation method and contact list for resolution of
issues related to settlement, banking debits/credits, duplicate charges, and network issues. If an
Independent Service Organization (ISO) is utilized, they must be PCI compliant and provide
attestation.
4. This table is a general guide and is not intended to be a complete list of all work necessary to complete
the project. The service provider should satisfy the following minimum requirements, please check yes
or no indicating the response to each:
Requirement YES NO
1. Provide new retail merchant card processing equipment at no cost to the County.
Equipment must not be refurbished.
a. Pre-program equipment with the applicable merchant profile prior to shipment,
including MID, name, address, and phone number.
b. Test equipment prior to shipment to ensure correct configuration; voiding any
test transactions prior to delivery.
c. Provide Gwinnett County with the option to receive an invoice or direct debit of
the requested bank account for any replacement equipment.
d. Ensure all terminals are PCI-DSS compliant.
2. Process all transactions through the required payment channels as requested.
a. Capable of integrating with the following systems the County currently uses:
Civic Plus, Accela, iNovah, Oracle Fusion, UMax/Paymentus, and Bluefin.
3. Provide e-check services
4. Support tap-to-pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or other EMV, contactless,
or other digital wallets.
5. Provide managed service fee services.
6. Have the ability to program multiple MID's tied to multiple bank accounts, regular or
managed service fee, to a single terminal.
7. Provide electronic authorization, data capture and settlement services for all Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, and American Express credit and debit transactions.
8. Offer next business day funding.
9. Support multiple settlements to bank accounts at the MID level.
10. Provide customizable daily online reporting for prior-day activity, transaction
details and settlement information at no additional cost to the County.
11. Provide training for staff on online reporting tools.
12. Provide security administration capabilities to manage user access to online
reporting (add/delete users)
13. Provide returned item data via electronic file, if requested by merchant, at no
additional charge.
14. Assign a dedicated relationship manager with at least five years of government
merchant processing experience.
15. Conduct annual merchant relationship reviews.
16. Conduct annual PCI-DSS compliance reviews of County-wide activity and confirm
compliance.
17. Provide an implementation manager to facilitate on-site installation of products
and services at times convenient to merchant.

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Requirement YES NO
18. Provide training, resources, and support for merchants via telephone, internet, or
onsite.
19. Provide a toll-free customer service number for support or issue resolution at no
additional cost.
20. Answer all public inquiries regarding functionality while merchants will answer
inquiries regarding electronic payment processing issues (including acceptance,
reversal, duplicate or fraudulent charges, etc.).
21. Integrate applications through payment channels listed at no additional cost to the
County.
22. Support IVR and Internet payment applications and ensure 24/7 availability
through the County's official website.
23. Respond to all merchant inquiries regarding system use, terminals, software,
settlement and processing.
24. Provide various financial reports, including volume, discounts and fees as
requested.
25. Provide cost and transaction analysis by card type and Merchant ID, upon request.
26. Apply merchant processing fees to net sales only.
27. Debit processing fees from the bank accounts designated by the Department of
Financial Services.
28. Provide broadcast notifications to Gwinnett end users notifying of sudden or
planned system outages, maintenance or operational issues at no additional
charge.
29. Comply with PCI Point-to Point Encryption (P2PE) requirements and minimize the
collection of personal information.
30. Ensure the security and confidentiality of all transaction-related data and do not
share or distribute such data to any third-party organizations. The County will own
all user data provided and collected.
31. Utilize tokenization technology to submit and process transactions without storing
actual payment card data.
32. Maintain current Level 1 compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security
Standards (PCI-DSS) requirements to protect cardholder data and provide a current
Attestation of Compliance (AOC) upon request.
33. Provide a PCI Responsibility Matrix that outlines PCI requirements pertaining to the
service provider and PCI requirements pertaining to the County.
34. Provide confirmation of Terminal ID (TID) deactivation when a terminal is removed
from service.
35. Participate in the Visa and MasterCard Convenience Fee and/or Managed Service
Fee Programs, as applicable with "single dip" processing capabilities.
36. Implement and maintain highly secured systems utilizing strong cryptography and
secure communication protocols to safeguard the integrity, confidentiality, and
security of payment transactions and related data.
37. Ensure that all payment applications comply with applicable PA-DSS requirements
and support real-time and/or batch processing methods for importing data from
the County's systems and exporting processed data back to the County's systems.
