Title
Approval of Services Agreement AGR19-27 with Los Alamos National Bank in the amount of 142,800.00, plus New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax, for the Purpose of Lock Box Services.
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve agreement AGR19-27 with Los Alamos National Bank in the amount of 142,800.00, plus New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax, for the Purpose of Lock Box Services.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Board approve the agreement as presented.
Body
In early fiscal year 2012 the Utilities department solicited for “lockbox payment processing services”, whereby a vendor would receive mailed in payments and provide local payment options for Utilities Department customers to pay their utilities bills. Property tax payments are also received on behalf of the County Assessor’s office through the lockbox agreement. Los Alamos National Bank was the successful bidder and has been providing services since February 1, 2012. That contract expires January 30, 2019 and all available extensions have been exercised. In November the department solicited in open competition for lockbox services. Los Alamos National Bank (LANB) was the only offeror, but the evaluation committee has determined that their proposal was responsive. There is no cost escalation from the existing fee in this new proposal, and no escalation for the term of the proposal.
In fiscal year 2016 46,114 transactions were processed through the lockbox. While more recent statistics are not readily available, lock box activity has been fairly consistent for many years and this level of activity is still representative. At even only one minute per transaction, which is a very conservative estimate, it would take at least an additional ¼ FTE to process this volume, if that FTE did nothing else, uninterrupted, and without any errors or anomalies to stop and deal with. Realistically, staff feels it would take at least one full additional FTE, at a fully loaded an...
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