Title
Approval of Amendment No. 4 to Services Agreement AGR16-4289 with Paymentus Corporation in the Amount of $96,000.00 for a Revised Total Agreement Amount of $195,000.00, plus Applicable Gross Receipts Tax for the Purpose of Credit Card and Electronic Bill Payment Services
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve Amendment No. 4 to Services Agreement AGR16-4289 with Paymentus Corporation in the Amount of $96,000.00 for a Revised Total Agreement Amount of $195,000.00, plus Applicable Gross Receipts Tax for the Purpose of Credit Card and Electronic Bill Payment Services.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Board approve as presented.
Body
For years, the Utilities Department had a “convenience fee” model for accepting credit card payments for utilities bills. Under this model, customers were charged $4.95 per transaction with a transaction limit of $450.00. The department received substantial customer feedback that this model was unacceptable in the modern business world. We also got similar indications from trade shows and publications to which we subscribe. Finally, to successfully deploy our Smart Customer Mobile application, it was apparent that we needed to better support credit card payments.
In response to these inputs, Department staff reached out in 2015 to the then current provider, Paymentus Corporation, and to several other potential providers, to look at their fee models and structure. The Procurement Officer determined that such services were exempt from the competition requirements of the Los Alamos Procurement Code, so no formal request for proposals was issued, but staff did conduct extensive “due diligence” to ensure we were obtaining best value for the Department and our customers. After careful consideration, it was determined that Paymentus provides the most cost-effective model, most flexibility, and the best service for our requirements.
Having not had experience with the “absorbed fee” m...
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