Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Department of General Services

RFP-2011-6100020265 – Credit Card Services

PRE-PROPOSAL QUESTIONS

# / Page/ Paragraph / RFP Reference/Question / Commonwealth of PA Answer
/ GENERAL / Who are the current providers of each Lot? / Lot 1 is currently being provided by PNC (Contract #4400001695).
Lot 2 is currently being provided by US Bank/Voyager (Contract #4400002458).
/ GENERAL / Under the current programs, are there two separate pieces of plastic; one for P-card and one for T&E? / Yes, there are separate cards issued for the following programs:
  • Pcard
  • Travel [referred to Corporate Card in RFP]
  • Airline
  • Lodging
  • Fleet

/ GENERAL / If we are one legal entity, but responding to Lots 1 and 2, do we need a version of the signature pages with each Lot, or can we submit just one set of signatures? / You will need to provide a version of the signature page with each Lot as proposals for each Lot should be submitted separately.
/ GENERAL / Does the Commonwealth use an in-house travel agency? / The Commonwealth does not have an in-house travel agency; however, we do contract with ADTRAV Travel Management.
/ GENERAL / What are the average transaction sizes of all card programs? / Lot 1 Estimates:
Pcard – 558,349 yearly/46,529 monthly
Airline – 1,805 yearly/150 monthly
Lodging – 6,845 yearly/571 monthly
Corporate – 188,335 yearly/15,695 monthly
Lot 2 Estimates:
Fleet – $50.74 per transaction/1,128,170 transactions per year
/ GENERAL / Does the Commonwealth have a preference for either MasterCard or VISA? / No. The Commonwealth is not opposed to any major credit card which accommodates the programs described or needed.
/ GENERAL / Is it the Commonwealth’s expectation that all political subdivisions that qualify for an incentive (regardless of spend volume) will receive an individual rebate, or is the entire rebate aggregated to the Commonwealth? / All political subdivisions [Universities, COSTARS, etc] using the contract(s) should receive their portion of the rebates, based on any rebate schedule accepted, as part of the Contract(s).
/ GENERAL / What are the Commonwealth’s card counts for the Corporate Travel and Purchasing Card Programs? / Refer to Section IV-1-C for Corporate Card counts and Section IV-1-D for Purchasing Card counts.
/ GENERAL / Is the Commonwealth’s preference for a rebate to be paid annually or quarterly? / Quarterly for Lot 1.
Annually for Lot 2.
/ Pg. 1
Section I-6 – No Fee Contract Clause / Regarding the “No Fee Contract Clause”, would a late fee or any such fee on the individual liability and billed corporate card be considered a fee to the Commonwealth? / NO. If a Commonwealth employee is not paying their Corporate Card account, or is paying late, late fees/interest charges may be applied. If this is a constant issue, the awarded Offeror should contact appropriate Contract Administrators to dually deal with any problems.
/ Pg. 3
Section I-13
Proposals / What type of information would we be allowed to redact from one of our electronic proposal submissions? For example, would you allow redaction of references, signatures, contact information and personnel resumes? / Refer to V.50 CONTRACT-052.1 Right to Know Law (Feb 2010)
/ Pg. 3
Section I-13
Proposals / What information should be redacted? / Trade Secret or Confidential Proprietary Information; items of that nature.
/ Pg. 3
Section I-13
Proposals / The RFP states to submit two electronic copies. Does this mean two electronic copies of the technical proposal, the cost proposal and the disadvantaged business submittal for a total of six electronic copies? / No. Offerors should submit two complete and exact copies of the entire proposal (Technical, Cost and Disadvantage Business Submittals, along with all requested documents). One of the two above mentioned electronic copies should be redacted and marked as such.
/ Pg. 4
Section 1-14 – Disadvantaged Business Information / The Commonwealth is encouraging participation by Disadvantaged Business, and has made this 20% of the weight of the evaluation. Can this requirement be removed, or the weight of the evaluation of this proposal is reduced. This RFP is seeking credit card payment solutions to enable and fund the Commonwealth’s purchases for a variety of goods and services. Our credit payment tools essentially enable the Commonwealth to purchase goods at small disadvantaged business, and as such should satisfy the Commonwealth’s policies to support those businesses. As a credit card issuer, based on your purchases, we can provide minority and small business reporting that will quantify and track the Commonwealth’s spend with these types of businesses. / This program is to maximize the utilization of disadvantaged businesses in the performance of Commonwealth contracts and therefore this requirement will not be removed nor will the 20% weight be reduced.
