Q1: On a general note, we have been informed that the Post Office automation procedures are causing some problems with delivery of government card information. According to our sources, the Post Office is not delivering in some cases if (1) the nine digit zip is not included and (2) they deliver to the line immediately above the city, state and zip line causing the following problem: 

123 main street

Suite 123, Federal Building 

Suite 123, Federal Building

123 Main Street

You need to ensure that the offerors have their address requirements set to match the new Post Office requirements and that the offerors allow enough room for government addresses in their card set-up and other procedures requiring addresses. 

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Q2: We would like to request clarification on the "Standard Fee for the Recovery of Debt Collection Costs on Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts" as was discussed on pages 70-71 on the "Comments Received on the Draft Solicitation" document. Please clarify this fee topic and the section within the Draft Solicitation where this is addressed. 

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Q3: The format of the Draft Solicitation is a definite improvement over the draft Statement of Work. The package is much easier to read and comprehend. The Table of Contents was a welcomed addition that simplified our review efforts. 

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Q4: The task ordering process is a new process for the fleet, travel and purchase card programs. Can the GSA provide us information on how this process will encourage industry participation since card expiration dates will vary within the 2-year minimum task order timeframe, making it difficult for vendors to predict anticipated business volumes? 

Q5: The Comments released on the draft statement of work referenced a Request for Information issued 1/17/97. Can the GSA provide a copy of this document or a World Wide Web address where this document can be retrieved? 

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Q6: We would like to see the comments published before, or at the same time as the release of the RFP. It makes it much easier to incorporate changes that may have to be made to our proposal as a result of responses GSA has made to specific comments. Additionally, a 60 day response time is preferable to 45 days. 

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Q7: Define the term "Federal Government" as used in this Statement of Work. 

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Q8: Our primary problem is that the 30 days to pay the bill start running when the contractor prints the bill rather than when we receive the statement. We end up with erroneous interest charges. We want the next vendor to build in a reasonable (5 days?) amount of time for the bill to reach us. 

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Q9: Throughout Solicitation: Change the statement regarding " at no expense to the Government" throughout, i.e., implementation meetings at no expense to the Government. Costs should be factored in to the proposal price rather than separately billed costs. 

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Q10: Please provide, by agency, the total number of cardholders and the total number of accounts as well as the total dollars transacted on each product line (fleet, travel and purchasing) for FY'95, FY'96, and FY'97 (first two quarters). Further, please provide for this same time period the annual dollar activity for both ATM usage and traveler check usage. 

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Q11: At this time, how many contractors do you anticipate being awarded for each product line and how will the final number of awards for each product line be determined? 

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Q12: There are a number of exhibits referred to which are not provided. When will they be made available? 

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Q13-Q15: These questions have been withdrawn at the respondent's request. 

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Q16: The GSA's core requirements include some services that are not current commercial practice. How will the GSA evaluate vendor responses that propose providing what is the practice today and working jointly with the GSA to enhance the services. 

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Q17: There are two areas that are of particular concern to us. First, rebates need to be tied to delinquency and credit loss performance. Second, with respect to the travel program, the need to control delinquency through risk assessments is very important. Please review these comments and suggestions very carefully. Without some changes in these areas, there is a very good chance we will elect not to bid on the travel business. 

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Q18: Given that the final solicitation will be released on or about July 31st, when do you envision the response date and all other key dates leading to the master contract award in December or January? Further, following contract award, how long do you anticipate the contract negotiation process to take with the multiple contractors? 

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Q19: Exhibits 6, 7, and 8 Historical Data for Fleet Card, Travel Card, and Purchasing Card: Much more detail is provided on Travel Card then on Fleet Card or Purchasing Card. We suggest providing the same level of detail on the Fleet and Purchasing Card.  

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Q20: Exhibit 7.A Details the aging of Centrally Billed Accounts by Dollar Volume by agency. Is it possible to receive this information where the balance due details the average receivable due for the 1996 time period? Is it correct that this table details the information, not for a yearly receivable average, but at a point in time. 

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Q21: Exhibit 7.C Details the aging of Individually Billed Accounts by Dollar Volume by agency. This information was not received. Is it possible to receive this information, and in a form where the balance due details the "average receivable due" for the 1996 time period? 

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Q22: Can the GSA confirm that within Exhibit 7F, the ATM volume as stated is also included within the total sales volume category? For example, the Legislative Branch shows sales volume of $13,191,798. Should we assume that the ATM volume of $1,239,584 is included in this number? 

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Q23: Hybrid cards provide a means for agencies to streamline their card operations while capturing valuable management information. The use of hybrid cards will expand as agencies identify new card applications and streamline their accounting processes. Therefore, we believe that hybrid cards should be treated as a core requirement of each business line. 

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Q24: We have no problem with GSA allowing contractors to charge a late fee and/or cancel an account if payment for the undisputed principal amount has not been received 120 calendar days from the closing date on the statement of account in which the charges appeared. However, we prefer that GSA take the lead in negotiating with the various employee unions rather that each agency performing this task. It will be very time consuming for each agency to negotiate with their union on the late fee issue and may restrict contractor selection. 

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Q25: Our previous correspondence to you stated that we favored a reactivation fee being charged on suspended individual accounts. Therefore, we regret that reactivation fees are not allowed in the draft solicitation, but are pleased that the Government may include these fees under the Travel Card business line during the contract period. However, we question how the fee process will be applied to multi card users. 

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Q26: We have established policy that addresses non-payment of travel card billings and having contractors conduct credit card checks will be of no benefit to us. It is our opinion that employees should be issued travel cards that will permit them to perform their duties and the agency to take appropriate actions against those employees who demonstrate poor payment performance. 

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Q27: The integrated solution card will provide the means for obtaining a wide range of functions and services through a single card. It will also simplify account setup and maintenance, card design and issuance, and billing and payment activities. 

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Q28: Is it the intention of the Department of Treasury database to be available to Issuers or the Associations? If the Issuers pay the merchants 2 days after the transaction, and the government subsequently does not pay, will the government support subsequent chargebacks or reductions to the payments owed to the merchants? 

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Q29: Current technology with the speed and innovation needed to accomplish these goals does not exist. The infrastructure needs to be created through the merchant technology of a Smart Card. We anticipate a method of matching debtors by name or Tax ID against a merchant base and/or Department of Treasury data. 

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Q30: Debt Collection Improvement Act: Can the Government provide more information as to how the debt offset process will operate; specifically: When will debts be considered eligible for offset? Upon judgment? How much due process will be required before the offset can take place? Does the Government desire to have credit card issuers withhold payments from their merchant establishments if such establishments have unsatisfied debts to the Government? How will the process address privacy concerns: e.g., what are the implications of the Government disclosing to a credit card issuer that one of its merchants has a delinquent tax debt? Would Treasury be violating the Privacy Act by telling an agency that a person owes another agency a debt? Merchants are often paid automatically by credit card companies, sometimes in a matter of days. How does the Government intend to notify credit card issuers of offsets in time to prevent such payments occurring? 

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Q31: The "Issues" section of the RFP package requested comment on the applicability of the Debt Collection Improvement Act ("DCIA"). We recommend that this Act not be applied to the revenue stream generated by the contracts to be awarded under the RFP. This RFP will seek charge card services. For those services to be provided efficiently and at the lowest-possible cost, the revenue stream must be as reliable as possible. To use this revenue stream to set off debts unrelated to contract performance by the Contractor would be a serious disruption that is likely to make the contract unable to be financed under standard commercial practices. Although the "Issues" section states that the DCIA "requires" administrative offsets, we do not believe that the Act needs to be applied to the Master Contract. The Act provides that the head of a payment certifying agency may request the payments be exempted from its offset requirements. A factor in determining whether payments should be exempt is whether the administrative offset "would tend to interfere with or defeat the purposes of the payment certifying agency's program." 31 U.S.C.A. §3716(c)(3)(B). Because applying the DCIA to the revenue stream under the master contracts would be inconsistent with commercial practices and is likely to increase the cost to the Government of the charge services provided under the RFP, we recommend that the head of GSA and, if necessary, the ordering agencies request exemption.  

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Q32: The Executive Summary is not clear as to the extent of potential application of the DCIA. Legally, it applies, at most, to amounts owed by the Contractor to the Government. If the GSA purports to apply DCIA to amounts paid by the master contract holder to vendors, the master contract will impose commercially unacceptable risk on any bidder. For example, if an issuer processed $20,000,000 of product purchases by the Government and received approximately $50,000 in gross revenues for those services, that issuer could never accept the risk of loss of $1,000,000 or $2,000,0000 of cash flow due to a DCIA offset with respect to purchases of product from a vendor who happens to owe money to the Government. In addition, ordinary commercial charge card company agreements with merchants do not permit the charge card company to deduct money due the merchant on account of amounts due by merchant to a product purchaser arising out of unrelated transactions. In other words, if the Government sets off against the card company for merchant debts, the card company cannot recover from the merchant. If the program is not exempted from DCIA generally, the final RFP should clearly exclude any application of DCIA to payments from bidders to sellers of products. 

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Q33: All transactions conducted on cards issued to the federal government will flow through the established settlement procedures for credit cards. After financial settlement, the contractor (issuer) will provide the data processing resources to compare government purchase transactions to the Treasury's data base of debtors and advise the buying agency of a match. Card associations would need to amend chargeback procedures to provide for a limited chargeback right by the issuer against the merchant's acquirer for certain government transactions with such merchants through settlement systems. Card associations would need to create a process whereby the issuer would be able to chargeback funds in the amount of either the transaction amount or the debt amount - whichever is less - which could be satisfied from future payments by the acquirer to the merchant. The following qualifications should apply to the procedure: 

1. Merchants would have a means of disputing the charge back and association staff currently serving as charge back arbitrators would arbitrate charge backs of this nature per established association procedures. 

2. If the funds are uncollectable (i.e., the merchant is now out of business) there would be no charge back available against the acquirer. 

3. A reasonable period of time would be granted prior to such a charge back process to inform all acquirers and merchants of this new procedure. 

4. As it is anticipated that the rate of match of the debtors name and/or tax ID number against the merchant base will be low, we suggest matching the data base against a sample of merchant information to determine the level of possible matches. If the matches are below an agreed to percent that would economically support this procedure, the procedure will be aborted. 

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Q34: There are a number of issues with deducting debts owed to the Government from payments made to merchants. Some issues to consider: Association Regulations: Current association regulations would prohibit this practice. Merchant Contracts: Existing merchant contracts do not support this practice. It will be administratively difficult to execute new contracts or amend existing contracts. It is also questionable whether merchants will agree to these terms. Technology Issues: First, merchants submit all charges, government and non-government, at one time. Systems work will have to be done to split out government charges during the settlement process so that deductions are only made from those charges (i.e. we cannot deduct debt owed to the government from non-government transactions). This is not an easy effort. Second, the systems work to ensure we properly tie the organizations that owe money to the Government with their corresponding merchant accounts will also be very difficult. These are just a few of the issues that we have identified. Our recommendation is for the Government to open a dialog with the associations on this topic, since they are in the best position to discuss what can and cannot be done from an industry perspective.  

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Q35: During the Pre-bid Conference on Monday, June 16th, the GSA, specifically related to the DoD, requested input from industry on commercial practice risk mitigation measures. In addition to the items stated in the Draft Solicitation, standard commercial practices include: Use of credit bureau data for account management; Unilateral suspension for unauthorized use or high risk profile individuals; Guaranteed accounts for non-Government employees (e.g., Foreign Nationals, Contractors/Consultants, etc.); Assigning total spending limits to cards; Reactivation/reinstatement fees. 

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Q36: Significant changes (3): What is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity task order and how does it differ from a Requirements Contract? 

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Q37: Significant changes (6): What is the change in the length of the contract period? 

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Q38: Based on the statement that the GSA travel card will be the only form of card payment required to be accepted under GSA's City Pair Program, how does this affect the contractor and/or management of the program? 

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Q39: Are other forms of non-card payments acceptable (e.g. cash) for the City Pair Program? 

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Q40: CP.6, Electronic Data Interchange Ordering: Please clarify this section. Does this indicate that the offeror should be capable of receiving task orders through a defined EDI transaction set? 

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Q41: CP.7 PAST PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: Can state and local Government experience be included in the evaluation? 

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Q42: What's the difference between tables 1A & 1B + C+ D+ E? 

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Q43: The proposed pricing tables to be completed by the bidder does not allow for pricing based on different volume thresholds and payment frequencies. 

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Q44: With regard to line items, this does not allow for multiple pricing tables. We recommend that pricing should be on multiple lines with volume thresholds and chip card costs in addition to transaction charges. As utilization of the chip card is expanded, we believe pricing should be the differential between simplistic and customized chips. 

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Q45: For the value-added products and services, please consider allowing offerors to add subcategories or a schedule for pricing for each category. Pricing will be dependent on the feature and functionality desired by the agencies and potential volume. Chip card pricing specifically should include not only card cost, but other variables which could affect cost such as the application. This type of pricing structure would reflect existing commercial pricing structures. As referenced in section 3-7 below, please explain how pricing will be factored in the evaluation process. 

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Q46: Is this firm pricing or is the pricing for evaluation purposes only? If it is for evaluation, when are firm prices submitted and how? 

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Q47: Tables 3 (A-E): The use of the Benchmark Task for evaluation is an excellent idea; however, the practicality of using it for the option years seems questionable. It is unlikely that an agency would remain static over the entire ten (10) year period. Hopefully, an agency would improve the efficiency of their payment processes, thereby reducing their cost. Depending upon the current state of the agency's systems, and the amount of progress and technology the agency can implement, it is possible that an agency may pay less in option year 5 than they do in the base period. Logically, the benchmark task should take this into consideration and provide for agency changes over the life of the contract. However, this would take considerable time and effort on the part of the contracting staff. It would be more practical to benchmark several different options - with several different levels of technology and payment processes to see the relative value of the different scenarios. Agencies wishing to use the benchmark tasks later in the life of the contract would be better advised to compare their processing situation at that time with the closest benchmark scenario and apply the inflation or price increase factor that is shown in the individual line items. 

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Q48: In pricing (i.e. Table 3A-3G), please clarify the use of benchmarking for a commercial product. 

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Q49: With regard to Contract Line Item c, the Stored value card, for all business lines, pricing should include both the chip card cost plus the per transaction charges. 

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Q50: With regard to Contract Line Item j, the hybrid card, the pricing tables should be changed to show anticipated prices for each year of the ten (10) year period, instead of the present format of a base year (5 years) number with option year pricing for years 6 through 10 only. 

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Q51: We have strong concerns about the current pricing arrangement. In the commercial market, pricing is established using a matrix. The matrix cross references file turn with annual sales volume to determine the amount of rebate to be received. All rebates are net of credit losses. The way the rebates are structured now, an agency can have a very high delinquency rate, significant write-offs, and still be eligible for a rebate - even if the card issuer is losing money. At the point where delinquency makes a relationship unprofitable, it is unfair to expect a card issuer to continue to pay a rebate. This does not make financial sense. Additionally, as the RFP is structured now, agencies with good delinquency performance will supplement agencies with bad performance. Perhaps the following example will help to illustrate: Example: Assume a card issuer has determined that it can offer a 45bp rebate before credit losses and knows the government's credit loss average is 25bp. If credit losses are not deducted from rebates, the card issuer will offer a 20bp rebate (i.e. 45bp - 25bp) to the Government. Agency A has 15bp in credit losses and Agency B has 35bp. Both agencies will receive 20bp rebate, which means Agency A has really supplemented Agency B's rebate. On the other hand, if credit losses can be deducted from the rebate, then the card issuer will offer a 45bp rebate. Agency A will receive a 30bp rebate, and Agency B will receive a 10bp rebate - which is fair given their delinquency performance. The deduction of credit losses from rebates will also provide a strong incentive for agencies to manage delinquency. 

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Q52: We request that all bidders should be required to explicitly document all hybrid card pricing assumptions. Examples of this would include: Is pricing dependent upon volume assumptions or other contingencies? Is the pricing for a "vanilla" chip or one that includes personalization and customization? Additionally, the hybrid card chip description/pricing table should be modified as follows: Bidders should be allowed to submit their own chip sizes, rather than use the fixed chip sizes presented in the document. The chip description table should include an area to describe special features or capabilities of the chips. 

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Q53: We request that the government provide a more detailed explanation and examples illustrating how the price evaluation of the bids will be accomplished. 

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Q54: We request that the government revise their pricing tables for Electronic Purchasing. Currently, Electronic Purchasing is priced on a "per transaction" basis for a single product offering. Contractors (issuers) would like the flexibility to offer the government a "menu" of many Electronic Purchasing solutions in the form of a table where price is correlated with a system's functionality. We envision that this menu would have multiple vendors offering a range of Electronic Purchasing solutions to meet varying needs. 

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Q55: Offerors should indicate availability of card readers for magnetic stripe, chips and bar codes. 

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Q56: Table 2 - Fleet Card Services, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E: We recommend that the following items be removed from these tables. These products and services are not applicable to the Fleet Card Program. (e) ATM Access; (f) Bank Check; (j) Electronic Purchasing; (k) Photo ID; (l) Convenience services; (n) Activation/Deactivation on Demand; (o) Emerging Technologies. 

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Q57: Table 7F - The citation for the Productivity Refund Offer should read B.6.2. 

Q58: B.1 - Master Contract: Paragraph 1; last sentence; clarify............"Vendors must meet requirements of (all of? relevant?) the business line(s) in order to be considered for an integrated solution." Paragraph 2; Does GSA mean that one system should be used for an agency's product/service requests and payment." What sources of minority/women-owned subs do we have? 

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Q59: B.1, Master Contract, Please describe how the subcontracting plan will be evaluated. 

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Q60: The draft states that "Contractor team arrangements are encouraged, e.g., to provide consulting services on re-engineering efforts....to provide smart card readers, peripheral equipment and systems integration..." Please clarify that the GSA understands that in addition to the alternate pricing schedules, the Government will be responsible for the expense associated with the required service, technology and equipment that enable the recommended solution. Service, technology and equipment costs should be included as line items in the CLIN structure. 

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Q61: B.2 Menu-Driven Options: Please define the content of "each menu-driven option." This definition will assist us in responding to your requirements. 

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Q62: B.4 Guaranteed Minimum: Contracts terminated less than 5 years - what about guaranteed minimum if we terminate due to their poor performance/fraud? 

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Q63: We recommend that the fourth line of paragraph B.4.1 should read as follows: "provided that the Contractor demonstrates good performance as described in B.4." 

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Q64: Having a guaranteed minimum on the master contract should entice contractor participation. However, agencies who have agreed to become mandatory users should not be required to participate (share expense) in any guaranteed minimum payments that GSA may have to pay at the end of the initial 5 year contract period. 

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Q65: B.4.4: Examples should be removed. The solicitation and resultant contracts should stick to requirements. If examples are necessary, they should be in a separate document - not legally binding. The only thing legally binding should be the actual formulas. If the text version is confusing, provide a mathematical formula. (Note: In Example 5, $2,500 plus $25,000 should equal $27,500 instead of $30,500.) 

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Q66: B.5 Definitions: Net Charge Volume - for additional clarity, please define the term "adjustments". Also, does the term "credits" include temporary credits? 

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Q67: The proposed definition of "Net Charge Volume" implies that rebates will be based on discount business and cash business. We recommend that the definition be refined to include only the charge volume and exclude cash advances, travelers checks and any other fee generating products. The inclusion of the fee generating products in the rebate is not consistent with card provider practices. The proposed methodology will serve to lower overall rebates. 

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Q68: Net charge volume is defined as excluding credits and adjustments. This definition is not consistent with commercial practices within the industry. Credits and adjustments are a normal part of business operation. If a cardholder purchases an airline ticket, cancels it, and purchases another ticket, then the initial purchase cancellation will show up as an adjustment. The credit card company will realize no revenue from the purchase and subsequent cancellation, in fact the adjustment will only cause the credit card company expense. Therefore, a financial refund would not be paid on activity which excludes credits and adjustments since that would represent non-revenue producing activity. Therefore, the definition should be changed to include credits and adjustments. 

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Q69: B.6 Financial Considerations to Agencies / Organizations: We believe that the requirement that bidders shall propose refunds based on all revenue producing transactions will have the effect of lowering the overall return to the Government. Two components of the definition of revenue producing transactions are highly problematic. First, card companies consider discount rates (the rates that are charged to merchants for processing charges) to be highly proprietary and confidential information, and will not accept the notion that the Government require a refund that is based in any way on this information. Second, by including ATM/Cash in the calculation, the Government has removed any incentive for agencies to try to control or limit the use of cash. If Government's goal is to move all payments to plastic, then the GSA should not provide an incentive to use cash. In addition this would drive the card companies to aggressively manage delinquencies, which could lessen the popularity of the program. It is strongly recommended that discount rates and ATM/cash be removed from the calculation of financial return to the Government. 

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Q70: It is industry practice for Contractors to maintain the proprietary and confidential nature of their discount rates/interchange, and, therefore, should not be requested by the Government. 

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Q71: The draft RFP appropriately permits the agency to choose the manner in which the sales refund will be applied. The availability and size of the sales refund offered by competing offerors may be an important factor in agency evaluation of task order awards. In light of uncertainties that may be created by recent judicial interpretation of the Miscellaneous Receipts Act (MRA), it is important to ensure that the awarding agency will be able to make use of the sales refund in compliance with that Act. Two steps should be considered toward this objective: GSA should undertake to provide to agencies specific guidance as to methods of applying the refund that will be consistent with the MRA; GSA should obtain a written determination from the Comptroller General prior to the issuance of the final RFP providing guidance as to the types of sales refund arrangements between the agency and contractor that will comply with the MRA. 

