ADDENDUM NO. 1 January 09, 2018 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP-2017-20) FOR COLLECTION AGENCY SERVICES The following clarifications, amendments, additions and/or deletions are hereby made a part of the RFP for Collection Services. This Addendum addresses DHA responses to vendor s questions regarding the aforementioned RFP and DHA s response to same. DHA s RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS: 1. Why is the contract out to bid at this time? Dallas Housing Authority is interested in trying to improve its collection of funds from the clients that move out owing moneys. 2. When is the anticipated contract start date? To be determined 3. What is the term of the contract? Refer page 4 of the RFP 4. What is the maximum number of renewal options by policy or statute? Refer page 4 of the RFP 5. Has the current contract gone full term? previous contract 6. Have all options to extend the current contract been exercised? 7. Who is the incumbent, and how long has the incumbent been providing the requested services? Page 1 of 8
8. How are fees currently being billed by any incumbent(s), by category, and at what rates? 9. What estimated or actual dollars were paid last year, last month, or last quarter to any incumbent(s)? 10. Please describe your level of satisfaction with your current vendor(s), if applicable. 11. Will accounts be primary placements, not having been serviced by any other outside collection agency, and/or will you also be referring secondary placements? If so, should bidders provide proposed fees for secondary placements also? DHA will be placing these accounts for funds owed to DHA. 12. What collection attempts are performed or will be performed internally prior to placement? DHA sends a notice to the last known address of the client. In most cases the clients leave without giving any forwarding address. DHA typically collects funds from these clients if they need our assistance again. 13. Will the selected vendor be allowed to litigate balances exceeding a certain dollar amount on your behalf, with your explicit approval?. Any litigation will need to be handled through DHA s General Counsel s office. 14. What is the total dollar value of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog? About $4 million over a span of fiscal years 2006 to 2017 15. What is the total number of accounts available for placement now by category, including any backlog? About 4,200 clients 16. What is the average balance of accounts by category? About $900 Page 2 of 8
17. What is the average age of accounts at placement (at time of award and/or on a goingforward basis), by category? About 3,600 clients older than one year, about 600 clients within a year 18. What is the monthly or quarterly number of accounts expected to be placed with the vendor(s) by category? Quarterly about 130 to 200 clients 19. What is the monthly or quarterly dollar value of accounts expected to be placed with the vendor(s) by category? Quarterly about $120,000 20. What has been the historical rate of return or liquidation rate provided by any incumbent(s), and/or what is anticipated or expected as a result of this procurement? for historical rate as this is the first time DHA is attempting such a contract. 21. If applicable, will accounts held by any incumbent(s) or any backlog be moved to any new vendor(s) as a one-time placement at contract start up? 22. What computer software system do you use to manage your accounts/inventory? Yardi Voyager 23. Do you have any plans of changing that system in the future, and why/why not? 24. Do you subscribe to any offset programs? 25. Of the delinquent accounts ready to be placed for collections, can you provide the % of which belongs to each program you run (i.e. DHA owned units versus landlord units) The accounts placed will be all DHA owned or operated units 26. Please provide the % of placement accounts that will have personal identifiable information (social security number and date of birth)? Page 3 of 8
The accounts placed will not have personal identifiable information 27. Do you accept settlements on the debt and if so, what is the authorized % being offered at present? the debt must be paid in full to be removed per HUD regulations. 28. Could you share any seasonality information and potential impact on monthly flow (for planning purposes)? If you provide the monthly account volume that was sent to your current collection partner for 2017 by way of their age in delinquency, that would help. 29. Of the total placements ready to be sent to a collection partner, can you provide breakdown (as a percentage) of the accounts that were voluntary vs. involuntary vacancies?. 30. Of the voluntary vacated accounts ready to be sent to collection partner, what percentage were past due vs. current at the time of vacancy? Only delinquent accounts will be referred to the collection agency. 31. Are you willing to share any historical liquidation rate information on the debt that you are looking to source via this RFP process from internal efforts and from your current collection agency? we do not have a current provider for these services. 32. Are there any other IT specific requirements that are not called out in the actual RFP that could result in additional IT development time, thus impacting resources and time to production? Any unique processes and / or requirements that may be beyond standard for the industry or that differ amongst each debt type? ne anticipated. 33. What business issues are you currently trying to solve for by putting this work out to bid? Improving collection of delinquent accounts. 34. Will the DHA provide with each account a date of delinquency? In absence of a formal date of delinquency; which is a requirement of full file credit bureau reporting, is there a set formula of days past the vacancy date, that the DHA deems their closed accounts delinquent? Page 4 of 8