/ Pg. 4
Section 1-14 – Disadvantaged Business Information / If we are not a disadvantaged business and are not proposing to contract with one for this project, do we need to respond to the disadvantaged business section? / Yes. If you are not participating, you must still provide your response in a separately sealed envelope labeled “disadvantaged business submittal” only.
/ Pg. 5
Section 1-15 – Information Concerning Small Businesses in Enterprise Zones / The Commonwealth is encouraging participation by small businesses, whose primary or headquarters facility is physically located in areas the Commonwealth has identified as Designated Enterprise Zones. Will the Commonwealth also consider providing additional evaluation points for businesses with headquarters and employees located in the State of Pennsylvania that do not quality as small business / No
/ Pg 6
Section I-19 Oral Presentations / The RFP references a 2.5 hour time limit for presentations. Is this 2.5 hours per Lot? Assuming an Offeror responds to Lot 1 and Lot II and is selected to present for both, would the presenter receive a total of 5 hours. / Yes. The 2.5 hour presentation slot is per Lot.
/ Pg. 11
Section I-33
Information Technology Bulletins / The RFP states: “All proposals must be submitted on the basis that all ITBs are applicable to this procurement. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to read and be familiar with the ITBs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Offeror believes that any ITB is not applicable to this procurement, it must list all such ITBs in its technical submittal, and explain why it believes the ITB is not applicable. The Issuing Office may, in its sole discretion, accept or reject any request that an ITB not be considered to be applicable to the procurement. The Offerors failure to list an ITB will result in its waiving its right to do so later, unless the Issuing Office, in its sole discretion, determines that it would be in the best interest of the Commonwealth to waive the pertinent ITB.”
  1. Are there particular concerns related to the ITBs that the Commonwealth has that the respondent can address as they relate to the services requested under this RFP?
  1. The RFP indicates that a respondent must list all ITBs and reason(s) that it believes why the ITBs are not applicable in the technical submittal. May a respondent provide a blanket statement of inapplicability to cover all ITBs? Would doing so deem the response unresponsive?
  1. Will the Commonwealth provide clarification or guidance on how these would pertain to an organization outside of the Governor’s jurisdiction and/or outside the Commonwealth’s internal systems?
/
  1. It is not possible for the Commonwealth to determine what concerns it might have related to Offeror’s solution, without a detailed explanation as to how Offeror’s solution works (which is provided in the technical submittal). The proposal must, therefore, be submitted on the assumption that all ITB’s apply. The Offeror is provided with the opportunity to indicate which ITB’s it believes are not applicable. Only after the Commonwealth receives the proposal will it be able to analyze the solution and determine whether it agrees that some ITBs are not applicable.
  1. Although it might be acceptable for the Offeror to provide a blanket statement, it must be kept in mind that the Offeror must provide the reasons why it believes that ITBs are not applicable. It would not be possible for the Commonwealth to analyze an ITB to see if it applies without the reasons why the Offeror believes that the ITBs are not applicable to its technical submittal. It also should be kept in mind that the Offeror understands that it is submitting its proposal on the basis that all ITBs do apply. A blanket response would not render the response unresponsive, i.e. the proposal would not be rejected on that basis.
  1. All ITBs are presumed to apply to the procurement. It is up to the Offeror to analyze the ITBs and to indicate which it believes are not applicable to the procurement.

/ Pg. 11
Section I-34 COSTARS Program / Is the administrative fee an annual fee for each contract year, or just for the first year of the new contract?
Are the fees assessed regardless of the annual spend or number of COSTARS participating in the program?
If an Offeror were to be awarded both Lots, is this fee to be paid twice or would it be treated as one contract?
Could the Commonwealth provide historical usage for COSTARS members participating in Lots 1 and 2? / It is an annual fee for each contract year.
