November 10, 2021

Document Processing Services on an Annual Contract Addendum #1

RP039-21 This Addendum is made part of the Proposal Documents of the above noted solicitation. Please make the following revisions to the above listed solicitation. Q1. Is Gwinnett County DWR interested in looking at processing this service in-house rather than

continue outsourcing? A1. Gwinnett County DWR has no interest in bringing this work in house given the scope and overall

complexity of the requested service. Q2. Who is the current vendor providing these services and at what cost(s) is Gwinnett County

currently paying for these services, not including postage? A2. Pinnacle Data Systems. For paper billing, e-billing, postcards, the monthly Gwinnett Connection

newsletter, an informational onsert, a new customer onsert, indexing & storage, we pay around $35,000 per month.

Q3. References: are you limiting the references to entities that mail water/utility bills or can they be

other types of documents meeting that quantity? A3. References within the utility industry are preferable. Our utility billing program uses multiple

dynamic fields and other elements mapped to a master data file in order to populate individual billing statements. If a reference in another industry is provided, the documents they generate must be of a similar complexity, and not use mostly static content.

Q4. When is the County looking to have their first live mailing with the selected vendor? A4. March 18 is the new start date; March 18 would be the first live mailing. Q5. Please confirm this contract would include the emailing of bills (ebill) along with e-presentment

of the bills, to be hosted by the vendor. A5. Correct Q6. Is the County looking for archival of bills as well? If so, for what period of time (12, 18, 24 months,

etc). A6. Yes, this is mandatory due to our current system set up. Please provide pricing for a minimum of

18 months. Q7. Is the County wanting to approve proofs prior to each mailing on a daily basis? A7. Preferably yes. Our current vendor provides a portal to review daily electronic jobs so we may pull

incorrect bills prior to releasing for production. Any changes to onserts, bill formatting, or monthly newsletters must be reviewed and approved by Gwinnett County prior to production release.

Q8. Is it mandatory for the provider to be PCI compliant? This is typically seen in electronic bill

payment providers.

RP015-21 Addendum #1 Page 2 A8. Daily data files transmitted via the sFTP and all e-bills must be encrypted to protect our

customer’s data. Q9. How are your bills printed today? Is everything printed on blank roll stock via a full color inkjet

printer? Please confirm no preprinted stock is required. A9. Ink jet printing. We prefer the flexibility and cost savings of full color inkjet printers over pre-

printed stock. Q10. Is the County open to fold and tab postcards for the Standard Postcard mailings? A10. Due to privacy concerns around content, our current postcards are pressure sealed on one side.

The County wishes to continue a similar format as this also allows us to enjoy cost savings on postage. However, if there is no price differential between these two mailing options, we can consider fold and tab.

Q11. Public Reports, Newsletters, Onserts – would these be included in the daily bill print package? A11. Yes, currently each bill is stuffed with 1-2 onserts and the monthly Gwinnett Connection. Some

public reports are published on an annual basis and are included as well at that time. Q12. Service Provider Questionnaire – where is this located? A12. Section XIII, page 9. However, I have reformatted it into the attached table format. Q13. Section IV. point E. mentions a requirement for us to fill out a Service Provider Questionnaire, but

we don’t find a Questionnaire with this title or questions other than those specified in sections XII and XIII. Is there an additional document with this title, and can we have a copy?

A13. Section XIII, page 9. However, I have reformatted it into the attached table format. Q14. Section XI. Point E. refers to magnets being included with customer informational packets. Will

Gwinnett County be providing special items like magnets? A14. Yes, the County would provide any promotional stuffers. Q15. Who is your current service provider for print and mail, and are you able to provide us with the

current pricing schedule? A15. Pinnacle Data Services. Note attached Tabulation for current pricing. Q16. Can you give us an idea of your satisfaction level with your current provider? Is there anything you

are looking for that they do not currently provide to you; or are there any problem areas you are wanting to solve?

A16. They have done a satisfactory job on daily bill print services and offered us new technologies we did not have with our previous vendor; however, like many other companies, service levels were recently impacted due to staffing issues as well as a location closure following company buyout. They consistently have struggled with programming requests and execution of special, time-sensitive mailings. Communication has been challenging at times.

Q17. Physical samples of your current envelopes are available to view in your offices. Will you give us

an idea of their specifications – window locations, window sizes, any other specifications you want repeated with a future provider?

A17. Please see attachment.

RP015-21 Addendum #1 Page 3 Q18. If the provider offers other services, such as online payments and lockbox, can information

regarding them be included in the proposal? A18. Alternate services can be mentioned in the firm’s experience section of the questionnaire;

however, keep in mind that services outside of the scope of bill print would be covered under a separate RFP.

