Business Case Analysis for Sewer Service Billing and Collection RFP
Questions received as of 7/19/2013
Q. How much has the District budgeted for these services?
A. A specific dollar amount has not been budgeted for these services.
Q. Task B of the RFP refers to a recently completed study. Who completed the study?
A. Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc.
Q. Will the consultant who completed the recent study on alternative methods of billing sewer services be able to respond to this RFP?
A. Yes
Q. The RFP refers to the District’s selected alternative billing approach. What alternative billingapproach did the District select? What was the reason for the selection?
A. The recommended alternative billing approach for residential sewer customers is billing based on Winter Quarter Water Use. Commercial accounts would continue to be based on actual water consumption each quarter. Final decisions based on these recommendations have not yet been made by District Management, nor has it been approved by the Board. The reasons for this selection can be discussed with the selected consultant as part of the Task B effort.
Q. Can the proposers receive a copy of the study performed on alternative methods of billing sewerservices?
A. The study is in draft form and will not be finalized until after this RFP’s due date for proposals. The finalized study will be available for the selected consultant to perform the review required in Task B of the RFP.
Q. Does the District own a utility billing system that can be used if the District decides to control its own billing and collection system.
A. No, the District does not own a utility billing system.
Q. Does the District have sufficient staffing if it decides to control its own billing and collection system, or will additional staff need to be hired?
A. District staffing requirements should be analyzed as part of the Business Case Analysis in Task D of the RFP, and provide recommendations as part of Task E.
Q. Could KPI data be made available for DPU billing performance, including payment metrics, collection results, customer satisfaction with billing process, etc?
A. Available information will be provided to the selected consultant as part of the Task A effort to review the existing billing and collections model.
Q. If a firm is awarded the bid, does that preclude them from bidding on the implementation project?
A. No
Q. Is DPU aware of this effort?
A. Yes
Q. Will DPU be willing participants to provide information?
A. We cannot guarantee any participation from DPU. However, the District should be able to provide all the required information for this project.
Q. Are the costs on the DPU side to be developed with them as part of the project?
A. There are no costs anticipated on the DPU side for this project.
Q. Will the costs be part of the costs to the District that are to be included?
A. All costs for this project will be paid for by the District.
Q. How many District staff members will be made available to support this project?
A. The District will provide the required number of staff to support the success of this project.
Q. Can a copy be secured of the following:
- Operating agreement between the District and the DPU for the current billing and collections?
- Contract and invoices associated with this project?
- Flow chart or documented work flow of current processes?
- Three years of historical financial statements/costing reports which details the “loaded” costs associated that the District has incurred (with DPU) for performing billing and collections?
- Outside of the actual costs DPU charges the District, what internal costs (detail loaded labor and other miscellaneous) does the District incur with regard to administering/overseeing the billing and collections performed by DPU?
A. Available information will be provided to the selected consultant as part of the Task A effort to review the existing billing and collections model.
Q. Task C references “District Management”. Who does this consist of?
A. District Senior Staff, and other Managers or staff associated with sewer and stormwater billing processes.
Q. What is the DPU bill/account separation project?
A. This is a DPU driven project that will be separating the current single account and one combined bill of all services (water, sewer, stormwater, etc.), into a separate District account and separate District bill containing its sewer and/or stormwater charges.
Q. What are the SBE/MBE goals?
A. There are none for this RFP.
Q. The contract agreement with the City of Cleveland is for five years. Is there a provision for early termination?
A. If we choose to go down this road it would probably take the five years to implement a new billing system. Cleveland is fully aware that we are analyzing the possibility to bring billing in-house. The timing of this implementation would be in line with the next rate increase.
Q. What is the format for proposal submission?
A. Proposals should be submitted electronically (file size no more than 80 megabytes) in a PDF format in addition to five hard copies.
Q. Was the referenced study on alternative billing methods and services performed in-house?
A. No. It was performed by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc.
Q. Will the District assign any internal resources to this project, and if so, how much of their time will be devoted to the assignment?
A. The District will assign staff to the project for the appropriate amount of time to meet the approach defined in the selected consultant’s proposal.
Q. Does the District have a target date for selecting an alternative billing method?
A. The recommended alternative billing approach for residential sewer customers is billing based on Winter Quarter Water Use. Commercial accounts would continue to be based on actual water consumption each quarter. Final decisions based on these recommendations have not yet been made by District Management, nor has it been approved by the Board. Final decisions are expected to be made prior to the start of this project.
Q. Can you describe (at a high level) the mechanisms / channels used today for billing (e.g. electronic billing, mail) and collections (e.g. cash, check, card, direct debit)?
A. Billing by mail is the primary mechanism currently utilized by our billing agents, including DPU. Customer payments for most accounts can be made by check, credit card (online and phone), and direct debit. In-person cash payments can also be made.
Q. Are you anticipating that the consultant will conduct an RFI as any part of this project (i.e. to gather comparative cost data for analyzing in-house versus external processing alternatives?
A. The consultant should propose any approach that they feel will provide the best result to the District for the tasks listed in the RFP.
Q. Can the list of attendees at the pre-proposal conference be provided to all prospective proposers?
A. The list of attendees will be posted to our web site.
Q. What is the District’s preferred timeline for completion of the project, assuming a September 5, 2013 contract approval date?
A. There is no specific timeline defined for this project, but the District doesn’t envision it going beyond 6 months.
Q. Can an organization chart of the billing and collection process of the City of Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities be provided?
A. The District does not have DPU’s billing and process documentation. All available documentation and information will be provided to the selected consultant for the Task A effort to review the existing billing and collections model.
Q. Are consumption volume statistics available for review for potential proposers?
A. Consumption volume statistics will be made available to the selected consultant for the business case analysis.
Q. What is the current billing and collection system that the City of Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities utilizes to process the District’s billings?
A. Oracle Customer Care & Billing (CC&B).
Q. What is the current financial and accounting system that the District utilizes?
A. Oracle eBusiness Suite
Q. Does the District have immediate plans to change its financial and accounting system(s)?
A. No, the District does not have any plans to change its financial and accounting system.
Q. Does the City of Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities utilize lock box systems?
A. Yes
Q. For the proposed fee, is the District requesting fees based on a fixed price, hourly rates, or other basis? Please indicate the preference or required format of the fee proposal.
A. The District’s preference is on an hourly rates basis subtotaled at the task level.
Q. Do you envision the assessment to take into consideration the IT Infrastructure / system selection set of activities for in-house option, cost to manage IT infrastructure, etc?
A. Both in-house and external options should be considered for the business case analysis. Details for the Task D Business Case Analysis can be discussed with the District as part of the Task C workshop.
Q. Expectation of “Business Case Analysis” – is that quantitative / pro-forma business case – or – more of a business analysis and feasibility of options of processes, tech, people?
A. The expectation is more of the latter.
Q. What is the – DPU bill/account separation project and what is the impact on the District’s ability to efficiently conduct its business operation?
A. Please refer to the answer above regarding a description of the bill/account separation project. This project is scheduled to go live later this year. Potential impacts on the District’s business operation can be discussed with the selected vendor as part of the Task A review of the existing billing and collections business model.
Q. Does the study performed on alternative methods of billing sewer services include cost estimates?
A. No
Q. What is the business model of the District’s selected alternative approach for billing sewer services?
A. Please refer to an early question and answer regarding the status of the selected alternative approach for billing sewer services.