All implementation, configuration, integration, and development services required
for such functionality should be provided at no additional cost to the County.
38. Transmit or make available for download by the County, electronic files containing
daily transaction details and summary reports no later than 8:00 AM EST on the
next business following each debit or credit card transaction. The service provider

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Requirement YES NO
shall also provide transaction listings, deposit summaries and custom reporting
capabilities for individual merchants, at no additional cost to the County.
39. Deliver all user manuals, technical documentation, training materials and related
documentation necessary for County merchants to effectively utilize and support
the payment solutions provided.
40. Provide same-day e-mail notification of any electronic transmission failure, at no
additional cost to the County.
41. Assist the County in testing any proposed solutions, products and services prior to
public deployment or release, at no additional cost to the County.
42. Connect to the payment gateway using secure HTTPS POST methods and/or
WEBSERVICES and support automated data transfers using Secure FTP (SFTP) for
nightly batch payment processing.
43. Deposit funds due to County merchants based upon processing requirements,
existing systems, and real-time or batch processing environments. The County's
preferred funding timeframe is no later than 24 hours after the transaction date.
Any funding delays extending between 3-5 business days must be fully
collateralized per Georgia State Collateralization requirements.
44. Review merchant applications to determine if a merchant qualifies as a suitable
candidate for participation in a managed service fee program. For approved
merchants, the service provider will work with the merchant to identify
requirements, implement, configure, train, test and deploy programs, at no
additional cost to the County.
45. Provide electronic chargeback notifications to individual merchants as
chargebacks occur.
46. Provide online chargeback management capability for reviewing and responding to
chargebacks, at no additional cost to the County.
47. Provide monthly chargeback reports itemized by Merchant ID.
48. Support payment processing through multiple systems and platforms at no
additional cost to the County.
49. Utilize commercially reasonable efforts to optimize interchange qualifications and
minimize processing costs for the County.
50. Maintain documented Service Level-Agreements (SLAs) for system availability,
transaction processing uptime, response times, issue resolution, and customer
support. The service provide shall provide SLA metrics and performance reporting
upon request.
51. Notify the County within twenty-four (24) hours of discovery of any actual or
suspected cybersecurity incident, data breach, unauthorized access, or
compromise involving County systems, payment data, or confidential information.
B. Understanding of Proposal
1. Customer Service
a. Discuss the customer service function and support model to include:
i. How merchant and/or citizen inquiries are received and resolved
ii. Customer support channels available plus hours of operation based on support type
iii. Average response and resolution times
iv. Escalation procedures, issue prioritization methods, ticketing and case management
procedures
v. Performance measurements and metrics used to track service calls, outstanding tickets, and
customer satisfaction
vi. Is the customer support function outsourced or performed in-house? Include an escalation
contact list outlining detailed positions and responsibilities.

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vii. Will the County be assigned one main customer service representative that is familiar with the
County account instead of going through a call center?
b. Does the service provider provide a regionally based support engineer as a single point of contact
with a direct contact number? If no, please describe the geographical locations of the support
engineers that will be available 24x7x365 for critical issues.
c. Does company provide a 15-minute guaranteed SLA response time for a senior engineer to begin
working a critical issue? Is this available 24x7x365? If so, please describe.
2. Account Management
a. Describe the methods used to notify the County of system outages, processing disruptions, reporting
site unavailability, security incidents or any other events, planned or unplanned, that may impact
payment processing.
b. Describe the methods, tools or account management practices used to ensure the County
continuously optimizes payment processing costs and remains aligned with industry's best
practices.
c. Describe procedures and controls used to ensure transactions qualify for the lowest eligible
interchange category. Include information regarding interchange monitoring, reporting of
downgraded transactions, notice of interchange qualification issues and recommendations to
improve qualification rates and reduce processing costs.
d. Describe the ongoing support, feedback and recommendations provided to merchants to improve
payment acceptance operations. Include strategies for reducing chargeback and fraud, enhancing
operational efficiency, maintaining regulatory and PCI compliance, implementing system or process
improvements and responding to card brand or industry rule changes.
e. Explain the process for adding new merchant locations, payment channels, and Merchant ID
Number's, as well as the process for closing, consolidating, or modifying existing merchant accounts.
