RFI 25-001 - Lockbox Processing and Scanning

Agency:	New Castle County
State:	Delaware
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	A - Research and development
Posted:	Jan 26, 2024
Due:	Feb 21, 2024
Solicitation No:	RFI 25-001 - Lockbox Processing and Scanning
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Purchasing Division

New Castle County Government Center

87 Reads Way

New Castle, DE 19720

(302) 395-5250

Request for Information and Expressions of Interest– Lockbox Processing and

Scanning

RFI 25-001

New Castle County is seeking expressions of interest from qualified firms who have the ability

to provide potential solutions in providing lockbox processing and scanning services and

software. Interested parties are asked to submit their information, in writing to New Castle

County Purchasing Division, New Castle County Government Center, 87 Reads Way, New

Castle, DE 19720 by 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 21, 2024 so stating their interests and

qualifications as noted in the instructions below. At the discretion of the County and based upon

responses, the County may ultimately issue an RFP later.

Questions about this RFI must only be directed in writing to Frank Penta via e-mail at

frank.j.penta@newcastlede.gov by or before noon on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RFI SUBMISSION

Sealed envelopes must clearly display RFI #25-001 in the lower left quadrant on the front.

Facsimile transmissions of bids are unacceptable and will be rejected without any notice to

the bidding vendor.

Interested parties are responsible to retrieve the RFI specifications and all addendums and

exhibits from the New Castle County Purchasing website at

www.newcastlede.gov/Bids.aspx.

01/24/24

RFI # 25-001

Page 1 of 7

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Purchasing Division

New Castle County Government Center

87 Reads Way

New Castle, DE 19720

(302) 395-5250

Request for Information and Expressions of Interest– Lockbox Processing and

Scanning

RFI 25-001

Background

New Castle County (“County”) is the northernmost of three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware.

As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware

with nearly 60% of the state’s population. New Castle County is the primary economic center

representing a major portion of the state’s taxable base and serving as its leading business, service,

and industrial center. Please visit our web site, www.newcastlede.gov to obtain more information

regarding our organization.

The County receives much of its income from property taxes, sewer service charges and transfer tax.

The County uses its resources to provide services to County residents, including police protection,

emergency medical services, land use, parks, recreation programs, senior services, libraries, sewer

services and code enforcement.

SCOPE

With over 200,000 tax parcels and over 125,000 sewer customers, the County’s Office of Finance

processes payments for property tax, sewer service and other miscellaneous payments through a

variety of means with a recent emphasis on electronic payments. Electronic payments, debit cards,

credit cards, digital wallet payments and eChecks, are processed through an online portal using a

merchant processor. Bank checks are received electronically through the county’s banking service

provider. Paper checks are processed through a third-party lockbox provider as well as through the

County’s administrative offices in our Government Center. Paper checks processed over the last five

fiscal years are as follows:

Paper Check Processing

Fiscal Year

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

LockBox Service

151,199

157,654

165,898

139,797

112,955

Government Center

32,907

29,432

11,918

31,133

26,697

Total

184,106

187,086

177,816

170,930

139,652

01/24/24

RFI # 25-001

Page 2 of 7

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Purchasing Division

New Castle County Government Center

87 Reads Way

New Castle, DE 19720

(302) 395-5250

Request for Information and Expressions of Interest– Lockbox Processing and

Scanning

RFI 25-001

The County’s property taxes are billed annually with a due date of September 30th. Sewer services

are billed annually for residential customers with a due date at the end of February. Commercial and

industrial customers are billed quarterly. Paper checks processed in fiscal 2023 by month for tax,

sewer and miscellaneous are provided below.

