Card Acceptance Services

Trade Agreement: NONE
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Attachment: None
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Best Overall  Proposal
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 
Solicitation no.: EN891-121555/B



REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

CARD ACCEPTANCE SERVICES 
(Electronic Draft Capture Service)


SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

The Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada
(PWGSC) requires services for all federal departments across
Canada including the acceptance, processing and settlement of
Visa, MasterCard, Interac and Interac Online transactions and
the acceptance of AMEX cards payable to the Receiver General for
Canada.

These services will be required for a period of five (5) years
commencing from date of Contract with an irrevocable option on
the part of Canada to extend the period of any resulting
Contract by up to two (2) additional one (1) year periods and
one (1) additional one (1) year transition period.

There is a security requirement associated with this
requirement. For additional information, consult Part 3, Bid
Preparation Instructions, Part 4, Evaluation Procedures and
Basis of Selection, Part 6, Security and Privacy Requirements,
Financial and Other Requirements, Part 7, Resulting Contract
Clauses, Annex C, Security and Privacy and Annex D, Security
Requirements Checklist and its associated attachments.

Bidders should consult the document "Security Requirements for
PWGSC Bid Solicitations - Instructions for Bidders"
(http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/app-acq/lc-pl/lc-pl-eng.html) on
the Departmental Standard Procurement Documents Web site.

Bidders are hereby informed that the amount of time to obtain
required security clearance levels may be lengthy and is
contingent upon the specific clearance levels required. Bidders
are solely responsible for obtaining such clearances.

Bidders who currently do not meet the facility security
clearance requirements and (or) personnel security clearance are
advised to initiate the security clearance process immediately
by requesting sponsorship from the Contracting Authority. 

The following is an overview of the services required:

accept, process and settle Visa, MasterCard, (and other brands
if requested) and Debit Card (Interac, Interac Online, and other
brands if requested) transactions payable to the Receiver
General for Canada, including sales, authorizations, and refunds;
accept and process AMEX transactions payable to the Receiver
General for Canada, including sales, authorizations, and refunds;
ensure ease of transition from the previous and to any
subsequent card acceptance service provider with no break in
service. The phase-in will be within eighteen (18) months from
the date of Contract issuance, unless otherwise agreed by Canada
and the phase-out will not exceed twelve (12) months;
for the implementation phase, have a project management approach
by providing within one week of contract award a team leader
and, within three (3) weeks of Contract award, a project plan
including a comprehensive work breakdown structure, a project
schedule, level of required effort and resources, project risk
tracking and weekly progress reports identifying any issues
together with corrective actions;
provide ongoing account management including the maintenance of
an issue log and monthly review sessions with the project
authority throughout the term of the Contract;
provide services to departmental offices including point-of-sale
(POS) workstations and/or POS software rental, installation
advice, on-site networking, inspection and installation, and
help desk support;
open an Account at an LVTS-participating Financial Institution
and, each banking day, post a total of all net payments per
merchant per card type;
provide daily departmental office, departmental headquarters and
Receiver General for Canada access to transaction reporting as
well as daily electronic bank statement reporting to the RG;
meet specified service levels including planned outages,
availability, help desk response, hardware/software setups or
replacement;
have a formal contingency and disaster recovery plan;
provide services, as required, in both official languages of
Canada; 
optionally provide innovative approaches to technologies and
services throughout the Contract term to improve customer
service and/or decrease costs to Canada;
upon the Receiver General's request, interface with and settle
to another account used by the Receiver General (rather than
post the funds to the Account);
provide online card acceptance services  solution (the Receiver
General Buy Button (RGBB) Solution); 
provide "industry standard" levels of data and processing
security and integrity of debit and credit card processing,
including complying with security and privacy requirements as
may be specified from time-to-time by the financial services
industry and by the card associations. This includes, but is not
limited to Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards
(DSS). 
provide system security procedures and measures in accordance
with security requirements.


BIDDERS CONFERENCE (OPTIONAL)

Upon request and depending on potential bidders' interest, a
bidders' conference may be held in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Any
bidders' conference request must be submitted in writing to the
Contracting Authority as soon as possible and no later than ten
(10) calendar days after the issuance of the solicitation.
Bidders' conference request received after that time may not be
considered.


ENQUIRIES REGARDING THIS RFP REQUIREMENT ARE TO BE SUBMITTED TO
THE FOLLOWING PWGSC CONTRACTING OFFICER:

Ingrid Harrington
Contracting Authority
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Acquisitions Branch
Professional Services Procurement Directorate
Place du Portage, Phase III, 10C1, 11 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Québec, K1A 0S5
Telephone: 819-956-3201
Facsimile: 819-956-2675
E-mail address: ingrid.harrington@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any
procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.