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Q72: B.6.1.1 - Calculation of Sales Refund and Productivity refund. Under the purchase card program there originally was neither a sales refund nor a productivity refund. Because of problems in obtaining timely payment and the expense of mailing enormous paper reports, a refund was negotiated. Now there is a sales refund of 4-6 basis points of cost added on top of the existing refund by the vendor. This may well cause an increase in costs to merchants that is passed on by the successful vendors. We realize that the vendors are to pay your Industrial Funding Fee, however, we anticipated that it would come out of the existing types of refunds. 

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Q73: B.6.1.1 Calculation of Sales Refund: Refund calculation presents a problem in all cases but the support for disputed/suspended/canceled make more difficult. GSA volume will require automation of refunds. 

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Q74: The draft solicitation requires that dollar balances in suspended and canceled accounts be deducted from the rebate volume to arrive at a dollar basis to determine a sales refund. As described on page 54, once the suspension/ cancellation is lifted, those dollar balances shall be included for the next refund payout. Netting suspended accounts from sales volume is not consistent with commercial practices. From the offeror's point of view, this would require additional resources to manage this rebate management process which would not be adding any value to the overall cardholder services provided to the GSA and its agencies. From the agencies' point of view, the extreme level of tracking and auditing that would go into this process would make rebate reconciliations very cumbersome. This would therefore cause negative productivity consequences to the agencies. A better approach would be to not make this process mandatory but rather a value-added option. Additional resources required by the offeror to track rebate calculations would reduce the potential rebate to the agency. 

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Q75: According to the definition of 'net charge volume' in B.5., offerors will be required to offer sales refunds on volumes based on core and value added products/services. Please elaborate on how contractors will be able to offer refunds, and how will GSA evaluate refund offers based on value-added products and services when the bidder has no guarantees which value added products/services will be contracted for? 

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Q76: Please define 'dollar balances in suspended accounts'. We believe that many dollars in delinquency status may not be suspended due to 'extenuating circumstances.' However, the delinquent accounts hurt the economics of the program, i.e., less return for the Government. Please consider expanding this definition to include "all dollars 60 days or more past due" as this will more closely mirror commercial practices. 

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Q77: B.6.1.1: Remove example of refund calculations. Formulas are clear enough. 

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Q78: B.6.1.3 Alternate Pricing Proposals: Please provide comments relative to how GSA plans to evaluate alternate price proposals. Any differences for core vs. value-add, scoring of the alternate, etc. This information would be useful in responding with any alternate scenarios. In addition, will GSA consider alternative refund methodologies as part of alternative pricing proposals? GSA requested input on Customized Services and Value Added industry pricing (e.g., skill categories, units). 

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Q79: Encourages the offeror to provide alternate pricing proposals. What would the reaction of the GSA be if the offeror proposed alternate pricing proposals which do not include the pricing detailed by the GSA in Section B.6. Would these options if deemed to be providing the most beneficial offer to the agencies, be deemed acceptable? 

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Q80: B.6.3 Frequency of Remittance: The draft RFP is unclear as to the intent as to the number of days. Is the intent to be 15 calendar days or 10 business days after the end of each fiscal quarter? Recommend that GSA clarify its intent for the frequency of remittance. 

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Q81: States the refund shall be remitted to the agencies by the 10th day of each fiscal year quarter, unless otherwise specified by the agency. Commercial practices today are to pay rebates after fiscal year end. This is done to adequately track and capture full year travel activity and allows for ease of reconciliation for the client. Paying quarterly, while possible, would cause other problems. Annual payments and loss netting allow for a more even flow of funds. Additionally, quarterly rebates would cause the agencies to spend extra time on reconciling payments and would require an investment in additional resources by the offeror which would reduce the potential rebate to the agency. 

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Q82: This section states that the agency may require more frequent refund remittance schedules (daily, weekly, monthly) and will specify this in their task order. Again, this is not a commercial practice. Making this a requirement increases the amount of time the offeror spends on rebate management and detracts from the true purpose of the relationship, which is to provide an efficient card program. 

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Q83: This section mentions that the proposal shall address how to time the refunds so that the agencies may take advantage of the financial consideration prior to fiscal year end. Does this mean prior to September 30? If it remains a requirement to pay quarterly, then the agency will expect a payment prior to September 30 (as opposed to October 10). This would therefore mean that no rebate would be paid in the October to December quarter. From a cash flow standpoint, this would be a timing issue where there is no first quarter payment the next year because it was paid in the quarter it occurred. It may be better to manage the rebate based on the payment received at the beginning of each quarter with the first quarter of the program being the only one where a cash payment would not be received. It is suggested that however the rebates be paid, it is in the best interest of the agencies to make accrual entries for anticipated payments. 

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Q84: B.6.4 Application of Refunds: This is not a current commercial practice and would create additional resource requirements and administrative work. 

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Q85: B.7.1 Ceiling/Floor Prices: This paragraph assumes that an agency may select a contractor from the master contract presentation packages or the FSSIP without having an on-site presentation to the agency by the contractor. Is this a valid assumption? 

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Q86: B.7.1 Ceiling/Floor Prices: By using simple ceiling and floor limits, the GSA may be doing itself a disservice in the evaluation. For example, it is stated in Exhibit 7F that ATM volume is $500 Million. If a proposal were made that said the first $25 Million in ATM volume was to be charged a 4% rate and all volume over $25 Million would be charged a 3.50% rate, then using a 4% (ceiling) rate for evaluation purposes is inaccurate. 

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Q87: Please define the scope and content of the FSSIP. Since it may be possible that agencies will make awards based on the content of the FSSIP, we would like further insight relative to the GSA assuming responsibility for inaccurate or incomplete information. We suggest allowing the bidders to review the portions of the FSSIP directly related to their products and services for accuracy. 

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Q88: B.7.4 - h) Telephone Access Cards (for the Travel Card only). A number of agencies are issuing AT&T phone cards under the current FTS 2000 contract. GSA should consider integrating these cards into this solicitation. 

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Q89: B.8 - Benchmark tasks. We realize that GSA needs to issue the solicitation as quickly as possible to maintain timeframes, however, it is also a burden on reviewing agencies when most of the exhibits are not available, and will not be available until after the formal solicitation is issued. 

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Q90: B.8 Benchmark Tasks: Will contractors be reimbursed for the benchmark tasks? The exhibits for the benchmark tasks are not included in the draft RFP. 

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Q91: General: Move the price sheets to the end of the section, after the instructions for filling it out; why does everything have a "clause" number? - especially since these clauses seem to have been made up specifically for this solicitation; B.1, Master Contract - this doesn't seem to have anything to do with Pricing. It seems to be a general Instruction to Offerors. Why is it here? Aren't these price sheets actually Blocks 21, 22, 23, and 24 as well as Block 19? 

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Q92: The schedule of services cites the importance of an integrated approach for a single or team of card service providers. The requirement will enable the Government to establish uniform and complimentary processes to support front-end and "backroom" processes. The stated goals for the consolidation include efficiencies in reducing overhead and other support functions, streamlining accounting and reporting data and systems for improved financial management, and reducing information and processing redundancy. Will these streamlining and consolidation efforts enable the Government to establish a single A/OPC role for all three card products? 

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Q93: What is Government's definition of the term "integrated solution" across card programs (i.e. billing?, one plastic?, one consolidated report?) 

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Q94: The discussion on commercial entity use of third party processors is confusing and does not agree with our experience of these, or similarly identified, organizations. We have extensive experience with the use of private credit transfer companies, which are also referred to as third party processors. Your section appears to be talking about EDI type VAN's and other mailbox type brokers. Our experience is with organizations that contact a vendor (quite often state governments who do not want the effort of setting up in the card system or small businesses who have bad credit, or are under capitalized and cannot get into the card system at a reasonable cost) and offer to handle their card transactions so the merchant does not have to become a registered merchant in the card system. These credit transfer companies handle the purchases for each vendor and add their processing charge to the bill. This processing charge is enough to provide them with a considerable profit on the small dollar orders they process, even considering the discount. For example, purchase of birth records from the state of Arkansas is $5.00 per record, unless your use the purchase card. Then the cost is $9.95 because of the processing by the credit transfer company. Please clarify the type and conditions for use and advantages of third party processors vs. the disadvantages of having to pay for a credit transfer process. 

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Q95: We request that within "Section C - Schedule of Services, Performance Work Statement," all areas that are not applicable to the Fleet Card Program be noted as such. 

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Q96: The offeror should designate billing segregation on the integrated card; how does the travel get billed separately, directly to the cardholder, as opposed to other supplies or services charged on the same card? The offeror should segregate micro purchases from other purchases on the billing statement. 

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Q97: Have the offerors provide information on how an integrated card, will distinguish between travel, fleet and purchase card. Have the offerors provide examples of allowance of ATM under the travel portion as distinguished from the fleet portion of the card. 

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Q98: Agency Location Code: FMS is part of the Department of the Treasury. An 8 digit numerical ALC is used for the agencies that use the Treasury . . . 

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Q99: Agency/Organization Identifying Number: The agency organization numbers downloaded from the net at the address provided are outdated. For example the Social Security Administration is still listed in that address as 7550 and part of the Department of Health and Human Services. We have been an independent agency since April 1, 1995 with a new identifying number. Please include a disclaimer on the accuracy of this information and add 2800 as the Social Security Administration identifying number. 

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Q100: Agency/Organization Identifying Number -- instead of "known as" use "provided in". 

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Q101: Agency/Organization Level: We realize the GSA's goal is to provide flexibility to the Agencies/Organizations in designing "custom" card programs. However from an administration and service provider perspective, the effect will be increased inefficiencies and expenses to the agency/organization and reduced economic return to the Government if the Government opens the task order process to multiple levels within the Agency/Organization. Management of data at various levels within an Agency/Organization hierarchy is built into the card programs. Overall design and ownership should therefore be centralized to ensure maximum efficiencies. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that task order placement be restricted to the agency level. This will also enable a contractor to price aggressively by knowing an approximate number of orders that could be submitted under the master contract. 

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Q102: Automated Clearinghouse (ACH): While CCD and CCD+ transactions are rather straightforward, there can be issues with applying individual transactions submitted in PPD format due to format version issues, particularly those originated by smaller banks and credit unions. In order for a card issuer to accurately track and post ACH transactions for central bill and individual bill transactions, the specific format should be specified and conform to EFT99 standards(e.g., CCD, CCD+, PPD, etc.). 

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Q103: Bank Check: The term "Bank Check" may lead to misinterpretation and implies that it must be issued by a bank. Please substitute the words "Convenience Check" for "Bank Check". Also, the definition for convenience checks should be modified to include travelers checks. (See comments to CC.11 and CC.11.3.) 

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Q104: Billing Cycle and pages 90 and 91, Authorization controls. Your definition of billing cycle is "A specific recurring time period between the time statements of account and invoices are processed." Your Authorization Controls note: c) Dollars per month limit: ... This dollar limit shall apply to the cardholder's billing cycle. and e) Transactions per month limit: ... This transaction limit shall apply to the cardholder's billing cycle." What happens when the agency sets the electronic receipt of cardholder activity and the invoice/billing cycle on a weekly or daily basis? It appears that tying these limits to the billing cycle may have serious consequences. We recommend that monthly dollar and transaction limits be set to match calendar months regardless of billing cycle. In lieu of this the limits should be set as a specific day for each agency, without regard to invoices, etc. 

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Q105: Centrally Billed Accounts: We do not authorize purchases made by Centrally Billed Accts. Please clarify why a card is needed for such an account. 

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Q106: Customization: It is standard commercial practice to offer customization of reports that do not contain data elements found in standard reports for an additional fee. Please modify the definition for customization as follows: "The standard commercial practice of creating reports, invoices, and services to meet unique needs or to a specific customer at an agreed upon fee." 

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Q107: Domestic: Define domestic. What are the US Territories and Possessions where the fleet card needs to be accepted?  

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Q108: E-Purse: I note they state E-purse is dollars! What about foreign transactions? 

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Q109: Electronic: In order to offer consistent services to each of the Agencies/Organizations and manage service expectations, the term electronic should be consistent for all electronic requirements including electronically distribute (C.18), Electronic Reconciliation (C.35.9) and Electronic Invoicing (throughout the requirements section). The term electronic should be defined as file transmissions through PC-based, CPU -to- CPU or other technology-based communications protocol. 

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Q110: Are all requests for electronic transmissions/access in the Requirements Specific to the Travel Card Section referring to electronic as defined on page 64 of the Definitions section? Or does this definition of electronic extend to the EC/EDI requirements described in C.6? 

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Q111: Level I, Level II and Level III Data. This description bears no resemblance to the way Level I, II and II data are currently available industry wide. The capability of the vendor banks is a direct function of the capability of the servicing Association that they use (there may be exceptions). Therefore, regardless of what you propose for level II and level III, the vendors can only provide what is available. We recommend that this area either not be identified in the description area, as it then appears to be a standard, but that it be identified in another area and the vendors be afforded to propose the types of level II and III data they would be able to provide. If a description is necessary, please ensure that it will be a generic standard. 

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Q112: The data elements for Level II and Level III data do not exactly match our specifications. Perhaps a better definition would be "as defined by the association from which the cards are issued". 

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Q113: Level II Data -- the term 1099 status is used but is never defined. Also need to define 1057. 

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Q114: Merchant Category Code - This code is similar to the SIC code which states the type of business of the merchant. However, knowing whether the merchant deals in goods and/or services is not sufficient for Form 1099 return reporting requirements. Each separate transaction that is for services must be properly identified. Purchases of supplies are excluded from reporting requirements. 

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Q115: Suspension - Does suspension of an ordering office imply a grouping of people - an entire hierarchy? 

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Q116: Suspension: The definition for suspension does not include individuals (Travel card program). Please modify the definition as follows: "The process in which an ordering office or individual is prohibited from making purchases with the card program due to delinquency, multiple pre-suspension actions or violations of terms and conditions of the agreement." 

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Q117: Task Order: The definition as it reads implies that each agency can negotiate pricing terms that may be different from the master contract. Please clarify whether this is the case and, if so, to what extent it is permitted. Please clarify the need for a master contract if each agency is negotiating its own pricing terms and the enforcement policy of the GSA if agencies negotiate arrangements that deviate from the master contract. 

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Q118: Transaction Dispute Office (TDO): Please clarify the roles and responsibilities of this office. Rather than establish a TDO, the Government should consider dedicating resources to coordinate with the contractor in tracking missing payments, incomplete payment data for electronic payments and incomplete/missing Prompt Payment information. 

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Q119: C.3 Scope of Work: The RFP technically requires Contractors to provide "worldwide" service. No one can provide service that literally is available everywhere. Some limitation is necessary. Please define what the Government intends by "worldwide"? Further, we suggest that Contractors not be disqualified based upon one's inability to provide worldwide service in the literal sense. In addition, we suggest that the Government permit the Contractor to establish such service in areas specifically requested by the Government in a reasonable time period. 

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Q120: C.4 Agency/Organization Eligibility Determinations. You reference Exhibits 10, 11 and 12, however, on page 255 the Contract Exhibits and Contract Documents listing shows them as 9, 10 and 11. 

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Q121: Please clarify whether the Post Office is a mandatory or non-mandatory user. 

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Q122: C.7 Card Program Requirements and C.8 Merchant Acceptance. These sections note that the type of card must provide for widespread domestic and international merchant acceptance and that the contractor shall have a mechanism to add new merchants. Based on our knowledge of the existing card services, not all card service providers have identical merchant acceptance. You might want to consider noting that within a specific timeframe after award the card transaction companies must provide a guarantee of a certain percentage of merchants, or by other means to definitively show "widespread acceptance." Without this we would have a hard time using any cards for supply purchases. We don't think that merchants will "flock" to whichever card type is available for the government award. We also feel that the merchants should be ready to assist agencies by adding appropriate upgrades to level II and III when requested by agencies for specific merchants. 

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Q123: Change wording to indicate that international acceptance of the fleet card is a value-added option. 

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Q124: C.8 Merchant Acceptance: We recommend a stipulation that the Contractor ensure that vendors do not charge a user fee for Government credit card payments. 

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Q125: The Government will need similar assistance and support to upgrade its existing card capable merchant base to Level II and Level III data capture. Add language to address this. 

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Q126: C.8.1 Point of Sale Discount: Discounts will be taken by the merchant prior to the transaction being made. The only data that will be available will be the net transaction amount. The merchant and/or the cardholder must be aware of the negotiated discount. Compliance would only be verifiable through a post transaction statistical audit. 

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Q127: C.8.1 Point of Sale Discount: Could this ever be on an individual transaction basis or will it always be by vendor? 

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Q128: Clarification is required; would this be net of discount? 

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Q129: If merchant does not pass discount information, is the Issuer to be held responsible? How & where will this information be placed? It could clash with other POS data & rules. 

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Q130: There are only two seamless ways discounts can be taken. They are: automatically and electronically by the acquirer and the processor. It is our belief that this discount schedule would require added cost because of the timely manner of negotiated discounts. 

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Q131: Please clarify point of sale discounts. 

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Q132: The requirement states that the contractor is to pass on the discount information provided by the merchant for informational purposes only. In order to maximize the value of the information provided on merchant discount transactions, limit the up front training requirements at the merchant level and simplify the rollout of Point of Sale requirements, the Government should modify the requirement to include the following language: "The agency/bureau will manage and reconcile transactions with preferred merchants to ensure that discounts are applied regularly by the merchant, utilizing the actual receipts and MIS sorted by vendor name, until such time that the vendors invest in special Point of Sale terminals to capture and report additional detail. All additional information provided by the merchant will be reported in accordance with the current process of capturing Point of Sale detail from each enhanced data capture merchant." Further, please clarify the format and amount of detail the merchant and contractor are required to provide to the Government for informational purposes. 

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Q133: C.9 Program Volume Growth and Technological Advances: Does the government plan on setting credit limits for individual agencies or departments? Will GSA or some other central agency be required to approve an increase to a department/agency credit limit? 

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Q134: The requirement to coordinate any change that involves program growth through the GSA Contracting Officer 90 days in advance does not follow best commercial practices. While a contractor can notify the Government of an impending change, changes that do not require contract modification but support program growth are overly broad and render this clause impractical. The GSA should consider amending the clause such that any change requiring a contract modification shall be submitted 90 days in advance, and that the GSA shall approve/disapprove the change up to 30 days in advance. 

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Q135: C.10 Quality Assurance: The requirement for subsection (a) is subjective and overly broad. It's inclusion could cause confusion and lead to problems. Therefore, we recommend the requirement be deleted.  

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Q136: In order to ensure the accuracy of payment posting and expedient problem resolution, the requirement for subsection (e) should be modified to read as follows: "The Contractor will ensure that payments with proper account identification are posted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. 

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Q137: g) Will satisfaction surveys customized at the A/OPC, DBO, TDO, and EO be used? For agencies requiring additional quality measures in their task orders, will the vendor be responsible for pricing and evaluation of the request? 

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Q138: Subsection (g) requests annual satisfaction and performance surveys. In order to review more timely feedback and to enable faster turnaround on outstanding issues, the recommended requirement should read follows: "Satisfaction surveys should be conducted more frequently with A/OPC's and Cardholders to assess program performance and gather customer feedback. Survey results should be submitted to the GSA and agencies on a quarterly basis. 

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Q139: Subsection (h) requires continual monitoring of the quality of services by the contractor. In order to add objectivity to the process, this requirement should allow contractors to use third party vendors to conduct the surveys. In the course of conducting these surveys, Cardholder and APC information will need to be given to third parties on a confidential and proprietary basis. 

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Q140: The GSA should make it clear that contractors can conduct and report required "contractor quality surveys" consistent with the Privacy Act obligations. The draft RFP indicates that contractors (and subcontractors) will be expected to adhere to Privacy Act requirements. As part of a contractor's Quality Assurance program, contractors will also be required to conduct "annual contractor quality surveys," the results of which are to be submitted to the GSA Contracting Officer. To the extent survey information is collected from individual users, survey results arguably constitute a "system of records" covered by the Privacy Act. At a minimum, GSA should clarify that the Government will collect and make "routine use" of Government Card Program-related survey information. That clarification should be made in the draft RFP itself and in the appropriate Privacy Act notices and/or published Privacy Act implementation guidance. 

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Q141: C.12 Delinquency Control: While contractors can accommodate the requirement that settlements be reflected in reports, there are several issues with this requirement that can create problems for both the contractor and the Government: debts which are settled are technically not, and cannot be considered discharged, in that the amount of the debt that is not repaid is still shown on the books as a debit; while cardholders will not be dunned for settled debt by the card companies and reports showing cardholder delinquencies can be modified accordingly, the integrity of the reporting to the Government is best upheld when the reports show how much debt was incurred. It is important that the Government recognize the results of delinquencies, since this will ultimately impact program economics, and the cost to the Government. Therefore, it is recommended that the requirement be modified to (1) delete the phrase 'and debt shall be considered discharged', and (2) change 'all contractor reports shall so reflect total amounts owed as well as the settlement action.' 

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Q142: C.13 Security Requirements: Does the statement "The Contractor shall, at a minimum, meet the security requirements of any Bank or Credit Card Association to which it belongs..." refer to any and all security policies, i.e., the Association's policy on no-name cards, or only on those policies referring to safeguarding data and system entry, or something else entirely? 

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Q143: There is a possibility that some contractors would need access to government sensitive systems. Does this refer to the Department of Treasury database system? 

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Q144: Government requirements for background information on personnel with access to Government account data is beyond commercial user requirements, can lead to personnel issues, and be costly. Can these requirements be eliminated or at least predefined and limited? 