DHA treats the receivable as a delinquent when the client moves out of the unit. That date will be available. 35. Does the DHA obtain the Consumer s permissible consent to call their mobile phones on their lease/rental agreements and does that consent include their third party vendors? 36. Off the 12,000 units listed on the DHA website available for housing, can you please provide a breakdown of the delinquent accounts ready to be placed for collections, by way of volume, average balance and age. About $4 million over a span of fiscal years 2006 to 2017 About 4,200 clients Average about $900 About 3,600 clients older than one year, about 600 clients within a year 37. Does the DHA, have the right to off-set any State or Federal income tax return proceeds due to the delinquent accounts? If so, will contingency collection fees be eligible for those off-set payments? 38. Does the DHA require new residents, to have a co-signer or guarantor prior to tenancy and if so, what personal identifiable information (social security number and date of birth) do you obtain from the guarantor? ; 39. Does the collection agency have to be located in the City of Dallas or the State of Texas; and will there be evaluation points awarded to those who are? there are no points awarded for location. Please refer to Section Vi of the RFP for the evaluation criteria. 40. What percentage of the current collection agency accounts have required legal proceedings to collect funds? 41. What is the threshold of balances owed, that the DHA will approve for legal proceedings? Any litigation will need to be handled through DHA s General Counsel s office. Page 5 of 8
42. Does the DHA pay for the up front court costs and filing / services fees for any court proceedings? 43. If we elect not to file court actions as a part of our collection program for the DHA, will there be evaluation points taken from our bid? 44. Will you allow the collection agency to do full file credit bureau reporting on accounts listed for collection after a validation notice has been sent? Yes 45. Will each file listed come with copies of rental applications and the full lease documents electronically? 46. How often do you intend to list files: daily, weekly, monthly? Quarterly. 47. Are the accounts that are currently with your collection agency, going to be recalled at the beginning of this contract and placed with the new collection vendor? If so, what is the age, volumes and average balances of that inventory? 48. How many collection agencies are the DHA intending to award this work to? Depends on the proposals received 49. Does the DHA prefer a flat fee per account versus a contingency rate pricing model? (fixed versus variable costs) The vendor can propose the best rate and models they think will work best in their response. The vendor can propose both types. 50. What is the scheduled and approved PO dollar value of this contract for 2018? 51. What is the current annual PO dollar value of the DHA s existing collection agency contract and what percentage of the PO was spent in 2017? Page 6 of 8
52. How many collection agencies does the DHA currently partner with? previous contract 53. Who are the current collection agencies the DHA currently partners with? 54. What are the rates that the current collection agencies charge DHA under their existing contract? 55. What collection agency(ies) are you currently using? ne 56. What is the current commission rate contracted with your current collection agencies? 57. What is the overall volume of accounts (number of accounts and total dollars) that you anticipate referring to the contracted vendor for collections? Refer to 14, 15, 16 above. 58. If the contract is awarded to a different vendor than currently contracted, will you be recalling the accounts previously listed to the current vendor and forwarding those accounts to the new vendor? 59. If yes, what is the overall volume of these accounts (number of accounts and total dollars), that you anticipate would be referred for collections? 60. What is the average age and balance of the accounts you will refer for collections? About $4 million over a span of fiscal years 2006 to 2017 About 4,200 clients Average about $900 About 3,600 clients older than one year, about 600 clients within a year Page 7 of 8
61. What is the age of the oldest accounts you will refer for collections? 12 years 62. How many agencies will you be awarding to for this contract? Depends on the proposals received 63. What historical recovery percentages have been achieved by the current contractor(s) and for what time period? 64. Can you please specify who we would collecting from? a. Landlord - b. Tenant/Voucher holder Tenants who have left DHA owned or managed Properties c. Contractors - d. Government entity/insurance - 65. Please answer the following regarding your current vendor: a. Name b. Fee charged c. Commission paid in the last 12 months or calendar year 66. Please answer the following regarding the backlog of accounts and estimated monthly forward flow of accounts: Please see response to questions above. a. Number of accounts b. Dollar value c. Average dollar size d. Age breakdown Page 8 of 8