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Preparing Your Request For


Proposal (RFP)

Find the member service provider that best meets your needs and receive more competitive bids.
Items to Address in Your RFP
  1. Organization's Service & Functions
    • Types of services rendered and/or products offered
    • Profile of constituents served
    • Total number of constituents served (annually)
  2. Card Acceptance Objectives
    • Enhanced customer service
    • Cost savings
    • Labor savings
    • General need to modernize
    • Other
  3. Payment Systems & Methods Currently Offered
    • Current mix of cash, check, money order or other payment methods
    • Average transaction size by payment method
    • Current mix of face-to-face, kiosk, telephone and mail-in payments
    • Total dollars transacted and number of transactions per year, by product or service
    • Projected card volume over next three to five years
    • Any unique issues of concern relative to your operations
  4. Description of Current Payment Process
    • Payment process flow (i.e., describe how payment transactions occur)
    • Description of hardware and software supporting existing payment systems
    • Check acceptance procedures
    • Timing/frequency of cash and check deposits
    • Preference for integration of card receipt with product/service receipt
    • Preference for integrating credit acceptance hardware/software with existing systems, if any
  5. Modes & Methods of Payment
    • Current speed of completing cash and check transactions
    • Speed of card transaction desired
  6. Reimbursement, Clearing, & Settlement
    • Preference for fee billing method (invoicing, direct or net settlement)
    • Frequency of billing (daily, weekly, monthly)
    • Speed of reimbursement and mode preferred (i.e. automated clearinghouse or bankwire)
  7. MIS/Reporting
    • Timeliness requirements for reporting transaction volumes, dollar volume, deposits, fees, and chargebacks
    • Customized reporting needs, if any
Tips on RFP Preparation
  1. If you are unsure what to request for any of the items listed above, you may want to communicate your objectives and constraints to prospective acquirers, and let them provide a solution.
  2. If your organization is just beginning to understand the card acceptance process, you may want to issue an RFI (Request for Information) prior to developing the actual RFP. The RFI gives your organization an opportunity to ask basic questions and to identify the information you willl ultimately need to request in the RFP. Additionally, the RFI avoids the issuing of an inadequate or incomplete RFP, to which acquirers may find it difficult to respond.
  3. Remember, the better the RFP is constructed, and the better the information requested, the greater the number of meaningful responses and the more competitive the bidding process.