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Q145: The requirement to provide contractor's security requirements for review is overly broad and can lead directly to security compromises. Many security measures taken by the card industry are highly confidential, and disclosure of same could directly lead to massive compromises, for which it is assumed that the Government would be reluctant to absorb liability. The Government must clarify which security measures it is interested in pursuing. In addition, laws such as the Privacy Act as applied to the contractors go a long way to ensure security of Government cardholder information, so this requirement is redundant and should be modified to delete the phrase 'and submit such requirements/procedures for Government review as well as any subsequent updates throughout the contract period'. 

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Q146: C.15 Investigation Assistance: The Government makes no reference to assisting the issuer in investigations. Can we expect the same level of assistance currently provided by our commercial clients with similar language in the contract re: investigation assistance as we currently have in our standard contracts with commercial clients? 

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Q147: C.15 and C.16 Investigation Assistance and Audit Assistance: Both sections need to be modified to incorporate language to the effect that 'assistance shall be provided consistent with the contractor's own requirements for disclosure of information'. Industry supports the Government's requirement, but Government has to realize that there are certain items of information that contractors, while willing to disclose, can not disclose without subpoena, such as printouts of cardholder records from computer screens or summaries of conversations between cardholders and card companies. 

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Q148: GSA should harmonize the various Draft RFP provisions dealing with access to Government Card Program information. As currently written, Section C.34 of the Draft dealing with "Program and Transaction Data" narrowly restricts contractor disclosure of Government Card Program information to "only authorized individuals designated by the A/OPC, in writing" and only to the "inquiring agency/organization and subsequent level" (see RFP at p.92). Other contract provisions establish affirmative contractor obligations regarding disclosure to particular branches of the Government, such as requiring disclosure to "any authorized investigative unit...of the US Government" (See RFP at p.73) and to the Comptroller General (see RFP at p. 253-254). Still another Draft RFP provision - Section C.22 at p. 78- restricts release or use of Government Card Program information "except as otherwise specifically provided in the contract." None of the provisions recognize that broader disclosure of Government Card Program information may be allowed or required by law (such as under the Privacy Act of the Freedom of Information Act) or by judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedures (such as a civil or grand jury subpoena). Like section C.22, section C.34 relating to "Program and Transaction Data" should be modified to clarify that the restrictions set forth therein apply generally, but do not prohibit disclosures otherwise authorized elsewhere in the Draft RFP. Sections C.22 and C.34 both should be modified to allow disclosures authorized or required by law, or by any judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedure. 

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Q149: C.17 Marketing and Advertising, C.18, Newsletters, C.19 Statement Inserts, C.20 Statement Messagings: Does the restriction on implying government endorsement of one issuer vs. another apply only between issuers who are in the Master contract or to all issuers?  

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Q150: Will issuers be at least permitted to state facts, i.e., that these agencies chose us and these were the stated criteria which supported that decision?  

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Q151: Can we use program statistics of other agencies programs which indicate success?  

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Q152: Will the government restrict its review to the two criteria it indicated (i.e., the implication of government endorsement and interpreting contract terms)? 

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Q153: The requirement for the GSA to review and approve advertising is inconsistent with the approach captured in the first sentence of the requirement; namely that marketing/advertising is the responsibility of the Contractor. The restrictions on subject matter outlined in the requirement are sufficient; the Government has options pursuant to the FAR should the Contractor not comply with the restrictions. Furthermore, GSA's own counsel has taken the position that it is not the place of the Government to review and approve Contractor marketing/advertising. In addition, the Government review/approval requirement introduces a layer of bureaucracy that is not present in other Government contracts, and is not consistent with "best commercial practices". It is recommended that this be removed. 

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Q154: It is understandable that GSA would want to control the content of training materials and prohibit advertising which constitutes Government endorsement of a product or service. However, the requirement for GSA to review and approve any advertising is not a standard practice in other Government-contractor relationships and is not consistent with commercial best practice. Furthermore, in a multiple award environment, advertisements such as '70% of agencies use XYZ products' are not endorsement, merely statements of fact. Finally, since the multiple award nature of the program encourages competition among contractors, restricting the content of advertising beyond what is in the FAR ultimately restricts the contractor's ability to compete. Since advertising is not a contractual requirement, it is strongly recommended that this requirement be modified to delete the Government approval. 

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Q155: GSA should clarify its intent regarding the restrictions on contractors relating to marketing and advertising in statement inserts and statement messaging. In discussing both statement inserts and statement messaging, the Draft RFP states that the contractor "shall be precluded from the prohibitions described in C.17. We find the language of that clause is unclear, but assume the intent is to emphasize that the C.17's general preclusions/prohibitions on marketing or advertising apply to any contractor-requested statement inserts or statement messaging. 

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Q156: The requirement states that marketing and advertising materials relative to the Government's Card Program(s) shall be precluded from ...(2) interpreting contract terms or conditions... To be meaningful, any training materials that are developed for the APC or cardholder audience will by nature need to provide details of the contract such as suspension procedures, cancellation procedures, payment responsibilities, definitions of proper invoice, agency responsibilities etc. 

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Q157: C.18 Master Contract Newsletter: The requirement states that the contractor shall develop and electronically distribute an electronic newsletter to all A/OPC participants. Please clarify that the electronic newsletters will serve as the official newsletter and that there is no need to produce and distribute the newsletter in paper format. This will ensure clear communication and avoid any potential for confusion as a result of dual reporting (e.g., paper and electronic). If paper is required, either Program Administrators will print and distribute appropriate reports on scheduled dates and/or for interim statement MIS or the contractor may provide them for a fee. Further, the GSA should state that the agency will retain responsibility for posting the newsletter on the agency's Internet site. 

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Q158: We believe that the contractor should have the right to discontinue the distribution of the newsletter if so requested by the A/OPC. 

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Q159: The term "A/OPC program participants" is unclear. Does this refer to just the A/OPCs or to every user of the Government's Card Programs? 

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Q160: The Statement of Work refers to only electronic delivery of a master contract newsletter. Can the GSA confirm if this is the only method of distribution, or identify other acceptable methods? 

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Q161: After the initial review period of marketing materials by the GSA (14 days), the draft RFP states that "revisions must be submitted to allow sufficient time for re-review without delaying distribution". The requirement should further include a 7 calendar day turnaround by the GSA on revised materials in order to ensure that the materials that are needed to train the users of the program are produced in a timely fashion. 

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Q162: C.19 Statement Inserts and pages 92 through 97, Program and Transaction Data: The solicitation and award need to provide that if an agency obtains all of their reports, etc. electronically that, at the agency option, the cardholder Statement of Account and the approving official Business Account Summary (or equivalent) are not sent as paper documents to the individuals concerned. For those agencies who are completely electronic the receipt and handling of these paper documents is an additional burden that is unnecessary. 

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Q163: The requirement of statement inserts and statement messaging seems to be counter to our desire for electronic commerce. While the solicitation does state these can be done electronically, most electronic invoice files are not formatted to do so. In fact, most customers' financial systems are not geared toward receiving textual messages, but to stripping off the minimum financial data necessary to pay the invoice. While budget offices and program offices may want to receive the information, payment offices do not. Any programmatic messages sent to payment offices would be ignored. Programmatic information needs to provided directly to those account locations. Statement Inserts and Statement Messaging are inefficient, but do provide a marketing mechanism for the contractor and GSA to transmit program information. That information SHOULD be controlled by the Contracting Office to prevent marketing of items or services not authorized by this contract. It would be more consistent with our stated goals for electronic commerce and efficient payment processes to make these items an "IF' requirement. "IF statement inserts or messaging are used, they must adhere to the following rules. . . ." 

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Q164: The requirement states that "The contractor shall provide the GSA Contracting Office, GSA Program Office, and agencies/organizations the ability to include electronic or paper inserts into cardholder statements of account to reach selected or entire Government audiences (e.g., only GSA employees, all participating agencies/organizations, etc.)" In order to manage the users' expectations and timelines and accuracy of messaging, the requirement should restrict the "customization" by agency to a selection of message types, or limit the customization capability to the GSA level only. 

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Q165: The Government should use the statement insert feature to communicate program information only to active cardholders. In order to communicate important information, the GSA should use alternative information vehicles that will ensure the proper level of attention from the cardholder. 

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Q166: How will electronic statement inserts be handled for individually billed travel accounts when there is no requirement to send these cardholders their statements electronically in section CB.15.1.7? Or does this section apply only to statement inserts for centrally billed accounts? 

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Q167: The increased postage fees and production costs associated with statement inserts will be borne by the Government. Therefore the Government should add a CLIN for statement inserts. 

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Q168: We suggest that the SOW include a provision that would permit the contractor to use the names of cardholders if these individuals indicated by signature on any program forms that they were agreeable to receive marketing statement inserts relating to other products of the contractor and/or of a third-party. 

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Q169: Please clarify whether the Government or the contractor will be responsible for producing the requested inserts. In most cases, it is more advantageous to the agency to maintain responsibility for creating and printing the insert. If it is the contractor's responsibility, it should be a value-added service. A provision should be made such that after the initial review period of statement inserts by the GSA (14 days), the draft RFP states that "revisions must be submitted to allow sufficient time for re-review without delaying distribution". The requirement should further include a seven calendar day turnaround by the GSA on revised materials in order to ensure that the materials that are needed to train the users of the program are produced in a timely fashion. 

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Q170: We recommend the second sentence be changed to read "The Contractor shall provide the GSA Contracting Office, GSA Program Office, and agencies/organizations the ability to include electronic or paper statement inserts into cardholder statements of account to reach selected (for T&E Cardholder only) or entire government audiences (e.g., only to GSA employees, all participating agencies/organizations, etc.).". We believe that any Fleet Card Program update that would need to be given to Fleet Card users would have government wide applicability. 

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Q171: C.20 Statement Messaging: The requirement states that "The contractor shall provide the GSA Contracting Office, GSA Program Office, and agencies/organizations the ability to include electronic or paper messaging into cardholder statements of account to reach selected or entire Government audiences (e.g., only GSA employees, all participating agencies/organizations, etc.)" In order to manage the users' expectations and timelines and accuracy of messaging, the requirement should restrict the "customization" by agency to a selection of message types, or limit the customization capability to the GSA level only. 

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Q172: The Government should use the messaging feature to communicate program information only to active cardholders. In order to communicate important information, the GSA should use alternative information vehicles that will ensure the proper level of attention from the cardholder. 

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Q173: The increased postage fees and production costs associated with messaging will be borne by the Government. Therefore the Government should add a CLIN for statement messaging. 

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Q174: "If the Contractor uses the statement Messaging feature relative to the Card Program(s). The Contractor shall be precluded from the prohibitions described in C.17, Marketing and Advertising..." Precluded from should read bound. 

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Q175: Add a requirement for contractor to electronically provide to each participating Agency/Organization A/OPCs and Approving Officials, at no additional expense, the same messages provided to cardholders on statements of accounts. 

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Q176: It is unclear whether statement messaging can be targeted at individuals within an agency. What is the lowest level of granularity that can be targeted? 

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Q177: C.21 Master Contract Training Conference: We recommend that the following phrase in the first sentence of the second paragraph be deleted: "at the request of the GSA Contracting Officer". 

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Q178: On what basis will the costs be prorated between contractors off the master contract? 

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Q179: The requirement states that the contractors shall participate in one annual A/OPC master contract training conference at different geographic locations each year...the GSA Contracting Officer reserves the right to require separate training sessions for each business line. In order to ensure complete information disclosure at these annual training conferences, the GSA should stipulate that the annual conference will consist of separate sessions for each contractor that are restricted to Government, Mandatory Agencies, potential program users and contractor employees. 

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Q180: In order to ensure effective and well attended additional training sessions, if separate training sessions are requested throughout the year, the GSA should limit the number of additional sessions to four. The contractor will be eligible to charge a fee to host the fifth and greater requested training sessions. 

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Q181: We recommend that the last sentence read as follows: "The Contractor shall not release, sell, or make available any information relating to this contract to any third party without the prior written consent of the Government. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Government shall permit the Contractor to utilize generic data so long as neither the Government nor its agencies/organizations are specifically identified." 

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Q182: GSA should harmonize the various Draft RFP provisions dealing with access to Government Card Program information. As currently written, Section C.34 of the Draft dealing with "Program and Transaction Data" narrowly restricts contractor disclosure of Government Card Program information to "only authorized individuals designated by the A/OPC, in writing" and only to the "inquiring agency/organization and subsequent level" (see RFP at p.92). Other contract provisions establish affirmative contractor obligations regarding disclosure to particular branches of the Government, such as requiring disclosure to "any authorized investigative unit...of the US Government" (See RFP at p.73) and to the Comptroller General (see RFP at p. 253-254). Still another Draft RFP provision - Section C.22 at p. 78- restricts release or use of Government Card Program information "except as otherwise specifically provided in the contract." None of the provisions recognize that broader disclosure of Government Card Program information may be allowed or required by law (such as under the Privacy Act of the Freedom of Information Act) or by judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedures (such as a civil or grand jury subpoena). Like section C.22, section C.34 relating to "Program and Transaction Data" should be modified to clarify that the restrictions set forth therein apply generally, but do not prohibit disclosures otherwise authorized elsewhere in the Draft RFP. Sections C.22 and C.34 both should be modified to allow disclosures authorized or required by law, or by any judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedure. 

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Q183: We recommend the GSA continue to or provide the option to use the existing card graphics/layout for the fleet card products. The continued utilization of the existing card graphic will minimize confusion at the point of sale of all merchants in the fuel card industry. GSA will benefit by minimizing the confusion at the point of sale at the merchants. 

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Q184: Please provide clarification on when the card model design is due. C.23 states 2 weeks. Addendum to Clause 52.214.4 Card Programs matrix states final card product due 4 weeks after contract award. 

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Q185: It is unclear if the background designs created by GSA are for the front of the card, the back, or both sides of the card. 

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Q186: C.23, CA.5, CB.5 and CC.5, Card Design and Embossing: There may be constraints on the ability to emboss all of the required data if an integrated solution is provided. Please consider changing the requirement for program specific data to be printed on the card instead of embossed. 

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Q187: What does it mean exactly when GSA says they will design the card? Is it their intent to dictate what information will go on the card and where that information will be located? There are design standards set by the card associations that cannot be changed. 

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Q188: This section discusses Card Design. Please comment on the requirement that there are many requests to emboss or print data directly on to the card, along with a chip, photo ID and a specially designed background. There are physical limits as to how much can fit on the plastic. This becomes of particular importance, when offering an integrated or a hybrid card solution. Please prioritize the following card design requirements. For example, the specific citations are: C.23 Government issued background design; C.23.1 Institution's toll-free customer service number; C.47.1 Long distance carrier code and calling ID number; C.47.10 Chip; C.47.12 Photo ID; CA.2 Equipment ID, Individual name or agency/organization name; CA.5.1 Account number/card number (OCR), Customer or agency/organization ID, Equipment ID, Expiration date, Product type; CB.5.1 Account name, Account number, Expiration date, 20 digit alphanumeric field for agency/organization use, individual department, agency/organization name, 15 digit alphanumeric discretionary field; CB.5.2 City Pair Program Identifier; CC.5.1 Account name, Account number, Expiration date, 20 character alphanumeric field for agency/organization use, Individual department, agency or organization name, 15 digit alphanumeric discretionary field. 

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Q189: The requirement lists many potential card designs, depending on purpose. In order to ensure widespread acceptance and eliminate confusion at the merchant level, the Government should keep to a standard card design. Common commercial practice is to issue purchasing, travel and fleet cards with a standard background and limited customization (e.g., company logos only). A common look will help the airline, hotel and car rental industries as well as new merchants to card acceptance.  

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Q190: Our interpretation of the requirement suggest as many as 11 card program designs. This could further multiply by the number of agencies who could require a unique look. These customized designs require additional lead time to print and monitor quality control. The customization will extend the implementation and replacement time frames as well as increase the overall contract price. From an economic and quality perspective, the Government should provide limited number of background designs with sufficient lead time to print the cards. We recommend that any agency customizations should be moved to value-added services. 

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Q191: The Draft RFP stipulates the required data fields to be embossed on the face of the card. However, there are some fields, not mentioned in the requirement that are standard commercial design (e.g., effective date). Please clarify whether additional information can be embossed on the card in addition to the Government specifications. 

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Q192: C.23.2 Generic Card Requirements: Are these to be included with nongeneric agency reports? This is a cross bank reporting requirement and not supported. 

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Q193: We recommend that the second sentence be changed to read: "...an account number (except for Fleet Cards) which is indistinguishable from non-government personal cards." Fleet Cards have an account number that is assigned to a fleet (central account), not a person; therefore the account number will be distinguishable from any personal card account number. The account number will be unique to the agency using general cards and not distinguishable to other agencies. We recommend that the following phrase at the end of the third sentence be deleted: "except C.32, Tax Exempt Status". 

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Q194: The question has been withdrawn at the respondent's request. 

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Q195: The fleet card should have the possibility of a "Quasi-Generic" Card similar to the travel card program. It is possible that generic fleet cards could be tax exempt without identifying the card presenter as a Government employee since most taxes are deducted at the corporate level rather than the point of sale. The same paragraph language currently used in CB.5.3 should be used in the Fleet Card section CA.5. 

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Q196: C.23.2 - Do generic cards fall under the same requirements for statement messaging/statement inserts as government cards? In order for generic cards to be truly indistinguishable from other nongovernment cards, the generic cardholders may occasionally receive statement messages/inserts that do not apply to them. 

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Q197: C.23.3 Sample/Test Card Requirements: We recommend the fifth sentence be changed to read: "Test Cards will have limited charge capability in the T&E and Purchasing Card environment and will be limited by an early expiration date (not charge capability) in the Fleet Card environment." 

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Q198: Please clarify the purpose, frequency and quantity of test cards required by the GSA. In order to ensure the success of and increase control associated with offering Test Cards, the GSA should be responsible for educating and coordinating with vendors on the purpose and authorization levels of the card. 

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Q199: In addition, the requirement should stipulate that "test cards will be subject to the same controls as 'live' cards within the agency. The card design noting that the cards are for test purposes only will restrict Point of Sale purchases outside the approved merchant base. All telephone orders using the card will be subject to physical restrictions monitored by the A/OPC." 

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Q200: C.24 Account Number: A unique prefix can easily be assigned to the Federal Government. By allowing the Government to dictate the account numbering system or sequencing, the Government may be jeopardizing the security of the account number. 

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Q201: This section indicates a prohibition against using existing account numbers for this contract that are used under other existing federal contracts. Please clarify the reasoning for this restriction. Is this restriction intended to address cards issued under this contract by current providers or cards issued under contracts with other Federal agencies? If this is the latter, please consider removing this prohibition as the integration of existing programs with this contract could facilitate shorter startup times for agencies, less development effort, and less costly solutions. 

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Q202: The Government reserves the right to require multiple prefixes, separate numbering systems or sequence for control purposes. Please provide an example. 

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Q203: Unique number schemes are requested. What are the driving factors behind this requirement? Please provide an example. 

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Q204: The requirement states "The Government reserves the right to require multiple prefixes, separate numbering systems or sequence for control purposes." We recommend this statement be changed to "The Contractor shall assign a Government unique account number(s) and within that account number have the ability to provide controls for the Government." The recommended language provides Government with adequate controls, merchant recognition, and merchant benefits to Government Cardholders while providing Contractors with an improved ability to manage their operations. 

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Q205: C.25, Training Requirements: Paragraph 4) of this section is too open-ended. The training to be developed by the offeror should assume that the user is already proficient to use the tools upon which electronic access software may be provided. As the offeror is not responsible for providing computer hardware, the offeror should not be expected to provide training for said hardware, peripherals or operating systems. See NOTE: The note indicates that the timeframes stated below are effective November 30, 1998; however, there are no timeframes stated. This section also indicates a prohibition against using Government official seals and logos. Based on a task order, an agency may request agency-specific training material or other collateral with their logo or seal. Please consider allowing an agency's seal or logo to be used if requested and approved by that Government agency. 

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Q206: This section deals with training requirements and providing agencies access to all training materials via their Intranets. Are any more specifics available on the requirements for agency Intranets? 

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Q207: C.25.1, Cardholder Guide: This section should not apply to the Fleet card. Fleet cards are usually issued to vehicles rather than people, with many different possible users of any one card. The cardholder guide for fleet should be limited to driver instructions that can be kept in the glove-box of the vehicle: 

• Authorized uses of the card
• How to use the card (point of sale device instructions)
• Cardholder responsibilities
• Toll-free or Collect customer service number 

Management of the cards is done by a Fleet Manager, possibly responsible for over 1,000 cards/vehicles. For many agencies, only the Fleet Manager can request new cards, replace cards, report lost/stolen cards, etc. Therefore, only one copy of the following information is needed per customer unit: 

• Procedures for reporting lost/stolen cards
• Replacement card ordering procedures
• New card ordering procedures
• Explanation of electronic access screens, etc.
• Account suspension and cancellation procedures
• Payment requirements
• Foreign currency conversion procedures (if applicable)
• Sample of cardholder guide (for vehicles/drivers) 

For Fleet, the driver's cardholder guide may be combined with an abbreviated version of the contractor's merchant network guide (CA.6.1) 

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Q208: With regard to Subparagraph #2, please define the term limited as used in the statement "The Contractor shall provide a limited number of hard copies of each training material to the A/OPC and GSA Contracting Office as requested." By defining the number of training material hard copies to be required, Contractors can reduce cost uncertainty as well as increase the quality and efficiency of training and program rollout. 

