May 28, 2019

Re: Request for Information (RFI) 19-49

Automated Property Tax Billing and Collection Software Systems

1.0 GENERAL OVERVIEW

The County Commissioners of Charles County have issued this Request for Information (RFI) seeking industry information

on automated property tax billing and collection software systems. This RFI is issued solely to obtain information to assist

Charles County Government (County) in its planning process and to identify vendors that may be interested in participating

in any future procurement.

It is the County’s intent to analyze the responses to identify potential appropriate and suitable solutions to meet the County’s

needs and to potentially develop specifications for a future Request for Proposals. This RFI does not constitute a Request

for Qualifications, a RFP, or any other solicitation document. This RFI does not commit the County to contract for any

supply or service, nor will any response to this RFI be considered in the evaluation of any response to any future solicitation.

The County will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this RFI.

2.0 PURCHASING DIVISION RFI POINT OF CONTACT

Mrs. Dawn Brake, Procurement Specialist

Email: BrakeD@CharlesCountyMD.gov

Fax: (301) 645-0543

3.0 RFI SCHEDULE

Event Date

RFI Issued May 28, 2019

RFI Response June 18, 2019 before 1:00 p.m.

(Eastern Time)

The County will post any addenda to the County Bid Board. The County may elect to follow-up directly with respondents

with more detailed questions or to clarify submissions.

4.0 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The County requires a software system that will calculate, bill, adjust and collect real property taxes and business personal

property taxes for the County, as well as for incorporated Charles County towns and State of Maryland.

The County currently utilizes New World Systems Logos software for its property tax processes and wishes to replace this

software with a new, state-of-the-art solution.

5.0 RFI RESPONSE

The Request for Information (RFI) response format and information requested is provided in Attachment A – Information

Requested.

RE: RFI 19-49, Automated Property Tax Billing and Collection Software Systems Page 2 May 28, 2019

The information requested is not seeking proposals to provide the services, but rather information about available software,

clients, and functionality.

Responses shall be emailed to the Point of Contact in Section 2.0, above before the date and time specified in the RFI

Schedule. If the response contains proprietary information, submit one copy that DOES NOT contain proprietary

information, and mark it as REDACTED.

6.0 PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT

Respondents should give specific attention and identification of those specific portions of their submission which they deem

to contain confidential and/or proprietary information. Such information must be individually noted as being confidential

or proprietary, either at that location, or in a separate consolidated listing contained within the submission, and provide

justification of why the material should not be subject to disclosure by the County upon request under the Maryland Public

Information Act. Respondents may not declare their entire submission to be confidential or proprietary. Failure to provide

specific identification and justification may result in the County releasing the information if requested to do so. All written

correspondence, exhibits, photographs, reports, other printed material, tapes, electronic disks, and other graphic and visual

aids submitted in response to this RFI are, upon their receipt by the County, the property of the County, may not be returned

to the submitting parties.

All questions regarding this RFI should be submitted by email to Mrs. Dawn Brake, Procurement Specialist at

BrakeD@CharlesCountyMD.gov.

RE: RFI 19-49, Automated Property Tax Billing and Collection Software Systems Page 2 May 28, 2019

ATTACHMENT A – INFORMATION REQUESTED

The County requests that respondents answer the following questions and/or topics in the format listed below. If your

solution does not support an item, please indicate that the item is not available.

PART 1 – TITLE PAGE

Company name, address, and point-of-contact name, email address, and phone number.

PART 2 – COMPANY OVERVIEW

Company profile describing respondent company, products, and services.

PART 3 - DETAILED INFORMATION

1) The software name and version.

2) How many county governments use your solution?

a) In what states are these county governments located?

b) When were those solutions installed?

c) A list of who uses their solution.

3) The recommended technical architecture of your solution, include recommended hardware platform, operating systems,

communications requirements, database platform, etc.

4) Do you commit to implementing all mandated Maryland state and federal requirements in relation to property tax

billings?

a) What is your timeline for implementing Maryland state and federal mandated property tax requirements?

5) Explain how your proposed solution can interface or integrate with our existing financial software.

6) Does your system interface with Laserfiche?

7) Detail functionality available for County system administrators to configure and maintain property tax software

parameters/settings once software is installed and selected vendor has completed contractual obligations.

8) Does your system support an unlimited number of entities (taxes and fees) on a tax bill?

9) Does your system support an unlimited number of tax bill types (full year, supplemental, ¾ year, supplemental, business

personal property, etc.)?

10) How does your system integrate with the Maryland State Department of Assessments & Taxation billing files?

11) Calculation of tax bills

a) What functionality and options are included in your system for tax calculation (e.g., calculate based on assessments,

calculate taxes based on property being located in an incorporated Charles County town, calculate based on whether

a property has improvements, etc.)

b) How are credit calculations supported in your system? Is the same functionality available for credit calculations as

detailed in 11(a) above?

c) Are state, county and a combination of state/county tax exemptions supported?

d) How does your system handle town tax differentials?

12) Tax bills

a) What options are available for mass printing of bills?

b) What options are available for mass distribution of bills?

c) Describe the functionality authorized County users have in regard to customizing bill layouts and content printed

on the tax bill?

13) Describe how the system supports the creation of special assessment tax areas. What functionality and options are

included in the system for special assessment tax calculations?

14) Describe how the system can calculate and bill semiannual installments, including service charges, as detailed in the

MD State Tax Property Code (Attachment B – MD Tax Property Code).

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15) Describe how the system calculates and applies interest to overdue tax bills.

a) Does system calculate interest based upon the total tax bill due or based upon each entity on the bill?

16) Describe how the system supports adjustments to previously calculated and posted tax bills, either in the current tax

year or previous tax years.

a) Does system contain an automated tax adjustment process which would run based upon a Maryland state adjustment

file?

b) How are interest and payments handled during either a manual or automated adjustment process?

17) Describe how payments are applied to tax bills.

a) Are partial payments allowed? Can full payment of tax bills be enforced? Can full or partial payment requirements

be applied by tax bill type?

b) Can payments from mortgage companies be applied in mass? Describe this process.

18) Describe the processes/functionality included in the system to handle delinquent tax bills.

19) Describe the processes/functionality included in the system to handle the County’s tax sale process.

20) Does your system include a Citizen Self Service Portal? If so, describe the functionality that citizens have via a system

supplied Citizen Self Service Portal.

21) Does the system include a Cashiering module which integrates seamlessly with the Property Tax Billing & Collection

system?

a) Does the proposed Cashiering module include a Point of Sale system with cash drawer functionality?

22) Does the system include file import and export functionality?

PART 4 – ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Provide any additional information regarding your solution’s functionality.

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ATTACHMENT B – MD TAX-PROPERTY CODE

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