REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: MICHAEL A. LIMA, Director/Controller Finance Department BY: BRIAN REAMS, Revenue Supervisor Finance Department/Utility Billing & Collection SUBJECT ..Title Actions relating to an agreement for automated utility bill payments: 1.Approve a three-year Professional Services Agreement with First Mobile Trust DBA First Billing Services in the amount of $478,800 for electronic bill presentment and payment services provided to all City of Fresno utility customers, 2.Affirm the City Manager's determination that the provider is uniquely qualified, and 3.Authorize the Controller or designee to sign the agreement on behalf of the City. ..Body RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Council approve a three-year contract with First Mobile Trust, LLC dba First Billing Services (First Billing Services) for electronic bill presentment and payment Services in the total amount of $478,800, affirm the City Manager's determination that the provider is uniquely qualified, and authorize the Controller or designee to sign the agreement on behalf of the City. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City's Utilities Billing and Collections Division (UB&C) provides electronic billing presentment and payment (EBPP) options to its 140,000 utility customers through a contract with First Billing Services. Because of the variety of services that they provide and the business relationships they have with some of the City's other financial support providers, staff recommended that First Billing Services be designated as a "uniquely qualified" provider of these services. The City Manager concurred with this recommendation. Upon receiving this designation, staff entered into negotiations with First Billing Services on a new contract. Under the recommended contract, First Billing Services will continue to offer these billing options over the next three years for a monthly fee of $13,300. The total annual cost of $159,600 will not change during the contract's term. BACKGROUND In response to Council requests for the City 140,000 utilities customers to have access to features such as automatic reoccurring monthly payments, e-mail delivered electronic statements, online billing transaction histories, and prior period billing statements available in pdf format, UB&C began exploring vendors who could provide these services. It was found that First Billing Services provided all the EBPP services that the Council wished to provide to the City's utilities customers. In addition to being able to provide these services, First Billing Services had (and continues to have) an exclusive business relationship with Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., the City's credit card and electronic payment transaction processor. First Billing Services also had a preferred vendor relationship with SunGard/Central Square, UB&C's Customer Information Software. Because of these business relationships and the variety of services they could provide, First Billing Services was determined to be uniquely qualified to provide EBPP services. UB&C received Council approval for a contact with First Billing Services and began offering the services identified shortly thereafter. Acceptance of these services by the customers has grown over the years. Today, approximately 25,000 City utility customers use one or more of these EBPP services each month. As the expiration date of the original contract approached, UB&C staff began exploring options for offering EBPP services. After due diligence was conducted, the staff came to the conclusion that all of the qualities which made First Billing Services "uniquely qualified" for the original contract were still in place. Staff prepared a recommendation to the City Manager that First Billing Services again be designated as "uniquely qualified", which was approved. Staff then entered into negotiation with First Billing Services on a new contract. The new agreement the parties reached will allow the City for the next three years to provide the same utility billing and payment services that it has offered for the past three years. The proposed contract retains the original contract's annual price of $159,600 ($478,800 over the life of the contract). This fee is fixed for the term of the agreement. UB&C will be transitioning to the Tyler Business Solutions software platform for utility billing within the next two years. Once this conversion is completed, UB&C will consider whether standard EBPP solutions available through the new system will be sufficient to continue utilizing First Billing Services for these services. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, the award of this contract does not qualify as a project as defined by CEQA. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local Preference was not implemented because First Billing Services is uniquely qualified. FISCAL IMPACT There is no direct impact to the General Fund by approving this contract. The contract will cost the same monthly charge of $13,300/month ($159,600 annually) as the previous contract with First Billing Services. This annual cost, which is paid by utilities user fees, is included in the Fiscal Year 2022 Adopted Budget. The annual cost will remain fixed through the term of the contract. Failure to extend the contract would eliminate these billing and payment options which 25,000 City utilities customers utilize each month and have come to expect. Attachments: Uniquely Qualified Determination Memo Agreement