Request for Information Appraisal and Tax Billing Services Gwinnett County, Georgia Department of Tax Assessors and Office of the Tax Commissioner 1
Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1. Purpose 2. Acknowledgement 3. Process 4. Rules 5. Questions 2. Company Overview 3. Offering 1. Products/Services 2. Training 3. Documentation 4. Support 4. Approach 1. Method 2. Timeframes 3. Pricing 5. Other 1. Confidentiality 2. Documentation 3. Presentation 2
1. Introduction 1. Purpose Gwinnett County Tax Assessors (Department of Finance) and the Office of the Tax Commissioner are seeking information to identify potential appraisal and taxing systems that are capable of providing services to Gwinnett County. The information requested will enable the offices to evaluate the market place. The Gwinnett County Tax Assessor s Office responsibilities are to discover, list, value, and maintain countywide uniformity of property within the confines of Gwinnett County, insuring that state laws and regulations are adhered to; to apply and oversee the appeal process as provided by state law; and to compile the annual Property Tax Digest for submission to the State Department of Revenue. The Constitutional Office of the Tax Commissioner is responsible for every phase of collecting property taxes, from processing property homestead exemptions through preparation of the digest, billing, accounting, and disbursements. These collections are disbursed to state, county, school and city governing authorities, as well as to Community Improvement Districts. The Tax Commissioner enforces all regulations mandated by the State. Each year, typically, each office values, bills and collects roughly 300,000 real property, personal property, public utility and mobile home tax parcels. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, Gwinnett County (GC) is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that Gwinnett County will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. 2. Acknowledgement Please acknowledge that you have received this email. 3. Process The information gathering process will be undertaken as follows. This RFI will be released to 3
potential service providers. Suppliers must acknowledge receipt of the documentation and prepare a formal supplier response to be sent to the delegated contact within the project team. The project team will then review the supplier response and may coordinate a presentation from the provider to the GC project team. If Gwinnett County chooses to proceed beyond the Request for Information, a formal RFP will be issued. 4. Rules The supplier response remains valid during all remaining phases of this RFI process provided you as a Vendor follow the basic rules below; 1. The supplier response must be accurate at the time of print and remain valid for the remainder of the process 2. The supplier must keep Gwinnett County information confidential at all times. 3. All communication regarding this RFI must be directed only through the designated contact, do not speak directly to other County employees regarding the content of this RFI without express permission from the designated contact. 4. Response should be electronic, in unprotected Word and Excel file format. (Brochures, literature, other documentation may be included in Adobe PDF.) 5. Questions Any questions regarding the process or content of this document shall be sent via email to Chris Duncan and the clarification / responses will be sent via email to all parties who have acknowledged receipt of this Request for Information. 4
2. Company Overview Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the company. The following types of information will be helpful to the project team: 1. Vision, objectives 2. Size, location 3. Number of years in operation 4. Number of Public Sector customers utilizing similar services with similar volumes 5. General Products offered that are of interest to Public Sector government agencies 3. Offering 1. Products/Services Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the products offered by the company. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. Product name 2. Product description 3. Product activities (if a service product) 4. Product purpose (i.e. its use) 5. Product capabilities 6. Product quality The Services provided today are referenced below, and may be trademarked names; we are seeking a functional service equivalence; 1. Integrated solution Assessment CAMA, Tax Billing/Collections, Accounting, Web Hosting 2. Client server based 3. Microsoft servers, SQL Server DB 4. Meet all State of Georgia and local government requirements for valuation, exemptions, taxing, accounting, distribution and reporting 5. Valuation, Costing Methods (Income, Cost, Trend, Market Models, Comps) Commercial, Residential, and Personal Property 6. Automation of delinquency, interest, fee and penalty calculations 7. Comparable data for sales integrate with GIS 8. Workflows ability to design custom workflows (permits, exemptions, appeals) 9. Forms ability to create and edit forms and add them to user interface (Property Record Card, homestead form, income affidavit) 10. Interface Clerk of Court (PT61, sales/transfer data), Permits, Appeals and Returns, SAPECC 6 (GL interface, data warehouse), ArcGIS 10, Accela 9.2, FileNet XT 5.2, Fairfax 5.0 5
11. Web hosting search, pay online, schedule payments, e-billing, apply for homestead exemptions, file returns and appeals, GIS, public access 12. Schedule mass processes during business hours with minimal effect on system response time (extracts, payment imports, daily reporting, land value tables) (Appendix A Specific questions related to services. Complete/return) 2. Training Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the training offered by the supplier. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. Products for which training is typically offered 2. Methods of training available (e.g. one-to-one, classroom, train-thetrainer, online-on-demand) 3. Documentation Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the documentation offered by the supplier. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. Products for which documentation is available 2. Types of documents available 3. Purpose of each document available 4. Support Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the support offered by the supplier. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. Products for which support is available 2. Types of support offered (define levels) 3. Industry standard hours 4. Approach Outline the proposed implementation approach. This includes the methods of deploying the products listed above as well as the timeframes for delivery. Note: This information is requested at a summary level only. 1. Method Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the delivery method to be taken by the supplier. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. The method for transition of delivery of the products offered from current vendor to the new provider. How many average site visits are normal to accomplish the transition? 2. The activities involved with training, documentation and support 3. The activities involved with undertaking other project deliverables 6
2. Timeframes Provide the project team with a generic understanding of the timeframes offered by the supplier for the delivery of the products. The following types of information may be helpful: 1. Average lead times on sourcing each product 2. Average length of time required to deliver each product (from order request to order completion) 3. Pricing Pricing information will be requested when an RFP is issued for these services. If you have any specific comments or suggestions on how best this information should be provided/presented to Gwinnett County, please include feedback in your response to this RFI. 5. Other 1. Confidentiality 1. Individuals, firms and businesses responding to this Request For Information (RFI) may not initiate or continue any verbal or written communications regarding the RFI with any County officer, elected official, employee or other County representative other than the Purchasing Associate named in the RFI between the date of the issuance of the request for information and a future (to be determined) decision date, when and if to move forward, with this project by Gwinnett County. The Purchasing Director will review violations. If determined that such communication has compromised the competitive process, any future offer submitted by the individual, firm or business may be disqualified from consideration for award. Note: If the supplier does not agree with the respective clauses, then explicitly state it within the response. 2. Documentation Service Provider may include in Adobe PDF format other documentation such as; 1. Product specifications or marketing brochures 2. Web site addresses for product listings 3. Presentation All vendors replying to this request for information may be asked to present information about your company and allow for a brief question and answer period. Our preference is for you to present live in a conference room at our Lawrenceville GA facility. 1. Present your specific response/tables 2. Product specifications or marketing brochures 3. Web site addresses for product listings 4. Proprietary or Confidential information should not be provided as these presentations may be subject to Gwinnett County open records requirements. 7
Appendix A: Service and technical questions Service/Technical Question Answer/Describe Largest 5 installations (number of parcels) Most recent installation Number of product versions currently supported Current platform Integrated system, single/shared database - describe Valuation model used Cashiering System - do you have the ability to backdate transactions Cashiering System - are multiple tender types accepted Corrections to Digest - do you have an automated or batch process Describe Security protocol Remote access options for appraisers