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Q209: The requirement states "Contractor training materials shall be precluded from ...interpreting contract terms or conditions" We believe that for training material to be effective and informative, key contract terms and conditions such as suspension and cancellation procedures, payment responsibilities, agency responsibilities, and proper invoice definition must be fully described and communicated to the APC and cardholder community. We recommend that Contractors not be precluded from interpreting contract terms and conditions. 

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Q210: The requirement states "Contractor training materials shall be precluded from ...using Government official seals and logos, excluding the card design(s)"... We recommend that Contractors be allowed to use Government logos and seals for training documents provided the Contractor has permission from the agency to do so. Allowing Contractors to use official seals and logos demonstrates and communicates the Agency/Contractor partnership and resulting cooperative support for the program and its cardholders. 

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Q211: The requirement states "The GSA Contracting Officer will review materials for content and provide written approval/disapproval within 14 calendar days of receipt of the Contractor's materials. Revisions must be submitted to allow sufficient time to re-review without delaying distribution." While there exists a defined timeline for initial review of materials (e.g. 14 days), the requirement lacks a defined turnaround timeframe with regards to re-review. We request a turnaround time limit of 7 calendar days for the GSA Contracting Officer to re-review materials. The recommended re-review timeline of 7 calendar days should provide sufficient time based upon commercial/industry practices. 

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Q212: Guides, combine the various paper guides into one guide that contains the following information: Delivery of Dispute Office Guide, Delivery of Cardholder Guide, Agency/Organization Program Coordination Guide, Designated Billing Office Guide, Dispute Office Guide and Electronic Access Guide. Couldn't our purposes be satisfied with one guide that would lend itself to practicality and efficiency? 

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Q213: C.25.1.c. Cardholder Guide: Does this mean that all cardholders need to have electronic access to review their account and to file disputes? 

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Q214: C.25.3 Designated Billing Office Guide: The requirement states the Designated Billing Office Guide will, at a minimum, include...reconciliation procedures. We request C.25.3, c) be further defined as "reconciliation procedures specific to card contractor processes". By further defining the respective roles of Contractor and TMC/CTO, the involved parties more clearly understand their responsibilities and have potentially more accurate and current information. 

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Q215: Once the government gives oral instruction to set up an account, is that authorization to proceed or must the contractor wait until it receives written confirmation? 

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Q216: Specific questions pertaining to the Designated Billing Office Guide include: To what degree will the GSA and/or specific agencies provide input regarding the content of the Designated Billing Office Guide? Is a separate guide required, or can the procedures be included within the Agency/Organization Program Coordinator Guide? 

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Q217: C.26 Personnel: We do not believe this section should be included in the RFP. The Contractor's performance should be measured against performance as outlined in the contract. We will always be sensitive to the needs of the Government and are confident that our policies and practices regarding employee recruitment, development and retention are consistent with meeting the expectations of the Government. This requirement, particularly the necessity to seek and obtain Government approval for personnel replacements, is inconsistent with standard commercial practice in the fleet card industry. 

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Q218: Much of this section seems burdensome for the contractor and the Contracting Office without providing any additional value beyond what would normally be considered good customer service. It is in the contractor's best interest to be responsive or the customer can terminate their task order and go elsewhere. (FAR 52.212-4 Addendum #26). It is also in the contractor's best interest to be "user-friendly" r their customer satisfaction rating will slip and make them eligible for termination either of the task order or of the master contract. Requiring a specific point of contact for overall Project Management (master contract oversight) seems reasonable; however, Task Order Managers, Account Coordinators, and EC/EDI Coordinators should be subject to more flexibility. If the agency requires dedicated staff, then that should be part of their task order (and their price structure). Some agencies will not need full-time staff to meet their needs, especially in the Fleet card area. Once past initial implementation, the fleet card program has operated with nominal staff for the entire Government. During the shift from a Government Standard Form (SF149) to a commercial card product, there was an intensive implementation effort -- restructuring of agency policies, procedures, and even organizations. However, we do not anticipate ever again needing that level of implementation support. Our current contract and the master contract require transition assistance which will make task order implementation much easier. 

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Q219: C.26.2: This section appears to conflict with Paragraph 41, p. 220 ("Key Personnel"). For example, it is unclear whether EC/EDI Coordinators or Account Coordinators are key personnel. Please identify all key personnel required to be identified for this contract. 

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Q220: C.26.2 - C.26.3: Key Personnel Categories and Responsibilities: Our personnel categories and division of responsibility differs from those listed by the GSA. Are these categories and responsibilities mandatory or is their flexibility in how we organize work flow between different job categories? 

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Q221: C.26.3 Key Personnel Responsibilities: We recommend that at the end of paragraph a), after "5:00 p.m. Eastern Time" the following should be added: "each business day." 

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Q222: C.27 Start-Up Implementation Requirements: For any of the business lines, if an agency does not opt to change the contractor, it is our preference that the cards would automatically be reactivated, without having to reissue them. For those cards that have been canceled due to negligence, unauthorized use, etc., we would like the option of reissuing these cards/accounts. If we select a different contractor, it is our preference to have cards automatically reissued based on the account data transferred by the former contractor to the new contractor. For those cards that have been canceled, we would like the option of reissuing these cards/accounts. 

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Q223: Schedule is unrealistic. Ten (10) days is not sufficient to bring up a tailored program. Please advise why such a limited amount of time is given. 

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Q224: C.27.2, Presentation Package: If the presentation packages are available through the Internet and are to include pricing, yet the contractor can withhold any proprietary information, this seems to be a contradiction as pricing would certainly be considered as proprietary. Please clarify this issue. 

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Q225: The package to be made available after Kick-Off Conference does not state specifically that this is the final presentation. Can the GSA clarify whether or not the draft or final presentation which may include proprietary information is expected to be on the Internet? 

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Q226: Presentation Packages: It is not clear whether the Presentation Package referenced here will contain pricing information, or whether the FSSIP (Federal Supply Service Information Package) referenced elsewhere will contain pricing information. Please clarify that the Government will only provide CLIN pricing in either document, not proprietary pricing detail that may be provided to support any CLIN pricing. 

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Q227: The contractor should be entitled to prepare a detailed presentation package to summarize its own view of the requirements and contractor capabilities. This information will be in compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract and, therefore, align with the review of the contract features in the FSSIP. Since the contractor must abide by the terms of the contract, the requirement for the Government to approve the presentation package seems redundant. 

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Q228: C.27.3 The draft solicitation states: "After the master ceremony, Contractors may begin marketing to agencies/organizations." In order to maintain a level playing field, it is critical that agencies be prohibited from committing, either verbally or in writing, to any card association or offeror in advance of the kick-off conference. 

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Q229: C.27.4, Start Up Implementation Schedule: We need a list of mandatory and non-mandatory users. As an organization who believes in delivering a quality product, we feel that 10 days is not enough time to create a tailored product. 

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Q230: We recommend "subsection c) Card/Account Activation:" be deleted because it is not applicable for fleet card programs. In accordance with standard industry practice, our fleet cards are activated upon encoding of the magnetic stripe; hence any issued card is active. However, our fleet card can only be used if a Driver Access Code is used at the time of the sale - this provides additional security for the GSA and controls initiation of the program. If the GSA needs cards on or before November 30, 1998, our cards will be active upon delivery to agency/organization and issuance of driver access codes to the drivers.  

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Q231: We recommend the following be added to the second paragraph at the end of the second sentence: "(provided all appropriate data, including, but not limited to driver, vehicle and account set-up data elements provided by the Government, can be provided by the A/OPC. Otherwise the implementation schedule will be completed when data is available)". 

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Q232: C.27.4, Task Order Placement Schedule: The task order placement schedule as documented does not provide distinct windows for each group of Federal agencies. Please consider not having overlapping windows of task order placement. Please also consider that non-mandatory "pooled" task orders be included in the non-mandatory windows of task order submission. Please include the list of mandatory users in the final solicitation issued. 

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Q233: We request that a final list of mandatory and non-mandatory users be included in the GSA's final solicitation. Please clarify the rules for the two task order pools (mandatory and non-mandatory) that were announced at the 6/16 GSA meeting: Will Contractors be required to accept all GSA-pooled orders from non-mandatory agencies? As stated now, Contractors may decline to accept a standard or tailored task order submitted by a non-mandatory user, but are required to accept all GSA-pooled task orders regardless of mandatory/non-mandatory status (See Addendum 52.212-4, 38.9, Paragraph 2, "The GSA Pool"). As this solicitation is currently written, non-mandatory agencies could pool their standard or tailored task orders and require a Contractor to accept the pooled task order. 

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Q234: Please define the effective date of each master contract. Is it the award date, the expiration date of each contract in place or November 30, 1998? 

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Q235: Requirement C.27.4 specifies that cards shall not be delivered any earlier than November 15, 1998 unless an earlier date is specified in the agency/organization task order. Card implementations often occur in timeframes compressed significantly from what was originally agreed to for the parties. It is essential that the Government permit an alternative mechanism for rolling out cards, permitting signature cards to take the place of the signed cardholder agreement during an agreed-upon implementation period. 

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Q236: C.28, Year 2000 Compliance: We are happy this change has been made. 

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Q237: Requiring year 2000 compliance is critical for ensuring smooth system operations during the life of the contract. 

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Q238: C.29, Transaction Authorizations: Requests reporting for spending at excluded merchants; any unauthorized or denied transactions, spending on certain dates and times. Note that the settlement record does not include time. 

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Q239: We monitor spending patterns to help control fraud and card misuse. Do not penalize us for a merchant who is not set up to send data electronically because we cannot report on it. 

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Q240: We recommend changing the sentence that begins "Immediate override capabilities..." to "Immediate override capabilities to include programmatic overrides at the card level with expiration dates shall be provided...".  

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Q241: In the seventh sentence please change the second parenthesis to read: "(for purchase card only, a purchase split between two or more purchase orders);" 

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Q242: This section states: "The Contractor shall monitor account transactions to identify any unusual spending patterns or frequencies (e.g., identifying multiple purchases having the characteristics of a "split purchasing" pattern (a purchase split between two or more purchase orders); alerting to attempted purchases at excluded merchants; flagging purchases that are made on dates and times that are outside of normal cardholder spending patterns) and promptly notify the A/OPC of any unusual spending patterns or frequencies as well as provide this information on the agency's/organization's exception report specified in C.38.2, subparagraph e)." While the Contractor can provide the agency/organization with the appropriate reporting to manage their card programs, the government should consider such "real time" program monitoring as a value-added service. We would also welcome the opportunity to work with any agency Inspector Generals to develop solutions to these issues in support of any Contracts awarded to our issuers. 

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Q243: The most efficient way for a contractor to notify A/OPCs concerning unusual spending patterns is via the exception report. Vendors would need clarification from the GSA on the requirement for prompt notification. 

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Q244: We request the deletion of "alerting to attempted purchases at excluded merchants." 

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Q245: Regarding "immediate overrides" for certain declined authorizations, will individual task orders provide after-hour authorization procedures? 

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Q246: Section C.29 states "The Contractor shall monitor account transactions...alerting to attempted purchases at excluded merchants..." Merchant exclusion functionality offers additional value primarily for purchase card transactions. To apply this functionality to the travel card could hinder the employees ability to effectively complete a travel assignment. We recommend that the existing requirement be amended to apply exclusively to the purchase card business line and as a value-added to specific travelers or agencies/organizations. 

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Q247: C.30, Authorization Controls: Default Limit - Is default limit the same as credit limit (applicable to either cardholder or agency/company)? Please provide your definition of this term. 

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Q248: The fleet industry is only now moving toward individualized purchase parameters at the point of sale. Currently, purchases are generally reviewed after the fact using exception reports. In part, this is because Fleet Managers have been reluctant to risk leaving a driver stranded if the appropriate person with over-ride authority was not available. As more and more fleets are moving toward 24 hour maintenance hot-lines, using technology instead of people to answer the phones, the fleet card industry is changing their systems to allow more stringent authorization controls. However, it would be premature to require such controls at this time. The wording should be revised to allow these types of authorization controls rather than require them. OR, require them as soon as they are available to their commercial customers. (The evaluation questionnaire should be able to determine if an offeror already has these controls in place. Market monitoring should reveal when these features are added by those offerors which did not bid the capability.) These could be required at the Task Order level. 

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Q249: Merchant Category Code - In addition to the Merchant Category Code restrictions, agencies need the capability to restrict cardholder buys to a specific merchant(s). This could be accomplished by keying on the merchant's Taxpayer Identification Number. The need for an individual merchant restriction arises in cases where cardholders are restricted to buys from specified requirements contracts. 

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Q250: We recommend modifying the last sentence of the first paragraph to read "... has the ability to immediately void cards or driver access codes...".  

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Q251: We recommend that the word "account" be replaced with "account/vehicle/unit" in each of the following subsections: a), b), d).  

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Q252: We recommend the following be added to subsection c) and subsection e): "Only applicable for the T&E Card Program".  

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Q253: We recommend adding three additional paragraphs of authorization controls: Service Industry daily dollar limit: Each account/vehicle/unit may be assigned a dollar per day per service industry limit by the A/OPC, Service Industry transactions per day limit: Each account/vehicle/unit may be assigned a transaction per day per service industry limit by the A/OPC, Service Industry dollars per transaction limit: Each account/vehicle/unit may be assigned a dollar per transaction per service industry limit by the A/OPC. Service Industry is defined as the following: fuel, fast lube, tire, mechanical, body shop, glass, rental, dealer/OEM, road service and car wash. 

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Q254: Certain authorization controls defined in C.30 (e.g. transaction dollar, per day and per month limits) are not commercially viable for the travel card business line. While these transaction-based limits provide needed controls for the purchase card business line, to apply the same controls to travel card provides the environment for a significant increase in unintended Point of Sale declines and referrals, potentially delaying or stranding Government travelers mid-mission. We recommend either the existing wording be dropped or amended to apply exclusively to the purchase card business line. Should the GSA not accept the above noted recommendation, please describe if the transaction per day and per month limits pertain to dollars, transaction count, or both. 

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Q255: Merchant Category Codes must be able to be customized to be merchant specific. 

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Q256: C.31, Posting of Transactions: Each agency should have the option of increasing the number of transactions made by a cardholder (transaction velocity) before the additional verification requirements are imposed. Many of our central purchasing agents make more than 15 purchases during a day and the additional authentication requirements at that level of activity greatly slow down their ability to purchase as they are on the phone explaining to the vendors how they have to do additional steps to verify the purchase. 

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Q257: Clarify for GSA - Matching reference number for cardholder is not guaranteed - some Acquirer banks re-use reference numbers until they get a need to change it for uniqueness on a given day. Disputes - merchants to retain receipts for disputes......what about MOTO? 

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Q258: Please clarify what is meant by a 'manual' transaction. 

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Q259: Section C.31 states: "Posted credit transactions shall include the reference number assigned at the time of the original charge or another identifier that will enable the cardholder to match the original charge with the credit." This requirement offers increased productivity to the contractor and improves the Government's transaction posting process provided the merchant submits the credit's reference number. As such, we recommend the section be amended to accommodate standard commercial practices as follows: "Posted credit transactions shall include the reference number assigned at the time of the original charge or another identifier that will enable the cardholder to match the original charge with the credit, provided the merchant submits the credit's reference number." 

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Q260: C.32, Tax Exempt Status: "Work cooperatively with the government......" What is expected? 

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Q261: The word cooperatively is vague and unenforceable, we recommend it be dropped from this section.

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Q262: The states are ultimately responsible and accountable for levying sales tax and applying federal exemptions. The state in effect appoints merchants as agents of the state to collect taxes. Please amend the requirement to address these issues. 

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Q263: The cost to the GSA versus the number of people who will accidentally charge tax at the point-of-sale needs to be evaluated prior to mandating such a program. 

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Q264: C.33, Foreign Currency Conversion: No conversion fee - by contractor - what about acquirer, association? 

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Q265: We need to see history of foreign exchange dollar volume so that this information can be included in our financial models. 

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Q266: Can the GSA define favorable conversion rate? 

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Q267: Please provide an estimate of prior years' foreign exchange dollar volumes. Additionally, what percentage of the government's travel is foreign travel? Bank card issuers need this information as input into their financial models in support of their bids. 

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Q268: Please provide transaction dollars and volume for non-U.S. purchases by business line. 

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Q269: For ease in reconciling foreign currency transactions to the statement and original receipt, the GSA should amend this requirement to simply provide the original transaction amount in foreign currency as well as the US dollar equivalent. 

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Q270: Association rules mandate a 1% charge for foreign currency conversion. This cannot be waived. If a card issuer elected to absorb the cost, extensive system changes will be required to prevent the fee from being assessed. Our recommendation is to make waiver of the foreign currency conversion fee an option and to allow some issuers to retain the fee, but make up for it with a higher rebate. 

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Q271: C.34 Program and Transaction Data: GSA should harmonize the various Draft RFP provisions dealing with access to Government Card Program information. As currently written, Section C.34 of the Draft dealing with "Program and Transaction Data" narrowly restricts contractor disclosure of Government Card Program information to "only authorized individuals designated by the A/OPC, in writing" and only to the "inquiring agency/organization and subsequent level" (see RFP at p.92). Other contract provisions establish affirmative contractor obligations regarding disclosure to particular branches of the Government, such as requiring disclosure to "any authorized investigative unit...of the US Government" (see RFP at p.73) and to the Comptroller General (see RFP at p. 253-254). Still another Draft RFP provision - Section C.22 at p. 78- restricts release or use of Government Card Program information "except as otherwise specifically provided in the contract." None of the provisions recognize that broader disclosure of Government Card Program information may be allowed or required by law (such as under the Privacy Act of the Freedom of Information Act) or by judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedures (such as a civil or grand jury subpoena). Like section C.22, section C.34 relating to "Program and Transaction Data" should be modified to clarify that the restrictions set forth therein apply generally, but do not prohibit disclosures otherwise authorized elsewhere in the Draft RFP. Sections C.22 and C.34 both should be modified to allow disclosures authorized or required by law, or by any judicial or quasi-judicial order, rule or procedure. 

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Q272: Section C.34 begins with "The Contractor shall provide, at a minimum, its Level III platform for program and transaction data and forward all data received from merchants and obtained by the Contractor to the Government." We recommend this sentence be amended to read "The Contractor shall forward data received from merchants. This includes Level III data provided the specific merchant has the ability to provide such transaction detail." Our recommended language focuses the acquisition and management of data on those select merchants who can accommodate Level III detail capture. 

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Q273: C.34.1 Electronic Access to Program and Transaction Data: In other sections of the Draft Solicitation, the topics of cardholder ability to access program material/information, dispute charges, etc. is addressed, while Section C.34.1 does not address the Government's requirements for card data viewing either from an access or a Privacy Act viewpoint. Please define the Government's requirements for Contractors in providing cardholders electronic access to account information. 

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Q274: "Provide the ability to dispute transactions electronically as well as track transactions from the time of charge through final resolution of the charge." Are customers protected equally if they dispute a charge electronically rather than in writing? Does this include E-mail? 

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Q275: C.34.1: Change the term "on-line" to "electronically". In this context, on-line seems to connote live data. It is unlikely that any contractor for any business line will provide access to live transaction data. Delayed access is more likely. 

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Q276: Recommend a one week maximum delay in providing transaction data electronically. That is, data must be accessible within one week of transaction posting by the contractor. The contractor should be allowed to provide their commercial terms for the length of time data remains available (e.g., one month's worth of data, two month's, three month's, etc.). 

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Q277: (b) Ability to sort by ANY field seems unreasonable. 

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Q278: (h) The Fleet Card would need to have the Equipment Identification (vehicle tag number) as a selection criteria since costs are tracked by vehicle. 

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Q279: (h) Billing address is too vague -- computers cannot identify addresses unless they are exactly the same. Selection criteria should be something more specific and less prone to typographical differences (e.g., zip code). 

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Q280: Please address the following: If the Internet is used for electronic access, is the Government or Contractor responsible for providing access and paying costs for the Internet service provider? Since most agencies already have an Internet service provider, we recommend that the agencies/organizations be responsible. 

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Q281: The contractor must provide the file layout for each of these files to the agency prior to the startup of the program. The contractor must either use a unique naming scheme for each type of file or, the file type must be defined within the file in each record. File names must also be established prior to the startup of the program and must remain consistent, unless the agency is notified 30 days in advance that the file names will be changed. This is required so that the customer can perform downloads and uploads of these files programmatically, without human intervention. For example, it is NOT acceptable to have the file with the Transaction Data (the statement of account) name Stuff01 one day and then have the Invoice data be named Stuff01 another day. It is acceptable to have both Transaction data and Invoice data in the same file, only if each record in the file defines whether the data is transaction or invoice data. 

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Q282: We recommend the following modification to the fourth sentence in the first paragraph: This does not include providing any underlying operating system (e.g., UNIX, OS/2, Macintosh, DOS, or Windows), commercially available web browser software (e.g., Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer), or computer hardware. 

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Q283: The following comments are in regards to Section C.34, C.34.1, C.34.6 and C.38: We have significant security concerns regarding the availability of our transaction data online and its availability to the GSA Contracting Officer. Due to our protection responsibilities, we do not release transaction level detail. If any data is released at this level, it is classified data and is so annotated. In addition, we have concerns on the release of program and transaction data governed under the Freedom of Information Act. The disclosure of the Service's data should be controlled by the Service based upon the Freedom of Information Act Section 6 (C) (b) which exempts certain matters that are: (2) related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency; (7) (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law, or; (7) (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual. 

