Convenience Pay Services

The Vendor is required to provide convenience pay services that enable agency customers too electronically and securely process payments.
- The solution must support consumer credit and debit cards, checking and savings accounts (via onetime and recurring/installment ACH), and mobile payments. Payment environments shall include the agency Connect customer portal, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, mobile devices/applications, and commonly used digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay).
- The solution must have the capability to calculate, present, and apply customer-paid convenience fees at the time of payment in a transparent and PCI-compliant manner, while preserving fee-free options such as ACH/eCheck payments.
- Provide professional services for all phases of implementation—including design, development, integration with back-office systems, testing, deployment, optimization, change management, and project management—and ensure ongoing support, maintenance, and training after go-live to promote adoption and sustained success.
- Core Functional Requirements
o    Payment types: processing of visa, MasterCard, discover, and American express; ach/echeck; savings account debits; retail (walk-in) cash payment, money orders, and text-to-pay; and digital wallet payments (apple pay, google pay, Samsung pay, PayPal, venmo). 
o    Fee handling: calculation, presentation, and application of customer-paid convenience fees at the point of payment, with clear disclosure and PCI-compliant customer consent. 
o    Fee-free options: maintenance of fee-free payment methods (ach/echeck and recurring auto-debit).
o    Payment channels: secure processing across agency connect (agency customer portal), IVR, mobile apps/devices, and digital wallets.
o    Payment flexibility: no caps or limits on transaction size or frequency, except where required by card networks or applicable law, or per mutually agreed risk controls.
o    Refunds & adjustments: ability to process refunds, voids, chargebacks, and returned items efficiently, with clear reporting of resolution actions.
o    Accessibility & multilingual support: full compliance with section 508 accessibility standards and availability of multilingual interfaces, including WCAG 2.1 AA for public-facing web and mobile experiences.
o    Dedicated customer service: responsive customer support for both agency staff and end-customers, including escalation channels for urgent issues.
o    Ach account validation & return controls: for web/phone/e-channel debits, provide act-compliant account validation (e.g., instant account verification or micro-deposits), negative file checks, and controls to maintain unauthorized return rates below nacha thresholds.
o    DTMF masking for IVR/agent-assisted: provide secure DTMF suppression/masking or equivalent PCI scope-reduction mechanism so agency call-center agents never handle pan data.