FY2023

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

Tax

203

20,764

28,431

1,790

1,997

460

238

992

424

339

422

155

56,215

Lockbox

Sewer

661

3,526

498

230

2,541

333

751

33,830

3,672

1,989

2,490

999

51,520

130

118

183

3,426

692

262

5,220

Government Center

All Checks

1,315

3,733

8,085

1,263

1,186

1,164

876

3,619

1,639

1,001

1,295

1,521

26,697

OBJECTIVE

The County wishes to continue to pursue processing efficiencies through electronic payment

processing and eventually eliminate its third-party lockbox service. The County wishes to pursue

high-speed scanning for the imaging and processing of paper checks.

The County seeks to efficiently process any check to remittance stub payment scenario, including:

• Single stub/single check full payment

• Single stub/single check partial payment or overpayment

• Single stub/multiple check payments

• Multiple stub/single check payments

• Multiple stub/multiple check payments

• No stub/check only payments

Current remittance stubs are attached as Exhibit 1.

01/24/24

RFI # 25-001

Page 3 of 7

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Purchasing Division

New Castle County Government Center

87 Reads Way

New Castle, DE 19720

(302) 395-5250

Request for Information and Expressions of Interest– Lockbox Processing and

Scanning

RFI 25-001

Check scanning and subsequent processing must include advanced imaging, data recognition and

simplified workflow technologies. The preferred solution must provide the ability to:

• Compare a check’s handwritten courtesy amount (“CAR”) and legal amounts (“LAR”)

alerting an operator to non-matches and providing an opportunity to correct the payment

amount during processing.

• Compare a check’s CAR / LAR to the remittance stub alerting an operator to non-matches.

o Matches of the CAR / LAR to a check stub can be processed without operator

intervention.

• Verify the check’s payee.

• Provide a legible image of the check for image archiving indexed for comprehensive search

and retrieval capability.

• Provide a transmission file of routing/transit and bank account numbers scanned from the

MICR line on each check to fulfill Check 21 specifications as required by the County’s

processing bank.

• Provide an output file including payment amount and parcel/account number from the

remittance stub for further system updates, preferably with a user defined format.

• Provide a direct interface with the County’s cashiering software.

• Allow for daily reconciliation.

• Support multiple scanners.

Payment files must be compatible with the County’s current banking service provider, JP Morgan

Chase, in the 937 format as well as the County’s cashiering software, iNovah. Formats for iNovah

input files are different for tax, sewer, and maintenance corporation payments.

Exhibit 2 is specific to the iNovah file layout

01/24/24

RFI # 25-001

Page 4 of 7

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Purchasing Division

New Castle County Government Center

87 Reads Way

New Castle, DE 19720

(302) 395-5250

Request for Information and Expressions of Interest– Lockbox Processing and

Scanning

RFI 25-001

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS AND ORGANIZATION

1. SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

A. One (1) hard copy and one (1) electronic version of same on a USB or similar type

thumb drive. Responses must be complete and must contain all the information as

requested in this RFI. Responses will become the property of New Castle County

and will not be returned to Respondents.

B. All materials submitted by Respondent to the County are subject to disclosure

unless such materials are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Federal or State law.

The burden of claiming an exemption from disclosure shall rest solely with each

Respondent. Any materials for which Respondent claims a privilege from

disclosure shall be submitted marked as "Confidential" and accompanied by a

statement from Respondent explaining Respondent's claim of exemption from

disclosure. The County will promptly notify Respondent of any requests made for

disclosure of documents submitted under a claim of confidentiality. Respondent

may, at Respondent's sole expense, take any appropriate actions to prevent

disclosure of such material. Respondent specifically waives any claims against

County related to disclosure of any proprietary materials. In order to comply,

please note the following:

i. Respondent shall not stamp all materials confidential. Only those materials

for which a claim can be made under the Freedom of Information Act, such

pricing, non-public financial information, etc., should be deemed

confidential.

01/24/24

RFI # 25-001

Page 5 of 7

This is the opportunity summary page. You are currently viewing an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation. For more information, please visit the Publication URL Web page.

Bid Title:	RFI 25-001 - Lockbox Processing and Scanning
Category:	Goods and Services
Status:	Open

RFI 25-001 - Lockbox Processing and Scanning

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