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Q284: C.34.2 Agency/Organization Program Information: We recommend that the language be changed to read: "Upon issuance of the task order, the agencies shall be responsible for providing a list of names, addresses, telephone/facsimile numbers, and e-mail addresses for key personnel listed below, including changes as they occur...The contractor will subsequently be responsible for maintaining the list and keeping the list current. " 

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Q285: Define "regularly" and state to whom this information is to be reported. 

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Q286: Agency/Organization Program Information - Account reconciliation appears to fall under the responsibility of the Designated Billing Office and the Transaction Dispute Office. Will there be a primary contact for the contractor? How will the TDO ensure that the DBO includes re-payment of disputed items where support and/or resolution has occurred? 

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Q287: C.34.5 Master File: To obtain a reporting system which accommodates large, decentralized agencies, the following addition is needed: The portion of the master file containing, "Agency/organization/department, bureau and component name and address;" needs to be expanded to allow for summary reports at an additional hierarchical level. For instance, we are structured as follows: Bureau, Component (Region), Sub-component (function/district). An additional tier is needed to satisfy our reporting requirements at the Regional levels. We believe numerous other agencies could benefit from a structure which adds a sub-component level. 

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Q288: ...In batch electronic uploads. The contractor must provide the file layout of each of these files to the agency prior to the startup of the program. The contractor must either use a unique naming scheme for each type of file or, the file type must be defined within the file in each record. File names must also be established prior to the startup of the program and must remain consistent, unless the agency is notified 30 days in advance that the file names will be changed. This is required so that the customer can perform downloads and uploads of these files programmatically, without human intervention. For example, it is NOT acceptable to have the file with the Transaction Data (the statement of account) name Stuff01 one day and then have the Invoice data be named Stuff01 another day. It is acceptable to have both data in the same file, only if each record in the file defines whether the data is transaction or invoice data. 

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Q289: Add: to substantially improve the card programs, program and transaction data should be available on-line and up to the minute. This would eliminate the need to make telephone inquiries for account information, which we currently have to do on a daily basis.  

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Q290: We recommend that the following be added to paragraph three: "(Only applicable to T&E Card Program)". 

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Q291: Can the government provide additional information about GSA requirement: "Minimum 30 digit alpha numeric field per five line work address" ? We can provide for 2 lines of street address, plus city, state, country and internal address fields. Does the government require the fine 30 digit lines to be free form, or could the current address field format meet their requirements? 

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Q292: Section C.34.5 begins "The Contractor shall develop, maintain and update a master file for each cardholder, A/OPC, Designated Billing Office, Transaction Dispute Office, EC/EDI Office, and Report Office, on-line." This requirement needs to clarify specific inter-relationships. For example: Do multiple cardholders relate to one A/OPC and a Designated Billing Office and a Transaction Dispute Office and a EC/EDI office and a Report Office? Do multiple cardholders relate to one A/OPC or a Designated Billing Office or a Transaction Dispute Office or a EC/EDI office or a Report Office? Do multiple cardholders relate to one A/OPC with multiple A/OPC's relating to one Designated Billing Office? Do multiple cardholders relate to an A/OPC while centrally billed accounts relate to a Designated Billing Office? 

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Q293: The data elements for name and for five-line work address are on separate lines. Does this mean that an address must constitute six lines total, name included, or five lines total, name included? 

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Q294: C.34.5.1 Card Specific Information: The title to this Section should read "Account or Card Specific Information:" Also; each place within this section where "Cardholder" is referenced should read "Account/Cardholder". 

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Q295: Standard commercial practice is a 4-line work address. What is the business need for a 5-line work address? 

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Q296: C.34.5.1 Fleet Card Specific: Does the term "Master Accounting Code" refer to the 46 digits made available for agency use? The statement currently says 64. 

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Q297: C.34.5.1: Because cards are assigned to vehicles rather than people, there is no "cardholder" information for the fleet card, only agency information. 

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Q298: C.34.5.1 (i): What is the master accounting code? 

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Q300: C.34.5.1 (i): How often will the electronic address be available? Will vendors have any options to accommodate the electronic address? 

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Q301: C.34.5.1 (i): The contractor shall provide electronic access to each participating A/OPC to enable program implementation and program management to include but not be limited to sorting, reviewing and manipulation of transaction data. Does this include the manipulation of data fields that contain charge information? 

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Q302: C.34.5.1-6 Master File - (Card, Agency/Organization, DBO, TDO, EO, Report) Specific Information: The requirement states that agency name and address must be included for each level of reporting. There are several alternatives to maintaining redundant data at different hierarchy levels. It will be more efficient from a data processing and management perspective to identify agencies and locations with a unique identification code. Contractors can provide efficiency alternatives to assist the Government in streamlining, coding and managing critical information within the Master File.  

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Q303: Please provide clarification on the purpose of maintaining the master accounting code. Will the agency/organization use the master accounting code for automatic application to the General Ledger/Accounts Payable system? Will each card be hard-coded to a specific G/L code? 

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Q304: Please define the following the following numbers, give examples, and provide limits to character length for the following: Agency/Organization Number for Agency/Organization Program Coordinator; Agency/Organization Number for Designated Billing Office; Agency/Organization Number for Transaction Dispute Office; Agency/Organization Number for EC/EDI Office; Transaction Data Element "Accounting Code." 

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Q305: C.34.5.6 This section states, "NOTE - This is the record of address(es) to which reports is to be distributed for each card. (Contact name, report title/number, report address, phone & fax)" What is meant by reports for each card? 

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Q306: C.34.6 Transaction Data: Since the Agency/organization names and identifying numbers are already in the cardholder's master file, it is unclear why they need to be "recorded" for each purchase. However, the feasibility of a data sort by Agency/Organization, as well as by Components and Sub-components are needed for each transaction. 

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Q307: C.34.6 Transaction Data: Includes TIN but does not require the corporate status of the merchant. For Form 1099 requirements, the bidders must know this status because the form is not filed on corporations. They are excluded. 

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Q308: Requires the merchant category code. As stated elsewhere, this does not separate reportable from nonreportable transactions for the Form 1099 requirements. Also as stated under fleet above, the corporate status is not listed as a transaction data element. 

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Q309: It is extremely difficult to get accurate report data from a purchase made with a Travelers Check. No effective audit trail is established with this purchasing method. 

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Q310: Transaction Data Elements: We recommend that the following items either be deleted or marked as not applicable to the Fleet Card Program: y) Ship to/from zip codes; z) Freight amount; aa) Duty amount; bb) Order date; dd) Order number. 

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Q311: Reference C.34.6.1 & CA9.2 The general data elements required in C.34.6.1 when added to the specific elements required in CA.9.2 total more than 50 items. Are that many elements needed by the government for fuel purchases that typically range from $15-$30? 

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Q312: C.34.6.1 Transaction Data for Travelers Checks: Extremely limited information is available regarding purchases made with Traveler's Checks. The merchant name and date of the transaction are available only on an exception basis (such as an investigation). Elements e, j through ee are not available.

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Q313: Please provide clarification on whether requirements in C.34.6.1 refers to the purchase of Travelers Checks? Or purchases made with Travelers checks? 

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Q314: C.34.6.1(m) Master Accounting Code must be a mandatory field. Also need to make sure that a field representing the unique customer field is referenced. dd) reflects order number, and that may cover it, but a field must be available to support a purchase order or other unique identifying number, specified by the orderer, that becomes part of the transaction for reconciliation purposes. That unique number should also print on the paper statement of account supplied by the contractor. 

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Q315: C.35 Standard commercial practice utilizes date of birth, social security number and mothers maiden name in card activation and customer service security procedures. The draft specifies that no personal information on cardholders will be provided other than name/address. What methods are suggested, if standard commercial practices are not to be used? 

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Q316: C.35.1 The requirements state a need for single account numbers with multiple sub-accounts. What is the business need for this requirement? Please provide an example. 

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Q317: C.35.1.d) Please define what is meant by single account numbers with multiple subaccounts. Provide examples. 

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Q318: Regarding multiple accounts in paragraph d, please clarify how these accounts would be used by the government. Standard industry practice is to assign one unique account number to an individual. 

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Q319: C.35.2 Card/Cardless Issuance and Delivery for Centrally Billed Accounts: We recommend that paragraph b) be modified as follows: "...within three (3) business days or a time agreed upon between the Contractor and agency/organization of receipt of the completed program forms." 

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Q320: Standard commercial practice necessitates a cutoff time, for example, 3 p.m. EST to meet processing and courier deadlines. In order to meet 24 hour turn-around for card replacement upon request, what cutoff time is suggested? 

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Q321: C.35.3 Emergency Account Set-Up and Card Delivery: The second paragraph refers to setting up an account upon oral instruction with confirmation to follow in three business days. Is the confirmation in writing? Does the Contractor or the Government provide confirmation? What are the ramifications of not receiving such confirmation, if any? 

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Q322: C.35.5, Card Renewal: Recommend that contractors be required to automatically renew only cards that have been used within the past 90 days (unless cancellation is requested by the agency). Inactive cards should be automatically deleted unless a renewal request is received by the agency. The contractor must provide a list of all cards in either category (active/inactive) to the agency 90 days prior to expiration. Historically many Fleet card customers only review their card inventory at expiration time. Otherwise, they just keep adding new cards as vehicles come into their fleets without deleting the cards for vehicles that have been removed. 

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Q323: C.35.6 Card activation is considered standard commercial practice for verification of receipt of card. Is card activation is an acceptable method? If not, what are the methods considered acceptable by the GSA? 

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Q324: C.35.7 Invoicing: For compatibility with the Treasury Automated Financial System (AFS), the Contractor's invoice reference number must be limited to 18 characters. This limitation is mandatory for reconciliation and payment tracking. 

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Q325: The provision for C.35.7 which provides that an agency's receipt of invoice allow ample time from each billing cycle for reconciliation and payment activities is ambiguous and might create a condition that conflicts with the requirements of the Prompt Payment Act. Under the Act, date of invoice receipt is the date the invoice is first submitted by the contractor (see FAR 32.902). If it is the Government's intent to establish a payment due date that contemplates completion of reconcilement and payment activities (e.g., 60 days after receipt of invoice receipt), then the provision would likely be regarded as inconsistent with the Act and the implementing regulations under OMB Circular A-125 and FAR Subpart 32.9. More importantly, it could result in either higher costs to the Government for the services sought or create unacceptable performance risk for the offerors who must carefully consider the investment carrying costs. It is suggested that C.35.7 be changed to read as follows: The contractor shall send a proper invoice to the designated billing office for each centrally billed account promptly after the end of each billing cycle. For purposes of the Prompt Payment Act, the date of invoice receipt shall be the date the invoice is first submitted to the designated billing office and will not be affected by the amount of time taken by the Government to complete reconciliation and payment processes. 

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Q326: C.35.7 Must require that the electronic data file that contains the daily transactions, both debits and credits, be the "Official Invoice" file to prevent discrepancies between the transaction file and the official invoice file. The ability for the contractor to invoice on a daily basis must be a core requirement. 

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Q327: Frequency of Invoicing: Billing frequency - Daily and Weekly! This can impact collection buckets unless they stay on a monthly cycle for balances, roll ups etc. 

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Q328: The last sentence states: "The Contractor shall provide shorter billing cycles (e.g. daily, weekly), alternate billing cycles, and/or alternate levels of billing as requested by the agency/organization and priced in their task order." For clarity, we recommend changing the sentence as follows: "Each agency may choose to customize billing to meet internal reporting requirements. More frequent cycle cut-offs than the standard 25-30 days will be provided through electronic billing procedures. Contractors may charge a programming fee to accommodate customized billing statements." 

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Q329: Medium(s) of Invoicing: We recommend removing the 5.25" diskette requirement and adding DAT as an option. 

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Q330: We suggest changing "non-EDI based electronic invoicing" to "a mutually agreed upon non-EDI format." This change will provide flexibility to the agencies/organizations and the contractor and enable the contractor to provide information to the agencies/organizations in a useful format.  

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Q331: Invoices: 3) Please clarify what is to be provided for the "methodology" of conversion rate. 

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Q332: What constitutes "receipt" of invoice for an electronic invoice? There currently is no commercial standard, we suggest using "24 hours after electronic transmission of invoices or the next business day". 

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Q333: C.35.8 Billing Discrepancies: We recommend that the second sentence of the first paragraph be modified as follows: "...to notify the Contractor of any items in dispute within 30 calendar days of receipt of the invoice." 

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Q334: This section indicates a requirement for the Contractor to accept notification of the transaction dispute by electronic access, telephone or other means. The requirement should clearly state this is for notification only and that the Contractor, based on banking regulations and card association operating rules, requires the detail of the dispute must be in writing, by mail or fax, in order to complete the resolution of the dispute. 

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Q335: Standard commercial practice is 60-calendar days from the billing cycle date for those items that are in dispute. C.35.8 states: "It is the agency/organization's responsibility to notify the Contractor of any items in dispute within 60 calendar days of receipt of the invoice." What is the current practice under the existing contracts? 

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Q336: Please incorporate the following stipulation in the requirement: "The Contractor shall resolve billing discrepancies on central bill accounts for charges made to common carriers. The Contractor shall assist agencies in resolving other merchant disputes, however, final responsibility lies with the agency. If centrally billed accounts are used for travel with companies that are not common carriers (e.g., limousine companies) or if the agency wants special conditions on a hotel central bill, an addendum to the contract agreement shall be mutually agreed upon between the contractors and the Government." 

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Q337: C.35.8b) Please explain what is "sufficient data to identify charge." 

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Q338: C.35.8.h Billing Discrepancies: It is not common commercial practice to include complete transaction data for rebilled charges. Therefore, complete transaction data is not always available for rebilling. We recommend changing the sentence to read: "...itemized separately and Contractor will include transaction data if available and/or cross reference transaction data (e.g., include the ticket number so that the original transaction data can be cross referenced)". 

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Q339: C.35.9 Reconciliation Assistance: The level of assistance required of contractors is open-ended with respect to time and staff resources. Since this assistance constitutes a cost to the contractor that is not definable, this section should be deleted and such reconciliation services be considered a priced Tier 2 - Value Added Service. 

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Q340: C.35.10 Payment Processing: In order to minimize mis-posted remittances and simplify reconciliation, the agency must specify the breakdown of payment between past-due balance, current balance, and Prompt Pay. If they do not specify, all payments will be posted to the principal including the current balance. 

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Q341: Debt collection activities normally require that any payments received for past due invoices be applied first to interest and then to the principal amount. We question why GSA has taken a different approach by reversing the sequence and applying any payments received to the principal amount first. 

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Q342: C.35.11 Settlement Centrally Billed Accounts: We believe that allowing individual agencies to dictate payment application protocols would result in significant difficulties and delays, as well as an increased likelihood of error. It would create the need for manual cash application, eliminating the efficiencies offered by commercial lock-box solutions. The Contractor's ability to perform a standard reconciliation of payments would be jeopardized. This would also create an unnecessary administrative burden on the agencies to develop such protocols. The fourth and fifth sentences in the first paragraph should be eliminated and replaced with the following to correct this issue: "The Government shall develop a payment application standard detailing the method to be used by the Contractor (e.g. against specific invoices, product sequence, etc.). The Contractor shall develop procedures to ensure proper distribution of payments in accordance with such standard." 

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Q343: Please clarify what requirement is intended with respect to agencies specifying instructions to apply payment. 

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Q344: The provision at C.35.11 requires that the Contractor be paid in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act. The solicitation, however, is ambiguous on what constitutes the date of invoice receipt and payment due date. It is suggested that the following be added to C.35.11: "For the purposes of this contract, the payment due date shall be the 30th day after either (1) the date the invoice is received by the billing office designated in section 35 of the Addendum to the clause at 52-215-4 or (2) the 7th day after the close of an agency's billing cycle, whichever is later. If an agency fails to annotate the invoice with the date of receipt, then the date of receipt is the date of the invoice." 

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Q345: C.36 - Please clarify 45 day suspension from billing date versus the 30 day prompt pay for receipt of invoice. Will the GSA accept the credit card industry definition of the term "disputed item" ? If so, can it be included in the RFP? 

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Q346: C.36 and C.37 (CB.18-19) If the Bank decides not to initiate suspension/cancellation of any account, individual, or central bill, does it give up its right to do so at a later time? Assuming the answer to above is no, how much time must lapse after the issuer waives suspension/cancellation before it can initiate suspension/cancellation procedures? 

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Q347: C.36 Suspension Procedures for Centrally Billed Accounts: We recommend that the phrase: "or the Prompt Payment Act interest" be added after every mention of the principal amount, as suspension should be able to occur if the Prompt Payment Act interest is not current as well as for outstanding principal balances. 

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Q348: C.36-37 Suspension/Cancellation Procedures for Centrally Billed Accounts: It is not common industry practice to charge reactivation and reinstatement fees for centrally billed accounts.  

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Q349: C.36.2, Reinstatement of Centrally Billed Suspended Accounts: What is the Prompt Payment Act interest? What is the rate? How is it calculated? 

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Q350: C.36.3 Please clarify what "documentation described in C.36" must be on file. 

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Q351: C.37 Cancellation Procedures for Centrally Billed Accounts: Could you please define "closing date"? 

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Q352: In reference to cancellation procedures for centrally/individually billed accounts, we take no exception to a contractor canceling an account that has been suspended two times during a 12 month period and is past due again. However, consideration should be given as to the time that had elapsed between the second suspension and the third occurrence for late payment. If there was a significant time gap, e.g. a one year time span or more between the second and third events, perhaps cancellation is not warranted. 

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Q353: We recommend that the phrase: "or the Prompt Payment Act interest" be added after every mention of the principal amount, as cancellation should be able to occur if the Prompt Payment Act interest is not current as well as for outstanding principal balances. 

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Q354: C.37.2 Except for late fees being billable on canceled accounts, there seems to be little distinction between canceling and suspending accounts, if reinstatement is expected upon payment in either case. What is the business rationale between these two? 

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Q355: Contractors should not have the option of reinstating centrally/individually billed canceled accounts after undisputed principal and interest have been paid; agency program coordinators should have this authority. 

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Q356: C.38 Agency Reporting Requirements: States that bidders shall provide their level 3 platform and that we recognize most merchants are at level 1 and/or 2. We need to specify in the contract that when Level 3 data is available, we need as a data element the type of specific purchase (i.e., goods, services, rent, etc.). 

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Q357: Will the Government agencies/organizations request the Contractor to provide multiple mediums (paper & electronic)? If so, can we recoup incremental costs, if applicable, in our pricing to an agency? 

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Q358: For the travel card program, "Reports shall correspond with the agency billing cycle (i.e., daily means daily reports, weekly cycle means weekly reports, monthly cycle means monthly reports, etc." This requirement forces agencies that need up to the minute information to forfeit monthly reports, if daily or weekly is selected, which are necessary to monitor agency progress on a monthly basis. Agencies should have the option in each business line to select the cycle (daily, weekly, or monthly) of electronic access and the reporting requirements that meet their needs. 

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Q359: We request the GSA to consider the need for each of the reports that are being requested/required for the Agencies within this section. We believe the need should be determined by "line of business". We have never been asked to provide certain of the reports within this section to the GSA Fleets (IFMS or NON-IFMS), nor have we ever been asked for these reports in the private sector. For example, we have never been asked to provide the following reports: Invoice Status Report, Master File Report, Account Change Report, Current Accounts Report, 1099 Report, 1057 Report, Payment Performance and Refund Report, Write-off Report, Summary Quarterly Merchant Report, Summary Quarterly Vendor Analysis Report, Summary Quarterly Vendor Ranking Report. We believe that many of these reports are unnecessary for the fleet line of business and will add unnecessary cost to the Fleet Card Program for the GSA. As you consider the need for each of the reports in this section, we ask that you make them applicable to the appropriate card program. 

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Q360: The requirement that report information must coincide with invoice and transaction information does not account for the fact that hierarchy changes are constant, which means that any report is a 'snapshot in time', and can therefore vary from invoice and transaction data information. This requirement should state that "Standard report information must coincide with invoice information and transaction data information". 

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Q361: In regards to MIS reporting requirements, will MIS data be summarized at the agency level as well as other levels? 

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Q362: C.38.1 Essential Reports: We recommend that the words "may be requested" be inserted in the place of "are required" within the first sentence so that it reads: "The following reports may or may not be commercially standard reports but may be requested for all agencies/organizations." 

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Q363: C.38.1 b) Invoice Status Report: We recommend that the words "(not applicable to the Fleet Line of Business)" be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph. This requirement is not applicable to the fleet business. 

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Q364: C.38.1 (b) - Invoice Status Report - Can the government clarify what invoice they are referring to? Is this the invoice from the bank to the agency for service fees? Is it the invoice from the service provider (like airline) to the agency receiving the service (i.e. detail cardholder bill)? Who provides/assigns the invoice number? What other data do they require to identify the charge? 

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Q365: C.38.1(c) Essential Reports: It is not standard commercial practice to prepare separate Transaction Dispute reports for individual liability cards. Transaction disputes for individual accounts should be managed, reconciled and resolved between the cardholder and the Contractor. The Contractor has the resources to coordinate with the cardholder in tracking and resolving all transaction disputes. This report should be deleted from the requirement list because it is not a standard commercially available report. 

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Q366: C.38.1 d) Pre-Suspension/Pre-Cancellation Report: We recommend that the words "(not applicable to the Fleet Line of Business)" be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph. This requirement is not applicable to the fleet business. 

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Q367: C.38.2 Other Agency Reports: Please clarify that the 1099 report and the 1057 report are for purchase and fleet card only. If not, please clarify the need for this information for the travel card program. These two reports do not have applicability to the travel card program and should be deleted as an overall requirement and placed in the purchase and fleet card report requirements.  

