ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contract between the City of Houston and COLUMBIA ULTIMATE, INC dba REVQ for professional services and a Debt Management Solution for the Municipal Courts Department; and providing a maximum contract amount - $249,300.00 - Municipal Court Technology Fund

Request For Proposal for S51-T25246: Approve an Ordinance Awarding a Contract to Columbia Ultimate, Inc. d/b/a RevQ in an amount not exceed $249,300.00 for Consulting Services for the installation of a Debt Management Software Solution for the Municipal Courts Department.

Specific Explanation:

The Director and Presiding Judge of the Houston Municipal Courts Department (MCD) and the City Purchasing Agent recommend that City Council approve an ordinance awarding a three-year contract, with two one-year options, to Columbia Ultimate, Inc. d/b/a RevQ in an amount not to exceed $249,300.00 for the purchase and installation of a debt management software solution for the Municipal Courts Department. The City Purchasing Agent and/or the Director and Presiding Judge of the Municipal Courts Department may terminate this contract at any time upon 30-days written notice to the contractor.

The scope of work requires the contractor to provide all deliverables, labor, material, and supervision required to implement the Revenue Results software solution. The software solution is designed to track, prioritize, distribute, score and evaluate delinquent debt collections of varying life-cycles for both in-house collection agents and outside vendors’ recovery efforts in concert with the Courts System Management and Resource Technology (CSMART). In addition, the application is designed to equitably divide cases among the outside vendors participating in the champion-challenger environment.

The software solution will interface on a real-time/near real-time basis with CSMART to provide management of in-house debt collection efforts on cases delinquent Day 1 through Day 90 and provide:

• Configurable cost workflows that are automated and based on MCD’s collection objectives;

• Prioritization and reporting cases based on propensity to pay;

• Exportable tracking and reporting tools that manage payment plans, records payment transactions and provides performance reporting for collection agents in real-time.

Also, the application will seamlessly interface with CSMART for outside agencies collections and identify cases delinquent from Day 91 and beyond and distribute these accounts to multiple vendors for continued debt-recovery efforts. Additionally, the application shall be capable of distributing collections inventory based on the Court’s requirements which includes, but are not limited to:

• Distributing cases to multiple vendors;

• Have the ability to perform even (or weighted) distribution;

• Have the ability to rescind, reinstate, and re-assign collection inventory;

• Have the ability to track vendor performance;

• Have the ability to modify the percentage and method of distribution of inventory based on vendor performance;
• Have the ability to determine the portal being used for payment and the date payment is made by defendant;
• Have the ability to link all cases related to a single defendant and assign them to the same vendor;
• Assign all cases/citations associated with a defendant to the same vendor;

• Standard and customizable (ad-hoc) vendor performance reporting.

This Request for Proposal (RFP) was advertised in accordance with the State of Texas bid laws, and as a result, one (1) proposal was received from Columbia Ultimate, Inc. d/b/a RevQ. The Evaluation Committee consisted of representatives from the Municipal Courts Department and Houston Information Technology Services. The Proposal was evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Responsiveness
• Technical Competence
    Qualifications and specialized experience of the Proposer     
    Qualifications and experience of proposed key personnel     
    Quality of proposed implementation plan
    Quality of proposed technical solution
• M/WBE Participation
• Financial Capability
• Price

Columbia Ultimate, Inc. d/b/a RevQ received an overall rating of Qualified, and met or exceeded the RFP requirements due to their experience in collection application development within governmental entities.

M/WBE Subcontracting:
This RFP was issued with an 11% goal for MWBE participation. Columbia Ultimate, Inc. d/b/a RevQ has designated the below-named company as its certified M/WBE subcontractor:

The Office of Business Opportunity will monitor this contract.

Pay or Play Program:
The proposed contract requires compliance with the City’s ‘Pay or Play’ ordinance regarding health benefits for employees of City contractors. In this case, the contractor provides health benefits to eligible employees in compliance with City policy.

Hire Houston First:
The proposed contract requires compliance with the City’s “Hire Houston First” ordinance that promotes economic opportunity for Houston businesses while supporting job creation. In this case, the proposed contractor does not meet the requirements of Hire Houston First, and no Hire Houston First firms were within three percent.

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Calvin D. Wells, City Purchasing Agent                            Department Approval Authority Signature
Finance/Strategic Procurement Division