Yes.
If both Lots are awarded to the same Offeror, it will be one contract and treated as such.
Currently only two COSTAR members - Delaware River Port Authority, Port Authority Transit and are utilizing the cards in Lot 1. Current volume is just over $1 million.
For Lot 2, please refer to Part IV, Work Statement, page #30 of the RFP.
/ Pg. 11
Section I-34 COSTARS Program / RFP states: “Those Contractors electing to permit COSTARS Members to procure from this Contract shall pay the Required Administrative Fee applicable to the Contractor’s classification.”
Is the fee paid one time each year ($500 or $1,500) regardless of the number of Members who use the contract or is the fee paid for each COSTAR Member who elects to buy the from the Contract? / The fee is payable at the beginning of each Contract year and upon any Contract renewal thereafter regardless of the number of members that may choose to purchase from the Contract.
/ Pg. 11
Section I-34 COSTARS Program / How many COSTARS members are currently participating in the COSTARS Purchasing Card contract? / Two- Delaware River Port Authority, Port Authority Transit.
The Department of General Services (DGS) requires eligible entities to register as COSTARS Members, and only those entities registered with DGS may purchase from contracts. However, member participating in any COSTARS purchasing is completely voluntary. There are more than 7,500 registered COSTARS Members. As there is no requirement for COSTARS Members to purchase from this Contract, the Commonwealth does not guarantee volume of contract sales. It is the sole responsibility of the Contractor to promote their offered products and services to registered COSTARS Members.
/ Pg. 11
Section I-34 COSTARS Program / What is the current total annual spend for COSTARS members participating in this contract? / For Lot #1: Just over $1 million
For Lot #2: Refer to the RFP, Part IV Work Statement, Page #30, regarding estimated annual spend as reported to the Commonwealth by current Contractors. The PA Turnpike, Universities, and Local Governments are COSTARS entities.
/ Pg. 19
Section II-5
Personnel / In some instances, an individual many not be assigned to the project until contract award. In those instances, is it acceptable to provide a job description of the assigned role in the RFP response and the individual information upon contract award? / You may do this; however, please note that individual experience is important to the Commonwealth and scores may reflect the lack of an individual.
/ Pg. 19
Section II-7
Financial Capability / Please confirm links and/or CD-ROMs for each of the financial capability requirements are acceptable rather than paper copies in order to conserve paper since these are large reports. / Refer to Part II-7. Financial Capability. “If your company is a publicly traded company, please provide a link to your financial records on your company website;”
/ Pg. 19
Section II-8
Objections and Additions to Standard Contract Terms and Conditions / Please verify it would be acceptable for the parties’ final contract to incorporate as individual exhibits the following:
The Provider’s standard Commercial Card Master Agreement, which contains terms and conditions relating to Card services, and
The provider’s standard Fleet Agreement, which contains terms and conditions relating to the Fleet services. / Section II-8 of the RFP allows an Offeror to indicate which additional terms and conditions it would like to add to the standard terms and conditions. The Commonwealth in its sole discretion may accept or reject the requested changes to the standard terms and conditions.
  1. A
/ Pg. 19
Section II-8
Objections and Additions to Standard Contract Terms and Conditions / We note that the RFP states that the proposal response cannot be conditioned upon negotiation of terms. However, given the statement in the RFP which instructs Offerors to identify the terms and conditions it would like to modify or add, we would like to confirm whether, upon award, the Commonwealth is in fact willing to discuss proposed changes and additions to terms and conditions for inclusion in the resulting contract? / During contract negotiations the Commonwealth will consider proposed changes and additions to the contract terms and conditions that have been submitted pursuant to Section II-8 of the RFP. However, it is in the Commonwealth’s sole discretion to accept or reject any proposed changes and additions to the contract terms and conditions.
/ Pg. 20
Section II-9
Disadvantaged Business Submittal / How will Disadvantaged Business (DB) submittals be scored for this no cost contract? / The Commonwealth of PA has determined for this engagement that Offerors should represent their disadvantaged business commitments as a dollar figure instead of a percentage. The dollar figure must represent each individual lot and include all categories under each lot. In addition, all dollar commitments must be maintained regardless of fluctuations in the interchange fees.