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Q368: In light of our desire for electronic information, why are we asking for so much paper? Many of these reports seem redundant, and even unnecessary if the data is available on-line. 

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Q369: It is impractical and EXPENSIVE for a contractor to be expected to provide daily or even weekly reports in a paper, diskette, or magnetic tape format yet the solicitation requires that possibility. (It could take more than one person employed full-time just to mail the reports.) For any reporting or invoicing that frequent, the contractor should only be required to use electronic file transfer methods (e.g., direct link, FTP, EC/EDI). 

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Q370: Invoice Status Report -- Since this report requires all transaction data for every invoice, isn't this just a duplicate invoice? And since it seems to be on-going, the file would just get bigger and bigger until it was unmanageable. Shouldn't the DBO already know the status of their invoices? 

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Q371: The Pre-Suspension/Pre-Cancellation Report could be combined with the Suspension/Cancellation Report. 

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Q372: The Delinquency Report could be combined with the Pre/Post Suspension and Cancellation Reports. 

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Q373: Account Change Report could be combined with the Master File Report. 

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Q374: Exception Report -- This report seems a mis-mash of other reports, part Master File Report (inventory control), part Account Activity Report, and part a true Exception Report. This report should be limited to unusual or questionable transactions. In the fleet card industry, the customer sets the parameters to determine which transactions will be flagged for reporting. 

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Q375: We cannot require the 1099 and 1057 report if the data is not available. Until Treasury determines the rules for TIN reporting (e.g., what TIN should be used, Exxon or Joe's Garage?) we should not require the contractor to be able to produce a 1099 report. 

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Q376: 1057 Report -- last sentence, "generally used by the agency/organization to measure compliance with its small business . . ." 

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Q377: Subsection (d) requires that the contractor provide a field that specifies why a change was made to the master file. Changes are made at the request of an A/OPC or Cardholder, therefore that field would always be populated with either "A/OPC request" or "Cardholder request". We feel this is an unnecessary field and suggest deleting the requirement for a "why" field. Copies of the request can be provided at the request of the A/OPC or Cardholder. 

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Q378: C.38.2 d) Account Change Report: We recommend that the words "(not applicable to the Fleet Line of Business)" be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph. This requirement is not applicable to the fleet business. 

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Q379: C.38.2 e) Exception Report: We recommend that "fleet exceptions (for Fleet Card Programs) or", "(for T&E and Purchasing Card Programs)" and "(for all card programs)" be inserted in the first sentence as follows: This report identifies fleet exceptions (for Fleet Card Programs) or lost, stolen, invalid or canceled cards, declined transactions (for T&E and Purchasing Card Programs) and unusual spending activity (for all card programs) and details such transaction activity. 

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Q380: C.38.2 f) Current Accounts Report: We recommend that the words "(not applicable to the Fleet Line of Business)" be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph. This requirement is not applicable to the fleet business. 

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Q381: C.38.2 g) 1099 Report: We recommend that the second sentence read as follows:

"It shall be in merchant TIN ascending numeric order and include amount of purchase and merchant name for the Fleet Card Program." In addition to this sentence, we recommend adding the following: "For the T&E and Purchasing Card Programs, it shall be in merchant TIN ascending numeric order and include amount of purchase, merchant name, corporate status, identify doing business as (DBA) if applicable, and merchant address." 

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Q382: C.38.2(g) Reports: The type of purchase made should be specified (i.e. goods, service, rents, royalty, etc.). The Internal Revenue Code section quoted is incorrect. It is not to fulfill the requirements of §6050M. The correct section is IRC §6041 and 6041(A).  

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Q383: C.38.2(g) Reports: 1099 Report - requires the merchant's TIN and dollar amount, but for what purchase? How will the bidders separate reportable "services" from nonreportable "supplies"? Under CA.47.2, the contractor may provide a "product line item description for maintenance purchases. Would this mean they may provide a description of the purchase but are not required to do so? 

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Q384: C.38.2(g) Reports: This is the section that could be revised to more clearly expand on the information required for Form 1099 reporting. It does state that the merchants TIN and corporate status are required, as well as the amounts of payments made to the merchants. However it should also state that the type of purchase must be identified. We could state that goods and services must be separately stated as Level 3 is available. 

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Q385: C.38.2 (g) - 1099 Report - This requirement refers to merchant address. Must this be the full street address or will city and state meet the reporting requirements? In the latest Statement of Work, it simply says it must include "corporate status". In the prior statement of work, it said "...Corporate status (individual, sole prop, partnership, non medical, medical, foreign entities, government, other. ) We can report on corporate status, but only so far as sole proprietorship, partnership corporation and other. Can they clarify in the second Statement of Work what Corporate status' types they require us to report on? 

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Q386: Subsection (g) requires that the contractor provide quarterly and cumulative annual transaction detail for purchases made at 1099 vendors. The status of vendors varies by relationship, and must be communicated to the contractor in order to ensure accurate reporting. Please include the provision that the Government will provide a list of the 1099 vendors in order for the contractor to create an accurate database. 

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Q387: Have offerors provide for collection of information adequate for 1099 purposes in an electronic interface and linked to the Government budget object codes. 

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Q388: C.38.2(h) Reports: The report requirements found in CC.12 are not the same as the report requirements found in this section.  

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Q389: Paragraph h) 1057 Report. What is the size standard in regards to small business and small disadvantaged business goals. This is a stretch. 

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Q390: C.38.2 h) 1057 Report: We recommend that the following wording be added to the end of the first sentence: "when available and able to be captured by the Card Program". Much of this data cannot be captured today from the POS - especially fuel and maintenance merchants. 

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Q391: Subsection (h) requires that the contractor provide quarterly and cumulative annual transaction detail for purchases made at 1057 vendors. The status of vendors varies by relationship, and must be communicated to the contractor in order to ensure accurate reporting. Please include the provision that the Government will provide a list of the 1057 vendors in order for the contractor to create an accurate database. 

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Q392: C.38.2.k and CA.11.2 Item K Write-Off Report: This report requested is not available within normal commercial practices. The write-off information is proprietary and based on contractor accounting practices. The information requested in this report that is not proprietary appears in other reports required within the Draft RFP (e.g., suspension and cancellation reports). Moreover, this information is not an effective tool to control delinquencies because the information provides a history on accounts that are long past suspension/cancellation. In order to assist in controlling receivables, the Government is best served through the suspension and cancellation reports which reflect accounts that are or are about to be suspended or canceled. We suggest eliminating this report to protect proprietary Contractor information and eliminate non-essential, redundant reports. 

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Q393: C.38.2 n) Summary Quarterly Vendor Ranking Report: We recommend that the words "(not applicable to the Fleet Line of Business)" be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph. This requirement will add unnecessary cost, especially if annual comparative data is required. This report should not be applicable to the Fleet Card Program. 

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Q394: This should be sent electronically rather than on a diskette. 

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Q395: Instead of asking for the data in a database, the data should be supplied in a standard ASCII format, either fixed or variable field length. That way the data can be input into ANY database software or even pulled into Excel (if small enough). Database formats are not necessarily compatible and you may have trouble importing the data into the software you use. 

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Q396: We can deliver all data elements necessary for the Contracting Office to build any reports requested within Section 39, subsection a) - k). We recommend that the GSA Contracting Office only request reports that are generally available for Non-Federal Customers. 

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Q397: Regarding paragraph a ("Agency/Organization Program Information Reports"), we request that the communication medium for reports be electronic instead of 3.5" diskettes. Diskettes can be easily damaged in transit, and the unprotected, un-encrypted data is less secure. 

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Q398: Please confirm that any data provided to a third party "data warehouser" will remain proprietary and confidential. 

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Q399: Under "Program Reports", you have requested month-to-date monthly reports. We suggest changing references to "month to date" to "year to date". If not, please define what "month-to-date" for a monthly report means. 

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Q400: What options does a vendor have in using the commercially standard database and word processor? What is the government's preferred database and word processor? 

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Q401: C.39.1. Ask GSA to define field lengths for electronic reports. 

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Q402: C.39.1. Fields 10-12 will appear only if provided by the A/OPC. Need more clarification on the 4 files listed in the text portion of this subsection. Is the full file replacement or the update file the ongoing piece of this? What is the objective for listing the 5^th calendar day of each month the first time? 

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Q403: C.39.b) Field 9 contains many data elements. Are all these elements required in one field or a combined total of all fields? Can this be separated by commas? Since this is a monthly report, how will cumulative month-to-date information (fields 10-12) be used? Does field 6 include credits or just debits? Need definition of active cardholders (charging or open) and total cardholders fields, 7-8. Field 13 excludes credits? Need criteria for Field 14.  

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Q404: C.39.c) Based on billed months, this information can be provided as static amounts (change only after billing). Is static versus dynamic to be the assumption? Need criteria for fields 14 and 15 (ranking) 

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Q405: C.39.d) Define criteria for Fields 4 and 5.  

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Q406: C.39.g) How is Field 6 calculated? Include fees? Net?  

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Q407: C.39.h) Field 2 (assumes Merchant Name)?  

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Q408: C.39.i) How is type of vendor (MCC code)?  

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Q409: C.39.k) Open requirement (need type of data required and timing). 

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Q410: C.39.1.a) What are the 4 digit codes for Issuing Carrier (SCAC)?  

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Q411: C.39.1.a) Requires clarification: What about when multiple legs/city pairs are involved in a transaction? Does the report only want the first and second airport? Or does it want the origination/destination? Is Field 6 based on the transaction or the per leg fare?  

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Q412: C.39.1.a) Also, first airport/second - how are these derived for each ticket when there may be multiple pairs? Field 6 - is this assumed per trip - ticket?  

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Q413: C.39.1.a) Need clarification on each of the two fields.  

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Q414: C.39.1.a) The number of characters for Item 1, the account number, has gone from 15 in the 12/19/96 draft SOW to 5 in the 05/29/97 draft solicitation. Credit card account numbers are always at least 14 characters. Is this correct?  

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Q415: C.39.1 Item 23 - Please provide clarification of Endorsement/Restrictions - Checkage Invitational Travel Order, Prisoner, etc. 

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Q416: Data concerning the use of the airline city pairs and hotel use program compliance (in this case fire safety) traditionally is supplied by a commercial travel agents to their clients. Please explain the circumstance that now require the detail data to be furnished by the successful bidder of this contract. 

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Q417: C.39.1.a GSA Contracting Officer Reports: The issue date (item 4) is actually the transaction or purchase date. 

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Q418: C.39.1.b Airline City-Pair Reports: Do we get fare basis coding on air travel info? 

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Q419: Should the timeframes cited in sections C.39.1 b) 7; C.39.1 c) 1.; C.39.2 b) read, "This report shall be sent by the 10th calendar day of each month"? 

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Q420: C.40, Customized Services: What does CLIN mean? 

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Q421: C.40, Customized Services: Both sections indicate that the Contractor is required to submit a detailed proposal within 15 calendar days. This timeframe is extremely short. The ability to deliver a detailed proposal as described depends on the complexity of project requested. Please consider making this timeframe a negotiable point during discussions between the offeror and the agency. 

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Q422: C.40 Customized Services: GSA should make clear that contractors can disclose Government Card Program records and information to the Internal Revenue Service in accordance with Privacy Act obligations. The Draft RFP anticipates that contractors may be required to perform certain "customized services" for the IRS, such as submittal of agency/organization 1099 information" (see RFP at p.117), and produce copies of unspecified Government Card Program records to the IRS, with A/OPC knowledge and approval (see RFP at p. 119). If the Government intends that such records and information may include types of information or records covered by the Privacy Act, GSA should make clear that the contractor discloses to the IRS either (I) will constitute a "routine use" of Government Card Program information and records, or (ii) will be exempt from the Privacy Act by virtue of the IRS-specific Privacy Act exemption codified at 26 U.S.C.§ 7852(e). 

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Q423: C.40 Customized Services: GSA is proposing to regulate all pilots. We suggest allowing the agencies/organizations to regulate their own pilots. Allowing them to regulate their own pilots will stimulate creativity, allow for customized pilots, and reduce the overall cost. 

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Q424: The requirement for customized services requires additional clarification in order to distinguish them from Value-Added services. Please also include a provision that the pricing of the services are to conform with standard commercial practices. 

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Q425: C.41.2 Agency/Organization Transition: The last sentence of the first paragraph states: "At its discretion, the Government may reduce the transition period." We suggest changing the sentence as follows: The transition period can be reduced by mutual agreement of the Government and the Contractor." If not, please clarify: What criteria will the Government use to reduce the transition period? How will condensed transitions be communicated to the contractor? What advance notification will be provided to the contractor? 

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Q426: The second paragraph does not specify what happens after 180 calendar days to unsettled transactions. We suggest that a clause be added as follows: "the Government will pay the unsettled balance if it is not reconciled within 180 calendar days of the completed agency/organization transition." 

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Q427: C.41.4 Technological Advance Transition: The requirement now states: "The Contractor shall ensure that any change brought about by technological advance is effectuated in a smooth, seamless manner, with minimal disruption to the card program" (emphasis added). This is an overly broad requirement, and theoretically could require the Contractor to obtain fingerprints or retina scans from all fleet, travel and purchase card users (and these are only the current "technological advances"). We suggest rewriting this sentence to read: "The Contractor and Government agency/organization will provide best efforts to effectuate best commercial practices brought about by technological advances in a smooth, seamless manner, with minimal disruption to the card program." 

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Q428: C.42 Record Retention and Retrieval: We recommend adding this sentence to the end of the paragraph: "The requested information may be presented in a mutually agreed upon summarized format or as a reproduction of a previously distributed report or reports containing the requested transaction information." 

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Q429: C.42 Record Retention and Retrieval: We suggest changing the last sentence as follows: "Upon written request of the GSA Contracting Officer, the ordering Contracting Officer, or the A/OPC, the Contractor shall provide the requested information in a mutually agreeable commercial format within 30 calendar days."  

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Q430: The requirement to retain records for three years after contract expiration would necessitate keeping individual transaction records up to 13 years after the transaction (under a 5-year contract with 5 one-year renewals, plus the 3 year retention period). Federal Regulations require Credit Card companies to retain data for 7 years. We suggest a lesser period of retention (e.g., 3 years beyond the contract period). The base period of data would then be retained for 8 years and 3 years beyond for each option year thereafter. 

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Q431: Add requirement for data to be maintained on canceled/suspended account for 3 years after contract expiration. Data shall be accessible to A/OPC through ad hoc reports. Include account closing date in database. 

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Q432: This question has been withdrawn at the respondent's request. 

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Q433: For what purpose does GSA foresee card program records being furnished to the Internal Revenue Service? Would the written requests referred to in this section be required to comply with the Privacy Act and the Right to Financial Privacy Act to the extent that they involve transaction data about individual cardholders?  

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Q434: We approve of having contractors serve as the Government's agent for holding transaction data. Record retention and retrieval can be very burdensome on agencies in today's downsizing environment. 

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Q435: C.45, Government-Wide Shut Down: "Government shutdown - payments to the Contractor would be late." Anything to cover cost of funds for that period? 

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Q436: C.45, Government-Wide Shut Down: Will accounts of a department/agency be shut down during a government-wide shut down? If not, how can a department/agency spend on a card if it shut down and does not have spending authority approved by Congress? 

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Q437: We recommend that this section be eliminated. It seemingly requires Contractors to continue to service accounts -- and obligates the government to make payment -- even if appropriation bills have not been enacted. If that is its intent, it would appear to violate the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(B), because it is obligating the government to make payment in advance of appropriations. Contract provisions that violate the Antideficiency Act have been held to be void. This also seems to anticipate situations where a continuing resolution has been passed and the agency is authorized to incur obligations (and, thus, its employees properly can use their credit cards to make purchases), but actual bill payment has been suspended because the employees with payment responsibility have been deemed "non-essential" and placed on furlough. Here, too, the clause seems to require the Contractor to continue to service accounts. In commercial practice, however, the inability of the account holder to make payment on schedule is a default that entitles the credit card provider to suspend the account. A promise to pay interest on late payments does not cure this default. To require that the account still be serviced under these circumstances is likely to make the program unable to be financed using normal commercial financing. To allow the Contractor to suspend the account under these circumstances does not mean that the Contractor in fact will do so. This program is structured to assure continued competition among master contract holders for a period of up to ten years. Competitive forces may -- and are likely to -- result in Contractors not exercising their rights. But, for financing purposes, it is essential for the Contractor to have the right to suspend the account. 

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Q438: C.46, Liability for Centrally Billed Accounts: GSA defines unauthorized use as 3rd party where the cardholder receives no benefit and states that the government will not be liable for unauthorized use. Does this mean the government will accept liability for cardholder misuse since it is properly authorized and benefits the cardholder? Does this mean that the government will not accept liability for theft and/or misuse by a government employee other than the cardholder? 

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Q439: C.46 Liability: We recommend inserting the following sentence before the last sentence in the paragraph C.46.1: "Use of a valid (i.e. not reported lost or stolen) card together with a driver access code constitutes an authorized use of the Fleet Card." 

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Q440: C.46.1 Please provide dollar and transaction volumes for unauthorized use under the current contracts. 

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Q441: C.46.1.1 Government Liability for Lost or Stolen Cards: The Government is not liable for amounts charged to cards that are lost or stolen, but the Government also has no real notification responsibilities in this area either. The sentence now reads: "Subject to the above, the Government will make reasonable efforts to notify the Contractor promptly when it becomes evident that a card is lost, stolen or being used improperly by a cardholder." The words "reasonable efforts" should be removed. The new sentence should read: "Subject to the above, the Government will notify the Contractor promptly when it becomes evident that a card is lost, stolen or being used improperly by a cardholder." 

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Q442: We appreciate having new items and services made available through Value-Added Products and Services that will allow us to streamline and enhance current card operations. 

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Q443: It needs to be clearly stated that not all business lines will have the same level of need for these products and services. For example, since fleet cards are typically assigned to a vehicle rather than a person, the need for an ATM option is a very small probability. Depending upon the evaluation criteria, offerors may feel compelled to start or expand programs for these specific services in order to win an award. However, later they may find there is little or no need for the services. 

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Q444: C.47.3 Stored-value card and E-purse products and services: The requirements for this value added service indicate that the last thirty transactions must be held, however, only 20 bytes of data per transaction are allowed. The 5 data elements that must be captured for each transaction exceed the 20 bytes per transaction limitation.  

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Q445: Please clarify the meaning of a "governmental open system." Is this really a closed system that is "open" in government facilities? Several feature and function requirements specified for the stored-value card and E-purse products and services are not available in existing commercially "open" systems, however, are available in closed systems. 

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Q446: C.47.3 Stored-value card or E-purse products and services: We request that the GSA modify Section C.47.3 so that agencies can take advantage of the Mondex E-Purse capabilities, which allows electronic cash to be used in an off-line environment without costly processing and settlement. Currently, the requirement reads: "The stored value system will be a fully auditable governmental open system....Each stored value transaction should contain the following information which will be capture and forwarded to the host computer for processing and settlement." Instead, the requirement should be stated: "The stored value system will be a fully audible governmental open system....Each stored value transaction should contain the following information which will be captured and forwarded to the host computer for processing and settlement, if needed."  

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Q447: Finally, the statement, "Each card used for stored value will store the last thirty transactions", should be changed to "the last 10 transactions". This will keep the government version of the card based on commercial specifications. 

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Q448: Standard commercial practice is the 10 most recent transactions. Please provide the business rationale for storing the last 30 transactions on a card with e-purse capabilities. 

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Q449: Please provide the business rationale for limiting the size of data per transaction to less than or equal to 20 bytes, because the merchant ID alone may use up to 15 bytes. We recommend that between 30 and 40 bytes be required depending upon data elements required, along with limiting transaction storage to the last 10. 

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Q450: C.47 Value-Added Products and Services: For e-purse, let industry define the applications. By pre-defining the amount of transactions to be held on the chip to 30, the GSA limits the ability of a vendor to add other applications on the card due to space issues. Let the industry offer what they believe to be the best products they can offer and let the individual agencies agency/organization decide what they want. 

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Q451: The use of hybrid card as a CLIN without detailing additional product feature/functionality specifics (e.g., applications, Point-of-Sale interaction terminals, chip functionality, etc.) causes bidders to price without complete requirement understanding and may cause bidders to price conservatively or inaccurately. We request the GSA require bidders to provide detail for each hybrid card proposal. This will enable the agencies/organizations to compare the cards by more than the size of the chip. 

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Q452: If Government is requesting infrastructure for a closed environment, they should be responsible for the cost (e.g., card readers in a Government cafeteria). It is a common commercial practice for card issuers to provide for this type of infrastructure and for customers to pay. Infrastructure costs should be included as line items in the CLIN structure. 

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Q453: Cardholders may elect to use either an alpha or numeric PIN. Is there a reason why an alpha numeric PIN cannot be used? 

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Q454: C.47.4 What are some possible debit applications that agencies might consider? 

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Q455: C.47.4 Debit Card Products and Services: Please clarify who is liable for any cardholder charges in excess of the balance within the account (over charges). Charges on Debit Cards are traditionally the card holder's responsibility. 

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Q456: C.47.7 Inter/Intra-Government Services: The fee structure proposed for this process needs government clarification. 

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Q457: C.47.7 Inter/Intra-Government Services: How does this feature differ and/or conflict with the FMS program being offered which has substantially the same features? Will one program be folded into the other? Will both programs operate, and in essence, compete with one another? Please clarify. 