Include implementation timelines, required documentation and approval processes.
f. Describe the process for resolving billing discrepancies, fee disputes, settlement variances, and
invoice-related issues. Include escalation procedures, assigned points of contact, expected response
and resolution timeframes, and any reporting available to assist in issue resolution.
3. Debit card processing
a. Describe the service provider's experience providing debit card processing capabilities for
government entities and large organizations. Include the debit networks supported as well as any
specialized capabilities related to debit card acceptance across card-present, card-not-present, e-
commerce, mobile and integrated payment channels.
b. Explain how debit transactions are routed to the lowest-cost eligible network while maintaining
authorization performance, reliability, and compliance with card brand and regulatory requirements.
c. Describe the service provider's support for both PIN-based and PIN-less debit transactions across all
payment channels, including in-person, online, mobile, and recurring payment environments. Identify
any limitations or requirements with these processing options.
4. Charge-backs, Disputes, Refunds
Describe system, processes and support services available for managing charge-backs disputes, fraud
claims and refunds.
a. Describe the end-to-end chargeback and dispute management process, including notification
methods, case tracking, response submission, representment, arbitration, and final resolution.
Include applicable timelines and service level expectations.
b. Describe the methods available for notifying County merchants of chargebacks, disputes, retrieval
requests and related activities. Include electronic delivery options such as online portals, email
notifications, or other system-generated alerts.
c. The County prefers electronic receipt, transmission, and management of all chargeback and dispute
documentation. Describe how the proposed solution accommodates electronic workflows, including
document upload capabilities, automated case management, status tracking, and reporting.

RP026-19 Page 10
d. The County requires monthly chargeback reporting covering a rolling 12-month period. Describe the
standard and customizable reports available. At a minimum this monthly report should include all
chargebacks itemized by Merchant ID Number as well as their status.
5. Value-Added Services
Describe additional value-added services, technologies, tools or products may enhance the County's
payment acceptance environment, improve operational efficiency, strengthen security, increase revenue
collection, reduce costs, and/or improve customer payment experience. Include pricing in the Fee
Schedule (to be submitted in a separate sealed envelope).
C. Technical Merit
1. Information Technology Service
a. Provide an organizational chart of your company's Information Technology group supporting the
proposed solution. Identify key personnel, reporting relationships, roles, responsibilities and areas of
expertise. Describe the resources dedicated to software development, infrastructure management,
cybersecurity, systems integration, quality assurance, and technical support.
b. Describe how the Information Technology Group has accommodated client-specific requirements,
customized development requests, integrations, programming modifications, consulting services or
other technology enhancements during the past two years. Discuss those specific client requests
including client type, description of the request, services provided, development/implementation
timeline, associated costs and the outcome.
c. Describe the company's cybersecurity program and security governance framework. Indicate
whether the proposed solution and supporting infrastructure undergo independent third-party
penetration testing. Include the date of the most recent penetration test and frequency of testing.
Provide a copy or summary of the report.
d. What is the average system uptime? Is this regional or for the entire service area? How does the
service provider define/calculate "uptime" and is there any exceptions, e.g. scheduled maintenance?
e. State the total number of tier-3 support tickets closed in the past year as a service provider, and for
the services under consideration. Do not include tickets related to consulting, managed services, etc.
2. Disaster Recovery/Contingency Plan
Provide a detailed description of the service provider's Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Plan.
The response should address the resiliency, redundancy, and recovery capabilities supporting merchant
processing operations. Include details regarding primary and secondary data center locations, an
explanation of "hot site" back up capabilities available in the event of a complete site failure, recovery
time objectives for critical systems supporting payment processing, and the expected timeframe
required to restore full operational capabilities based on the level of outage. Also include details
regarding the frequency and scope of disaster recovery, business continuity and failover testing activities
as well as the results of the most recent disaster recovery test.
3. PCI-DSS Compliance
Describe the service provider's compliance with current Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
(PCI-DSS) and related payment card security requirements. Include information regarding current PCI-
DSS compliance status and validation level, copies of the most recent PCI Attestation of Compliance,
Report on Compliance or other documentation demonstrating PCI-DSS compliance. Also include
procedures for notifying clients of any changes to compliance status, security incidents, or data breaches
that may affect cardholder data.
4. Tokenization
Describe the service provider's tokenization solution and the requirements for implementing and
maintaining a tokenization program. Include the types of payment channels supported, technical
resources or requirements needed from the County to implement tokenization, integration requirements