Q19. In Section XIII of the Gwinnett Water Print & Mail RFP, Question 37 asks us to include a color

sample of the Gwinnett County logo. Please send me the artwork and specifications for the logo and we’ll be glad to print samples for you.

A19. Note Section VIII.A for the link. You can also click here: Brand Box Gwinnett (canto.com)

This addendum should be acknowledged on page 26 of the bid document.

Shelley McWhorter, CPPB Purchasing Associate III Attachments: Reformatted Questionnaire

Current Pricing, RP030-19 Tabulation Envelope sample

RP030-19 QUESTIONNAIRE

Company Name

This questionnaire should be identified in the submittal as Tab D; in your proposal, state question and then answer.

1. Service Provider's Key Gwinnett County Contact Person:

Phone #:

Email Address:

2. Emergency Contact info:

3. Service Provider’s Senior Manager for Gwinnett County:

Phone #:

Email Address:

Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources must be notified if any of the above names and/or information changes during the contract period. 4. State the average length of service of your company’s technical support staff.

5. State the number of development/programming staff currently working for your company.

6. Does service provider support electronic data transmission with encryption via sFTP or Webservice?

7. What operating system does your system use?

8. What communication transmission capabilities does your system have (RDI, RJE, File Transfer, Internet, dial, etc.)?

9. Does your company’s software have built in recovery/restart print capabilities?

10. Does your company’s system have duplicate bill creation prevention? If so, describe.

11. Describe your company’s print quality control for printing production process. 12. Does your company have a disaster recovery or continuity of business plan? If so, please provide a copy with

this proposal. 13. Describe your company’s redundant service capabilities.

a) Are these services supported by company-owned facilities/operations or through sub-contracted or partnership services?

b) Provide the physical location of your company’s redundant operations. 14. Describe your company’s physical security program.

15. Is your software supported? a) Is your company’s software supported as part of an annual contract? b) Is your company’s software supported until end-of-life? c) Is your company’s software upgraded periodically?

16. Is your company’s hardware version supported? a) Is your company’s hardware supported as part of an annual contract? b) Is your company’s hardware supported until end-of-life? c) Is it upgraded periodically?

17. Please provide the monthly overall volume of bill processing transactions for your largest customer.

Example:

14. Describe your company’s physical security program. Answer/Response: Detail your company’s physical security program.

RP030-19 QUESTIONNAIRE

Company Name

18. Detail your firm’s experience, including the number of years your company has provided the types of products/services under consideration.

19. What key attributes, qualifications and skills does your company possess?

20. What is your company’s experience with water utility clients?

21. Why should your company be selected over your competitors?

22. Will a dedicated account manager and IT resource be assigned to this account?

23. Provide a relationship management and Information Technology team organizational chart, including roles and responsibilities.

24. Is your company experiencing staffing shortages in critical positions supporting the services described in this request for proposal?

25. What is your company’s vacancy rate?

26. What is your company’s turnover rate?

27. Describe the conversion plan for Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources. a) Include a weekly timetable for a realistic, smooth and successful transition. b) Provide a RACI for this transition.

28. What methods or tools does your company have in place to ensure Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources is optimizing costs on an ongoing basis consistent with industry standards?

29. What equipment does your company currently use for printing and distribution? Do you use advanced software to check address accuracy against the USPS files? If so, how are incorrect addresses relayed back to use?

30. Does your company have the ability to pull inaccurate paper bills and e-bills at our request?

31. What is your company’s guaranteed SLA response time for County-initiated changes or requests? Inquiries?

32. What are your company’s production SLA’s?

33. Confirm your company’s ability to provide historical bill presentment and pdf indexing and storage services for current and historical bills. Please describe your company’s technology.

34. How does your company prioritize customer jobs and requests? a) Where would Gwinnett County fall in this ranking? 35. Provide an example of the daily reporting that would be available to monitor Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources job completion?

36. What is your company’s typical production turnaround time (defined as day of receipt of artwork the day of production/mailing) for: a) Minor programming changes (Example: changing bill text) b) Onsert and newsletter replacement (monthly) c) Special (ad hoc) postcard campaigns d) Special (ad hoc) customer packets

37. Include a sample of the Gwinnett County logo prepared to the color formulation document.

38. Describe your company’s paperless email technology. a) Would emails be sent from your company domain and server or Gwinnett County’s domain and server?

39. Is your company able to conduct targeted communication campaigns where data file flags direct different onserts or special messaging to be included for different customer subsets?

40. Is there an existing or emerging plan for your company to relocate, consolidate, or sale?

41. Do you have a portal available for your customers to monitor job status, pull incorrect bills from production, and conduct other business relative to print jobs? Describe the available functionality.

RP030-19 Envelope Sample

RP030-19 Envelope Sample

*NOT TO SCALE