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Q458: C.47.7 Inter/Intra-Government Services: This area needs to be reconciled between GSA and the Treasury Department. The emphasis behind this solicitation is to have the capability to use one single card for all government purposes. We are now required to have two cards for purchasing (1) the IMPAC card for all normal purchases, including rental of post office boxes, payment of postage due, and other small items with the Post Office and (2) The Post Office issued "Postal Payment Card" which can be used for any post office purchase rental of post office boxes, payment of postage due, etc., plus it can be used to recharge postage meters and bulk mailings. The issuance of this card is dictated by the Post Office and goes to mail managers outside of many agencies delegations of acquisition authority. 

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Q459: C.47.7 - Please provide a clarification of inter/intra-governmental services. 

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Q460: C.47.7 Inter/Intra-Governmental Services: Introductory paragraph highlights that solution must work with multiple Issuers. This should be further defined as: "Service must operate within an open framework to allow multiple Issuers and multiple Acquirers access to the agencies. Each acquirer shall provide personal computer package or host based solution to deliver Level II data to the Issuer. This will provide the greatest flexibility for GSA as they implement the program". 

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Q461: This should have open architecture to allow multiple issuers and acquirers access to federal agencies, resulting in flexibility and functionality. 

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Q462: Paragraph B. Manage change, monitor risk and be flexible is an oxymoron. 

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Q463: This paragraph currently states: The system must "manage change, monitor risk and be flexible". This requirement should be further defined as: "Proposed system must provide host based authorizations of more than 99%. Host based authorizations provide significantly higher fraud protection over stand-in processing and are critical to the success of the government program. In addition, authorization velocity methodologies must be employed to effectively monitor card activity". 

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Q464: The last paragraph states that the government may provide a "standard settlement mechanism for effecting transactions between agencies to meet the requirement that funds not leave the Government for this service". This statement should be further defined to include: "Service provider must guarantee that government funds are not moved when transactions are processed. Government will fund a designated account at a financial institution for the payment of all processing fees associated with the program". 

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Q465: The service provider must guarantee that once transactions are processed the funds do not leave the government. 

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Q466: This section states that the government will specify possible settlement mechanisms for inter-agency transactions. Please provide examples of possible settlement mechanisms. 

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Q467: C.47.7 Inter/Intra-Governmental Services: As we understand it, the Treasury Department is planning to issue an IEI for essentially the same services as a "requirements" contract. This seems to be at odds with GSA's ID/IQ master contract approach. How will these programs co-exist? 

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Q468: Currently, the requirement that funds not leave the Government is not possible. Instead of providing the detailed specifications in the master contract, you should reference Treasury's guidelines and regulations in this area. If Treasury has not developed them, then you should still reference Treasury, with the caveat that if they have not developed guidelines by the time this contract is implemented, the contractor is to abide by the following . . . . When the Treasury does issue their regulations, their regulations shall have precedence over this section of the contract. 

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Q469: C.47.7(c), Distributed Processing: The Government currently does very little true distributed processing. 

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Q470: C.47.7.g Provide Merchant Acquiring Services: Please include a CLIN for the price of the Level III Point of Sale terminals. 

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Q471: The Government agency may not want to be set up as a "level 3" merchant. Level 3 terminals are more expensive than standard terminals. By requiring the contractors under the master contract to only offer level 3 terminals, there is a risk that the agency will go to an outside processor to get a lower price. 

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Q472: C.47.7.1 Reports: The transaction reference is actually the transaction reference number.  

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Q473: C.47.7.1 Need clarification on data for each transaction (what data specifically for which charge types? What is the transaction code? Define the agency reference number (usage, source, bytes, type). Define cumulative by merchant number. 

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Q474: Monthly Agency Report: #11 and GSA Contracting Officer Report #9 both include "Number of account inquires." Should these be inquiries? If so, what does number of inquiries mean? 

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Q475: Chargeback report: Define transaction number (acquirer bank), transaction code and cumulative by merchant number (usage, source, bytes, type). Is the definition of a chargeback a credit or a request to the merchant for more information. 

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Q476: C.47.8 Telephone Card Access (for the Travel Card Only): The first sentence reads: "If offered, the Contractor may include the agency/organization long distance carrier access code and calling number on the backside of the travel card, physically and electronically..." We suggest changing the sentence to read: "If offered, the Contractor may include the agency/organization long distance carrier access code and calling number on the backside of the travel card, physically and/or electronically..." Current commercial practice does not allow a separate track on a magnetic strip card to accommodate phone calling card transactions. Swiping the card will automatically register the credit card information and route the charges accordingly. 

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Q477: What is the impact of the revised FTS 2000 contract and potential carrier changes to the telephone card access and pin numbers? Will the Government require new cards to be issued and who will bear the costs, the new FTS contract provider or the Government? 

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Q478: Why would the Government require an agency/organization long distance carrier access code and calling number to be included electronically on the card unless the travel card is intended to be the vehicle in which telephone billing or payments are processed? 

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Q479: C.47.9 - Explain the use of electronic bill payment. 

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Q480: C.47.10(a), Open System Configurations: The fueling and maintenance industries are years away from any commercial infrastructure supporting chip cards. 

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Q481: C.47.10.2 Hybrid Card: We suggest allowing the individual agencies to work with offerors to determine how to best accommodate an agency's need for card data population. This would allow use of industry best practices and the highest level of security. 

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Q482: C.47.10.2 Stored Value Card: The term infrastructure is too broad and needs further definition (e.g., Point of Sale readers in Government locations, telephone lines, computers, and office space). Infrastructure costs should be included as line items in the CLIN structure.  

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Q483: The term "inter-operable" should be defined as follows: Competing systems (hardware, software, and processing capabilities) that provide for alternative, competing (open) electronic purse schemes. To that extent, all Point-of-Sale merchant terminals should support Secure Access Modules (SAMs) which, along with internal software, enable the terminal to accept, identify, and process transactions for smart cards originating from multiple electronic purse programs. 

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Q484: C.47.10.2(h) Hybrid Card PIN Authentication: Management should be able to over-ride the locked card, in the event that the card presenter was inexperienced or given the wrong information. For the Fleet card, this is very possible, since many different drivers may use the same vehicle. As it is written, this section seems to indicate that the card can never be used again and that the agency would have to order a new card. 

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Q485: C.47.11 Electronic Purchasing: In section C., what is meant by alternate sites? Is this distant learning sites, i.e. home, hotel, airplane etc.? 

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Q486: C.47.11.c Electronic Purchasing: This section states: "Improved efficiency by allowing authorized purchasing agents or other authorized personnel to access electronic purchasing functions from alternate sites while maintaining full security and functionality." Please clarify what is meant by "alternative sites".  

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Q487: We request that the government revise their pricing tables for Electronic Purchasing. Currently, Electronic Purchasing is priced on a "per transaction" basis for a single product offering. Contractors (issuers) would like the flexibility to offer the government a "menu" of many Electronic Purchasing solutions in the form of a table where price is correlated with a system's functionality. We envision that this menu would have multiple vendors offering a range of Electronic Purchasing solutions to meet varying needs. 

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Q488: C.47.12 Photo ID: The requirements for this value added service need to be taken into account with other elements of the card already defined. Any card design developed for use in any of the programs needs to accommodate this requirement, chip contact placement, standard embossing/printing requirements, and program specific embossing/printing requirements. 

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Q489: C.47.12 Photo ID: The plastic needs to comply with commercial standard even if there is a Photocard in addition to the other elements required. However, depending on the background used and the size of the City Pair identifier, all of the requested elements may not fit. 

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Q490: Change this section to incorporate the possibility of other customization of the card. For example in the fleet area, an agency may want to have their maintenance authorization limits and instructions printed on the cards (toll-free maintenance authorization number, break-down hot-line, etc.). Agencies may want similar control reminders for the purchase or travel cards printed directly on the cards. It should be clear that the photo is to be on the back of the card; unless the GSA card design provides space on the front. 

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Q491: C.47.14 Net Billing: This value-added service does not conform to standard commercial practices regarding accounting and control and should therefore be removed. It will increase systems and reconciliation issues for the Contractor and Government. 

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Q492: C.47.15 Card Sleeves: Have offerors add personalization by Agency/Organization option. 

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Q493: CA.1, Background for Fleet Card Services: Please provide the number and size of fleet programs currently in place within the Federal Government, domestically and internationally. 

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Q494: General: Please provide a breakdown of the agencies and the number of vehicles per agency that use IFMS and those that don't use IFMS.  

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Q495: CA.2, Definitions: We request that the Government draw a distinction between the above definitions within the Master Contract RFP. The current Draft Solicitation is written in such a way that there is substantial confusion in many of the common sections (all sections other than Section CA - Requirements Specific to The Fleet Card Program). Many of the Core Products and Services as well as the Value Added Products and Services are written in such a way that we cannot offer the Product/Service/Report/Data Elements/etc., because many of the products/services are more applicable to a "cardholder" type program vs. "vehicle" tracking type program. Please revise "Cardholder" as a person/individual of the Government to whom the T&E card may be assigned and "Vehicle" or "Unit" as an asset of the Government to which the Fleet Card is assigned for tracking purposes. 

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Q496: CA.2 Definitions: Definition of Cardholder - We recommend adding the following after the last word, "procedures": "provided such procedures are furnished to the master contract holder in a timely manner." 

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Q497: Please provide clarification of the term "Customer Unit". Does this refer to multiple fleet cards assigned to one centrally billed account? 

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Q498: CA.2 Definitions: Since more than one person may use a vehicle, what is the maximum number of PIN's that a card may need to support? 

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Q499: Multiple PINS. The agency for the purpose of streamlining should only have one PIN. With two or more PINs the ability to manage the card becomes questionable. One PIN should suffice for all the functionality that the managing office wants to provide. 

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Q500: CA.3, Fleet Card Program Requirements: What is meant by group of equipment? Provide example. 

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Q501: Add the phrase, "with full data capture as required in section CA.9.2." 

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Q502: CA.4, Merchant Acceptance for the Fleet Card Program: How can we enforce passing on of discounts? Depends on the merchant, doesn't it? 

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Q503: CA.4, Merchant Acceptance for the Fleet Card Program: Is there an impact with the inclusion of marine and aviation? 

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Q504: Merchant Acceptance. Have offerors provide assurance of merchant acceptance. 

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Q505: CA.4.1, Merchant Discounts: Does this mean that there could be multiple discounts negotiated differently for various departments/agencies and that all such discounts are to be included in this provision? 

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Q506: CA.4.1, Merchant Discounts: We do not have a mechanism which enables merchants to identify which agencies/organizations are eligible for discounts. 

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Q507: CA.4.1 Merchant Discounts: Our experience indicates that non-government fleet providers would prefer to have information that enables the provider to settle the discounts that they have established directly with the merchant. This allows the provider to keep the discounts that they have negotiated confidential and results in the Contractor not being involved in calculating the discount amounts. In addition, the current EPOS environment does not allow for the discount amount to be captured at the time of the transaction. The Contractor would supply the transaction information necessary for the provider (in this case the GSA) to settle discounts with the merchant in customized reports and electronic files designed to meet the provider's needs. 

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Q508: When an issuer negotiates a discount program with a merchant, the merchant has the ability to identify that issuer's cards at the POS (either by BIN or some other recognition device such as a membership card or coupons, etc.). When the government negotiates a discount with the merchant and requires recognition at the POS, the issuer may be required to provide the appropriate card numbers to the merchant. However, it is always the merchant's responsibility to actually recognize the card and associate the discount. The issuer only facilitates this process. Please provide additional information on the type of merchants and which business lines the GSA envisions will provide merchant discounts. 

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Q509: Please provide the card design. 

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Q510: CA.5.1 Face Side of Fleet Cards: We recommend that the OCR (scan line) requirement be removed from the Fleet Card Section, as it is a Purchasing/T&E feature. 

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Q511: CA.5.1, Face Side of Fleet Cards: Please explain why an OCR scan line on the front of a fleet card is required. 

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Q512: While we have no objection to the inclusion of an OCR scan line on a card, we request a revision to the specification requiring the OCR scan line as line one account number on the front of the card. It general, it should also be noted that OCR placement usually must be approved by card associations. 

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Q513: CA.5.1(a) Face Side of Fleet Cards: Please clarify the account number requirements for the Fleet Card. Are both the account number and card number required to be OCR readable? What OCR font(s) are required? 

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Q514: This section states that the authorized product type is recommended to be printed on the card. Please provide a list of the authorized product types. 

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Q515: CA.6 Training Requirements for the Fleet Card Program: We recommend that the references to "within ten (10) calendar days" in both CA.6.2 and CA.6.3 be modified to read: "...within ten (10) calendar days or a time agreed upon between the Contractor and the ordering unit..." 

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Q516: CA.6.1 and 6.2: The timing on the delivery of the Merchant guide and Card Use Instructions seems to be a little tight in light of the 10 days the Contractor has to contact the agency to set up an implementation schedule. It appears that the contractor will need to send a packet of information in their initial contact letter. The time-frame is not necessary. Time-frames are not included in the travel or purchase card sections. Merchant network and card use should be part of the evaluation process when an agency determines which contractor to use. 

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Q517: CA.7, Authorization Controls for the Fleet Card Program: Why does the government want to be invoiced directly by the merchants not on the network - if it's on any M/C or VISA network we can get the charge and bill the government. Does it mean an AMEX only merchant for a VISA or M/C issuer and vice versa? Will the government perform a match? Or supply not VISA, M/C merchants? 

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Q518: Authorized Controls. A basic introductory guide should include a descriptive listing of some of the services that can be purchased via the GSA Fleet Card. Some of the items are subject to certain regulatory controls. It would ease the mind of contracting officers if there was a listing of some of the products and services that could be purchased with the card. 

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Q519: CA.8 Tax Exempt Status for the Fleet Card Program: (a) Tax Filing Information - states that each merchant's TIN with the appropriate amounts paid to each are necessary for the Government to file Form 1099 report. How will the bidders know what the "appropriate amounts " are? 

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Q520: CA.8 Tax Exempt Status: We recommend replacing the wording "when applicable" at the end of the first sentence in the second paragraph with "when legally applicable." 

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Q521: We request that the government provide a detailed description of how the current tax exemption process works and how satisfied the government is with the results that it as achieved. 

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Q522: CA.8 Tax Exempt Status for the Fleet Card Program: At those locations that do not recognize the US Federal Government's tax exempt status (e.g., Indian reservations and international sites), the fuel pump price for fuel will be the priced billed to the agencies. 

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Q523: CA.9.1.1: Footnote for (c) Equipment Identification need to be changed. We are the Interagency Fleet Management System. 

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Q524: CA.9.2 Fleet Card Program Transaction Data Elements: (a) Tax Filing Information - states that each merchant's TIN with the appropriate amounts paid to each are necessary for the Government to file Form 1099 report. How will the bidders know what the "appropriate amounts " are? 

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Q525: CA.9.2 Fleet Card Transaction Data Elements: We have the ability to electronically capture product code and type information from the point of sale; however, we are extremely dependent on the merchant's point of sale equipment and the data entry of the correct product code and type information. Also, non-fuel merchants currently send "sales data" which is net of all taxes for Government transactions and does not include tax information. With specific reference to paragraphs s), t), v) and w), we suggest that "when available and able to be captured by the Card Program" be added to the end of each paragraph. Also, please add the following to the end of the first paragraph: "The exempted tax amount will be reported for all fuel purchases." 

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Q526: Add a footnote to items (r) through (t) and (v) through (x), "if available to commercial customers." (Skip (u) Non-fuel price, gross.) 

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Q527: Add fields for discounts in both fuel and non-fuel prior to the net price. 

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Q528: CA.10.1 Invoices for the Fleet Card Program: We seek clarification on the reason why PIN numbers need to be reported on invoices. The solicitation currently states: "the itemized invoice shall also contain the Government purchase authorization. This is the user identification (signature or PIN) for each transaction included for each transaction unless otherwise requested by the agency/organization." We request that this requirement be deleted. Rationale: Security. 

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Q529: CA.10.2 Statement of Account: We seek clarification of item d: "Identification of purchases outside of normal parameters." Fleet cards, in general, already have built-in control mechanisms to establish purchasing parameters. 

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Q530: CA.11 Fleet Card Program Reporting Requirements: Account Activity Report - Does the "Non-Fuel Charges" mean charges for other services the merchant provides that may be subject to Form 1099 reporting? 

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Q531: CA.11.2, Statistical Summary Report for Fleet: Add a field for Total Number of Cards In Inventory; Change (i) to "Number of Active Cards (recently used cards)"; Add the words "Number of" to the front of fields (f) & (g) and (k) through (n); and Add a field for Number of Cards Deleted. 

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Q532: We would like the option of not requiring employees' to provide their social security number when applying for a travel card with a contractor. Because a credit report will not be conducted by the contractor, the contractor shouldn't need the social security number as an identifier. Instead, an alpha-numeric code could be used as a means of personal identification (see references to SSN on pages 91 and 164, CB.40.1.10 and CB.15.1.12, Tracking Individually Billed Account Payment) and page 140, under Card Personalization). 

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Q533: CB.1 Please provide number of cards in Exhibit 7. 

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Q534: Any amounts charged in excess of the allowable reimbursement are paid to the contractor out of the employee's personal funds. Does this mean that personal spend is permitted? 

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Q535: The system consists of individually billed employee accounts with and without automated teller machine (ATM) access... Will the agency limit who has access? Will tiering the limits be considered?

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Q536: CB.2 Cardholder Application: Definition states that an application shall be used for individually billed accounts. Would this encompass the use of enrollment via diskette or e-mail or is a paper application required? 

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Q537: CB.2 Government Travel Regulations: Will government employees be using the travel card for relocation? How does the government handle relocation?  

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Q538: CB.2 Split Disbursements - Is this referring to a card and cash process or equivalent to the direct pay process?  

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Q539: CB.2 Billing cycle definition will also apply to centrally billed accounts. Why not listed as such?  

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Q540: CB.4 Merchant Acceptance for the Travel Card Program: Please clarify the requirement for acceptance "by airports". Is this for landing fees or does this mean stores/shops/etc. located in airports? 

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Q541: Please provide the card design. 

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Q542: CB.5.1 Face Side of Travel Cards: The requirement lists many potential card designs, depending on purpose. In order to ensure widespread acceptance and eliminate confusion at the merchant level, the Government should keep to a standard card design. Common commercial practice is to issue purchasing, travel and fleet cards with a standard background and limited customization (e.g., company logos only). A common look will help the airline, hotel and car rental industries as well as new merchants to card acceptance. 

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Q543: Our interpretation of the requirement suggest as many as 11 card program designs. This could further multiply by the number of agencies who could require a unique look. These customized designs require additional lead time to print and monitor quality control. The customization will extend the implementation and replacement time frames as well as increase the overall contract price. From an economic and quality perspective, the Government should provide limited number of background designs with sufficient lead time to print the cards. We recommend that any agency customizations should be moved to value-added services. 

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Q544: CB.5.1: The contractor shall be able to print individual department, agency or organization name and a minimum 15 digit alphanumeric discretionary field. Please clarify "printed" regarding card design. Will the 15 digit field vary within each individual department? 

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Q545: CB.5.1: Vendors must comply with ISO/ANSI standards. Only so much of this will fit on a piece of plastic which may restrict layout. Is there any preference as to hierarchy? 

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Q546: The Draft RFP stipulates the required data fields to be embossed on the face of the card. However, there are some fields, not mentioned in the requirement that are standard commercial design (e.g., effective date). Please clarify whether additional information can be embossed on the card in addition to the Government specifications. 

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Q547: CB.5.1 Please explain the use of a 15 character alphanumeric discretionary field that may be printed on the face of the card. Is it a requirement for each individual card to have a unique number? If so, this will substantially increase the cost and turnaround time of producing the cards and will reduce the economic return to Government. 

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Q548: CB.5.2, City Pair Program Identifier: Does this term's usage here really reflect the entire air travel procurement program as stated on p.152 in CB.2? 

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Q549: CB.5.2 - Will there be City Pair participants and non-participants within the same agency? 

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Q550: CB.5.2 City Pair Program Identifier: Please clarify whether the term "user" applies to an agency or a traveler. If the requirement is for an agency, please qualify that you will provide the Contractor with a list of authorized users. If the requirement is for an individual, we suggest that you delete the word "ensure." The word ensure seems to indicate contractors will have to go through an independent check to "ensure" eligibility. Placing such a requirement on the Contractor will reduce the economic return to the Government. 

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Q551: CB.5.2 City Pair Program Identifier: Could the City Pair Program identifier be an internal identifier in the vendor's system or does it have to be on the plastic? 

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Q552: May the contractor decide whether the city pair program identifier is embossed or printed on the card? 

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Q553: What is the need for a non city pair plastic design?

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Q554: CB.6 - Please clarify the definition of the term "account number". Is it the card number or a number in the reporting system that can be tied back to the card? 

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Q555: CB.6, Account Number for the travel card program: This section indicates a requirement for 4 separate prefixes and numbering systems to identify different categories of the travel card program. Please clarify the definition of a prefix and numbering system. 

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Q556: CB.6 Account Number for the Travel Card Program: Please clarify the following points: How will the contractors be informed that agencies and travelers qualify for the City Pairs programs?  

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Q557: What constitutes a non city pair employee?  

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Q558: If agencies are switched from Non-City Pairs qualified to City Pairs Qualified, a reissuance of all the outstanding plastic will need to be performed. 

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Q559: CB.10.1 Why is there a requirement to record a city pair program identifier in the master file if contractors must provide separate prefixes and numbering systems for individually and centrally billed accounts with city pair program access? Won't the unique account number serve the same purpose.  