/ Pg. 24
Section II-10
Cost Submittal / The Commonwealth states “The Offeror shall propose all financial incentives which can be a direct, measurable benefit which may be standard or non-standard. Some areas to consider are volume, signing bonuses, and per-active-card implementation cost or discount locations.”
When submitting a bid that provides an additional rebate on fuel purchased at certain locations and does not conform to the Lot 2-fleet Card Program Cost/Rebate Submittal, can we present this additional rebate as part of the attachment that explains how the incentives are calculated? If not, how would the Commonwealth prefer we submit additional rebates? / The Commonwealth is very interested in seeing any additional incentives offered. These should be listed in the “Incentive” portion of the Cost: Rebate/Incentive Sheets; however, scoring will be based on the rebate schedule offered.
LOT 2 Specific: We are not opposed to the Offeror partnering with specific locations in order to provide a greater discount; however, we must be able to purchase fuel at all locations with few exceptions.
/ Pg. 24
Section II-10
Cost Submittal / Can the Offerors provide an alternative pricing proposal in addition to completing the spreadsheets included by the Commonwealth? / No, the Commonwealth will not accept an alternative pricing proposal.
/ Pg. 33
Section IV.1.C
Corporate Card Program / What is the Commonwealth’s billing preference for the Corporate Card program? Would a monthly bill with 25 day payment options satisfy any requirement? / Yes
/ Pg. 33
Section IV.1.C
Corporate Card Program / Is your Corporate Travel Card individual liability?
Is it central pay or individual pay? / It is individual liability.
It is individual pay.
/ Pg. 33
Section IV-1.C
Corporate Card Program / The RFP states: “The Commonwealth has implement(ed) Management Directive 230.10, Section 6.3 to withhold unpaid delinquent balances with the current contractor for management level employees only.” Can the Commonwealth provide an estimate of the number of the 20,000 travel cards that are issued to these employees and an estimated percentage of the $12,000,000 in spend they represent? / No. This information is currently not available.
/ Pg. 36
Section IV.1.E
Fleet Card / The RFP states “Of the Commonwealth accounts alone (not including Universities and Local Government entities), approximately 12,000,000 gallons of fuel is purchased.” Does the state have a sense for the gallon and/or card counts for the Universities and Local Government entities that could potentially use this contract?
Appendix O shows more than 17.7 million gallons for 1020-2011. Does this volume difference represent Universities and Local Governments? / Appendixes N & O represent spend for all accounts under this contract.
/ Pg. 37
Section IV-2
Requirements / Should responses to this section be submitted as part of our technical proposal? / Yes.
/ Pg. 37
Section IV.1.F
Other Programs of Interest / Does the Commonwealth have a centralized Accounts Payable system?
Does the Commonwealth envision a similar format that would allow COSTAR members to participate in this functionality? / Yes.
No.
/ Pg. 39
Section IV.G
Communication / Would the prior approval be for all communication with the Commonwealth employees after the contract award?
What is the turnaround time for approval of communication to the agencies? / The awarded Offeror would be provided contacts during the implementation/award period within:
  • Office of Budget, BFM Management for Lot 1
  • Department of General Services, BVM for Lot 2 [DOT, PTC, etc. will also be given]
  • Department of General Services, Procurement for overall contract administration
Those individuals will be your first contact for any issues. If further communication is needed beyond those individuals, it will be coordinated through them.
The turnaround time will depend on the type of communication needed; however, all issues will be handled in a timely manner.
/ Pg. 40
Section IV. Lot 1 Specific Requirements / The RFP states that the Commonwealth requires Employee Corporate Cards to be issued to Commonwealth employees without a prior credit approval and without a credit check when requested through approved Commonwealth channels.
Is there a maximum credit limit currently used by the Commonwealth for Corporate Cards; if so is it similar to the $5,000 used for Purchasing Cards?
If there is currently no maximum and current individual credit lines exceed $5,000 a month, would the Commonwealth consider a credit check on only those individuals requesting a monthly line in excess of $5,000?