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Q560: CB.10.2 Travel Card Program Transaction Data for Centrally Billed Accounts: Hotel folio data is not available therefore we cannot comply as an industry to the FSA. 

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Q561: CB.10.2 Need clarification if GSA will mandate that this be provided from the merchants. 

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Q562: Is the information regarding Hotel/Motel fire Safety Act currently provided by hotel/motels as part of the transaction data? 

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Q563: Is this information provided by common carriers today? 

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Q564: CB.10.2 Travel Card Program Transaction Data for Centrally Billed Accounts: For centrally billed accounts, it is not uncommon that international common carriers do not transmit fundamental information such as passenger name, ticket numbers, class of travel, etc. Contractors cannot provide information that is not transmitted by these carriers. Therefore, we suggest that this requirement be modified to add the phrase "when transmitted by the common carrier to the contractor." 

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Q565: CB.10.2.a Hotel/Motel FSA: Contractor will indicate FSA information if provided by the merchant in their charge transmission. The Government should either require hotels to pass this data to the card company or obtain this information from another source (e.g., TMC/CTO). Note that using the card infrastructure to manage FSA information takes place after the reservation has been made versus using the relatively more proactive TMC/CTO file which is utilized at the time of reservation. Additionally, TMCs are contractually required to provide this information to the Government. 

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Q566: Despite requests for this information, hotel establishments are not providing the number of room nights today. 

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Q567: CB.10.2.b Airline ticket numbers: If the TMC/CTO is making airline reservations, the Contractor will record the airline ticket number if provided by the TMC/CTO. Contracts between the Government and TMC/CTO should require the travel agent to provide ticket number to the card company. 

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Q568: CB.10.1 - Is GSA looking for identification of the centrally billed organization as a participant in the City Pair Program or are they looking for rolled-up information on the City Pair activity?  

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Q569: CB.10.2 Travel Card Program Transaction Data for Centrally Billed Accounts: a) Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act statistics - In order for an issuer to provide this information, it is necessary for the merchant to capture the information and for this information to be passed with the transaction to the issuer. Currently, Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Compliance flags are not a data element which is captured as part of either Mastercard's or Visa's travel detailed data addendum records. It is our understanding that the information requested is already available through the Travel Management Centers and Central Travel Offices. This would satisfy the requirement for agencies to use approved accommodations. 

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Q570: Regarding the Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act (FSA) in Paragraph a, we request that the GSA delete the entire FSA data requirements for each transaction: 1) number of room nights, and 2) a yes/no indicator showing if the lodging establishment is FSA-compliant or furnish suggested sources for this information. It is our understanding that FSA compliance information is currently stored in reservation databases used by the Government's Travel Management Centers (TMCs) and Commercial Travel Offices (CTOs) who assist Government employees with travel arrangements. This sentiment was echoed at the 6/16 GSA meeting by Karen Alderman from the Department of Defense. This information is not currently captured at the lodging establishment at the time of the transactions. It would be burdensome for both the lodging industry and the payments processing infrastructure to comply with this requirement when the information is readily available to the Government from other sources. 

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Q571: CB.10.2.a. Travel Card Program Transaction Data for Centrally Billed Accounts: Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act (FSA) statistics should be validated before a Government employee stays at a hotel/motel. This information is available through the travel reservation system rather than being captured after the employee has already stayed at the location. 

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Q572: CB.11.1, Account Set-up for Centrally Billed Travel Card Accounts:

Is expenditure limit equivalent to a per-transaction limit or a monthly spending limit? 

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Q573: CB.11.3: Need clarification on what is needed on invoices - 2 copies of the statement? Or statement information (data) to the GSA office? 

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Q574: CB.11.4 Billing Discrepancies for Centrally Billed Travel Card Accounts: The first sentence indicates that any unreconciled item should be automatically considered a disputed charge whereas the second sentence states that it is the responsibility of the organization to notify the contractor of disputed charges. Standard commercial practice requires cardholders to take action on discrepancies and file a formal dispute within 60 days. Otherwise the transaction in deemed acceptable and a cardholder obligation. We suggest that the first sentence be deleted. The second sentence is in line with commercial practice, the first is not. 

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Q575: CB.11.4 Are items not paid considered to be in dispute? 

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Q576: CB.11.5 Advance Credit: We suggest adding the sentence: "The Contractor will deduct the amount of advanced credit upon receipt of advanced credit documentation from the agency or TMC/CTO." In order to deduct advanced credit the Contractor needs documentation of the advanced credit. However, some agencies/organizations could be credited the charge twice, once for "advanced credit" and once when regular credit is shown. Requiring documentation before deduction will reduce billing discrepancies, make reconciliation easier and increase user satisfaction. It will also provide an audit trail for transactions and advanced credits. 

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Q577: CB.11.6 Tracking Centrally Billed Account Payment: Please clarify the requirement to cross reference a payment to a ticket number. Is this to each airline ticket? 

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Q578: CB.11.6 Need clarification and/or example on tracking and cross referencing payments for centrally billed accounts. 

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Q579: We suggest changing this section to read: "The Contractor will track all payment data requested by the Government as provided by the Government. The Contractor will work with the Government to identify these data elements and ensure they are tracked and reported. The agencies or TMCs shall be required to provide detailed support on their remittances indicating the line items (e.g. ticket numbers) to which payments are to be applied." These changes will support easier reconciliation and minimize billing discrepancies. 

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Q580: Travelers Checks, the denominations are too high. Providing check denominations of $500 and $1,000 is too excessive. There is too great of a chance of abuse. 

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Q581: Please clarify existing uses of traveler's checks domestically and internationally. Use of traveler's checks does not allow electronic capture of purchase data. 

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Q582: CB.13.1 Agency Reporting Requirements - Account Activity Report: Merchants do not always have the capability through their Point of Sale devices to pass information such as address and TIN. Why is TIN an important data element for Travel card charges? Also, please define "roll-up". Is this summary level? We suggest amending to "Contractor will include available merchant information in the Account Activity Report". 

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Q583: Regarding the Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act (FSA), we request that the GSA delete the requirement that the Contractor provide a report listing FSA data and the percentage compliance to the FSA for each agency/organization. Alternatively, the GSA should provide sources for this data or work to get industry to report this. It is our understanding that FSA compliance information is currently stored in reservation databases used by the Government's Travel Management Centers (TMCs) and Commercial Travel Offices (CTOs) who assist Government employees with travel arrangements. We recommend that each agency/organization should mandate employee compliance by establishing a Travel Card policy that requires government employees to stay at FSA-compliant lodging establishments and book their travel though Travel Management Centers (TMCs) and Commercial Travel Offices (CTOs) where the FSA compliance information is readily available. 

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Q584: CB.13.7 What is the frequency of the report for per card fees and pre-funded cards? 

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Q585: CB.14.1 Please explain the use of the 12 digit alphanumeric ID# to verify employment. 

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Q586: CB.15 If an APC or other authorized government official requests a suspension be lifted on an individual travel card account, can the new purchases, if unpaid, be charged back against the authorizing/requesting agency? If not, why not? 

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Q587: "Although the Government authorizes individually billed accounts to be established, the Government accept no liability for charges made against the individually billed accounts." How will termination reporting occur (frequency and vehicle)? Will the Government have liability beyond a point for when an Agency fails to notify of termination? 

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Q588: CB.15.1 e) Payment schedule - Will summary of a billing cycle suffice (detail or policy)? 

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Q589: CB.15.1.2, Preset Limits: The bankcard world operates with preset limits for all cardholders. In order to bring equity to this solicitation among potential contractors, please review this requirement so as to allow the contractor to work with the agency/organization in defining the appropriate limit for each type of account. 

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Q590: CB.15.1.2/CB.15.1.3 Card issuance and Delivery for Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts - These sections appear to conflict regarding the processing of applications. In Section 15.1.2 it states that "The original cardholder agreement will be forwarded by the A/OPC within three (3) business days of the request to open the account." However, Section CB.15.1.3 states, "Establish new individually billed accounts upon receipt of a completed application that was approved by the A/OPC." Both sections refer to individually billed accounts, therefore, there may be a conflict in receiving the application and processing within 3 days. Please clarify. CB.15.1.2. 

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Q591: CB.15.1.4 Emergency Account Set-Up and Card Delivery: Add requirement that these cards be delivered via expedited means e.g., FEDEX. 

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Q592: Cardholder Agreement, should state who can provide exceptions to the prohibitions. In the previous guidance the GSA Contracting Officer was providing guidance in this area. There should also be a telephone number that the cardholder can call to obtain additional guidance in this area. 

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Q593: CB.15.1.2, Account Set Up for Individually Billed Accounts: Does (c) include (and therefore preclude setting) a preset credit or spending limit? If so, this represents a gap as we must set cardholder credit limits. 

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Q594: CB.15.1.3 Card Issuance and Delivery for Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts: Please clarify how a completed application can be required to have a cardholder signature when it is not possible to transmit cardholder signatures electronically. As an alternative, we suggest that agencies be required to submit completed hard copy applications (with signature) within three business days of receipt of electronic application. 

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Q595: CB.15.1.3.d) All references to making cards valid for a specific time period.... please clarify - does GSA mean "elapsed time" for expiring based on issuing date? Or all cards expire at the same date? f) What is the difference between this and CB.15.1.4? 

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Q596: CB.15.1.5 Can the GSA define all information necessary referenced in card renewal section? 

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Q597: CB.15.1.6 - Will RSV stickers suffice as verification of card receipt? 

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Q598: CB.15.1.7, Statement of Account: Is GSA aware that "sending" within 5 business days after end of cycle does not guarantee delivery in the same timeframe? Tests mailings to some area codes arrive 14 calendar days later. 

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Q599: CB.15.1.8 Split Disbursement: The definition of "split disbursement" in this section does not appear to be consistent with the definition in section CB.2. We suggest changing the words "split disbursement" in this section to either "split billing" or "diversionary billing" which are common commercial terms used for what the GSA is describing in this section. 

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Q600: We suggest changing the first sentence to read: "The Contractor will have the ability to record information to identify charges for the split billing if the information is provided by the agency." 

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Q601: This requirement identifies that large ticket items (e.g. airlines, hotel and car rental) are diverted to a central bill account when a cardholder completes these purchases using their individual plastic. Diverted charges to a central bill are the liability of the U.S. Government and not the cardholder. Cardholders should not be expensing these large ticket items and should only be expensing the incidental expenses put on a charge account.  

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Q602: If "split disbursement" is to be translated as a split payment, then we recommend deletion of the requirement. The splitting of the payment between the individually billed account and a centrally billed account crosses account liability rules and does not conform to standard commercial practice. 

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Q603: CB.15.1.9.h Rebill Proper Charges: Please modify this requirement for the Contractor to include "original transaction data or cross reference information, if available". It is common industry practice to keep data 30-45 days on an active database. After that time, the manual effort would outweigh the benefits of including the original transaction data through increased expense of rebilling and delayed posting to the account. 

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Q604: CB.15.1.10 Reconciliation Assistance: The level of assistance required of contractors is open-ended with respect to time and staff resources. Since this assistance constitutes a cost to the contractor that is not definable, this section should be deleted and such reconciliation services be considered a priced Tier 2 - Value Added Service. 

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Q605: "The contractor shall assist cardholders in the reconciliation of individually billed accounts as requested." How detailed - provide standard statement and balance substantiation? 

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Q606: CB.15.1.12, Tracking Individually Billed Account Payment: If SSN must be part of payment Tracking, this must be supplied at account setup. 

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Q607: CB.16 Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts and Credit Bureaus: We will perform a Promotional Inquiry prior to card issuance. This has no positive or negative effect on an individual's credit report and does not even show up. We must do a risk assessment on all cardholders because we are extending an unsecured loan, unless the government and its unions share in the risk. 

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Q608: It is common credit card industry practice to perform a credit check on a prospective cardholder prior to the issuance of an unsecured line of credit. If credit checks as a condition of initial card issuance are not going to be allowed, we feel that the government should assume liability for those unauthorized purchases that benefit the government either directly or indirectly. The card associations provide their members with various liability protection programs to protect their members and their corporations (in this case, the government) from situations where a cardholder fraudulently uses his/her card. Some of these programs provides coverage when the cardholder agreement stipulates individual liability for cardholder charges to the extent that the fraudulent charge did not benefit the company/government either directly or indirectly. Without the acceptance of some liability by the government, we believe that the inability of Contractors (issuers) to perform credit checks seriously increases their risk and could prevent them from responding to the GSA's solicitation. 

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Q609: CB.16 Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts and Credit Bureaus: GSA should eliminate the textual suggestion that Government Card Program cardholders will have a statutory right to revoke consent to credit checks at any time in accordance with the Right to Financial Privacy Act (12 U.S.C. § 3401 et seq.). The Draft RFP wrongly suggests that Government Card Program cardholders will have a statutory right to revoke consent to credit checks at any time in accordance with the Right to Financial Privacy Act (see RFP p. 161). Contrary to that suggestion, the Right to Financial Privacy Act ("RFPA") would not apply to credit check information a contractor might obtain from a credit reporting agency, for several reasons. First, credit reporting agencies are not "financial institutions" covered by the RFPA. Second, credit check information does not amount to a disclosure of covered "customer" information by credit reporting entity. Finally, the collection and disclosure of consumer information by credit reporting agencies is governed by an entirely different federal statute, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. 

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Q610: In the commercial market we perform "risk assessments" which differ from "credit checks" in two ways: 

We strongly believe this type of credit control mechanism will greatly reduce the risk to card issuers, not be overly intrusive to the cardholder, nor create an administrative burden for agencies.  

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Q611: We object to any provision that allows the contractor to supply credit information or account history to credit reporting bureaus. Under CB.16, the draft solicitation permits the contractor to provide information to a credit bureau where an account has been canceled and the suspension/cancellation report has been provided to the A/OPC. To the extent that the agency may be at fault for unpaid bills in excess of 120 days, the employee may be unjustifiably injured by the reporting of credit history to a credit bureau. However unlikely, there may be circumstances where the agency's failure to process vouchers timely results in the cancellation of an account. In these limited set of circumstances, the employee should not be held responsible for the inefficiency of the government by having their account performance reported to the credit bureau. As mentioned above, law allows the employee to seek reimbursement from the government when the agency has failed to reimburse the employee for official expenses. However, where an employee's credit history is adversely affected by governmental inefficiency, there appears to be no mechanism for remedying the injury. 

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Q612: Agency program coordinators should also make decisions regarding credit worthiness checks. The contractor should conduct these checks only if requested by the agency or contracting officer. 

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Q613: "Credit checks would not be conducted to deny an individual a card, rather, to provide the agency/organization limited information...so that the agency/organization can provide the individual an alternative card payment mechanism...". Does this fall within the Fair Credit Reporting Act: can personal credit information be disclosed? "The individual cardholder must provide written consent to the card service provider (e.g., through their cardholder agreement) prior to any credit check being performed and the individual cardholder retains the right to revoke his/her consent to he credit check at any time...". If the Cardholder Agreement addresses this area, does the Agreement allow the vendor to inquire for purposes of excess ATM or personal spend? 

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Q614: CB.16 Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts & Credit: What alternatives does the Government allow for the collection of unpaid balances for individually billed travel card accounts, particularly for employees who leave the Government employ? 

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Q615: CB.17 Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts and Delinquency Control: The draft RFP proposes that contractors must ensure that collection practices comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The applicability of the FDCPA is limited to credit extend for personal, family, or household uses. It is not applicable to commercial credit. Because the RFP will procure services that are commercial in nature, it should not impose compliance responsibilities related to the FDCPA. 

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Q616: CB.18 Individually Billed Travel Card Account Suspension Procedures: One of the best risk mitigation measures that can be taken is to permit the APC to request delay or withholding of suspension due to extenuating circumstances. A responsive contractor will not strand a traveler in mid-mission, and the Government has the Past Performance methodology to register disapproval with contractors who are inflexible. An alternative solution would be to tightly define what constitutes an extenuating circumstance. To leave the requirement as is opens the contractors to more risk, reduces the economic return to the Government and creates friction between the contractors and the agencies. 

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Q617: What is the difference between suspension at 61 days and cancellation? 

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Q618: CB.18.5 Which documentation, described in CB.18, is being referred to? 

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Q619: CB.18.5 Suspension/Reinstatement Record: The requirement to make the suspension 'file' available 'immediately' is vague and unrealistic. What can be made available immediately, by a phone conversation, is the cardholder name, account number, amount owed and delinquency status. Subsequent documentation as listed in the requirement can be provided within 48 hours. We suggest the "immediately" be changed to "within a reasonable time, mutually agreed upon by the Contractor and the A/OPC or GSA Contracting Officer." 

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Q620: If the APC is employed by the organization who is a candidate for suspension, shouldn't the matter be referred to GSA for a decision as to whether an extension should be granted? 

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Q621: CB.19 Individually Billed Travel Card Account Cancellation Procedures: The third item states: "Use of the Card for other than authorized purchases and suspension is approved by the A/OPC." We suggest either changing the word "suspension" to "cancellation" or clarifying the meaning of the sentence. 

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Q622: We recommend that the reasons for the contractor initiating cancellation of individually billed accounts be broadened to include when the employee leaves the agency and fraud. Cancellation for these reasons should be permissible immediately and not require the delayed procedures outlined. It is industry practice to cancel cards when fraud is identified or when an employee departs an organization. These cancellations should be permissible with concurrent notification to the A/OPC.  

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Q623: CB.19.3 States " canceled individually billed accounts may be referred to credit bureaus". Does refer equate to report? What is the method for reporting? 

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Q624: CB.19.6 Can the cardholder request cancellation? 

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Q625: CB.19.5 Which documentation, described in CB.19, is being referred to? 

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Q626: GSA's initial response to this was that reimbursement was "an administrative matter between the agency and employee, not a contractual matter between the Government and the Contractor." While this is an administrative matter, it is also a contractual matter among the Contractor, the cardholder, and the Government because courts will generally not enforce collection actions against cardholders for unreimbursed expenses. This would undermine the financial integrity of the program and cause bidders to be much more conservative financially. 

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Q627: Lost or Stolen Cards: Will the government assume liability for fraud loss exposure on highline cards? 

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Q628: CB.21 - Why was imposition of late fees changed from 60 to 120 days? 

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Q629: CB.21 Late Fees on Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts: Speaking as a bankcard issuer, because we have tremendous acceptance which can provide an effective audit trail and data mining tool. We feel that by imposing late fees at 120 days, this approach will monetarily starve bankcard issuers. At the June 16, 1997 meeting, your intention of relaxing the 60 day late fee standards was to free up the administrative burden of late fees. Yet your approach to this RFP with multiple vendors was to have a competitive environment with emerging technology and benefits to the federal government. This approach could ultimately backfire and end up costing more money. 

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Q630: This section has changed to reflect billing of late fees at 120 days past due. Do the reimbursement practices of the Government require such a lengthy timeframe for payment of the account? Would GSA be willing to review a contractor's proposal that includes the assessment of late fees at 60 days past due and a higher rebate to the Agency? This section reads as if late fees can only be assessed on undisputed principal billing 120 days past due? Could the GSA clarify? 

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Q631: Define standard commercial late fee. Is this a percentage of the total past due or a fixed amount? 

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Q632: We renew our objection to the imposition of late fees on individual cardholders. Our opposition is somewhat mitigated by CB.21 which permits late fees only after the cancellation of the individual account. To the extent that the provision allows for the imposition of liability on employees where the government is actually at fault, we strongly believe that the agency should assume liability for these late fees. Where an account is canceled as a result of the government's inefficiency, the employee should not pay late fees to the contractor. If the employee can demonstrate that the government is at fault, the government should reimburse the contractor directly. Assuming the government is at fault for the card cancellation, employees may be forced to pay late fees to the contractor and then seek reimbursement from the agency under federal travel regulations. Employees should not be required to navigate the administrative maze associated with reimbursement when the government is responsible for the delay in payment to the contractor. Therefore, the solicitation should include a provision that allows employees to timely assert that the government is responsible for the card cancellation and that any late fees should be paid by the agency. 

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Q633: The individual liability section also includes a provision allowing agencies, through its task order, to permit the imposition of late fees in accordance with standard commercial practices. According to the provision, the agency may exercise this authority only upon successful negotiations with the appropriate union. We endorse the use of negotiations to reach agreements in this area, but we oppose any provision that allows the government to impose late fees against individual cardholders where the government is at fault for payment delays to the contractor. Standard commercial practices allow the imposition of late fees after 30 days of nonpayment for some corporate cards. If the government were as efficient as the private sector in processing travel vouchers, we would not oppose shortening the period for which late fees could be imposed. However, until such time as the government demonstrates that it is capable of reimbursing employees expeditiously for travel expenses, we will continue to object to provisions that impose personal liability on employees. 

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Q634: CB.22 - Please clarify GSA's position on reinstatement fees for travel cards. 

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Q635: The first paragraph needs revision. We understand that a contractor may not charge a reinstatement fee, but are confused with the later part of the sentence. Can the contractor charge a reinstatement fee if approval is given by the Government? 

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Q636: CB.23, Per Card Annual Fees or Pre-Funded Cards for Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts: Please clarify pre-funded cards. 

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Q637: CB.23, Pre-Funded Cards: Are the prefunded amounts to be held as collateral or as an account from which to pay the cardholder's bill? 

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Q638: It would be useful for the GSA to provide a definition of "pre-funded card" as used in CB.23, and an explanation of how this type of card functions within the travel reimbursement process. For example, does the contractor draw directly from a bank account funded by the Government to pay for charges incurred by the individual cardholder? If so, does the cardholder submit an expense voucher to his/her agency/organization? How is the voucher processed? Will a pre-funded card be a mandatory element for DoD or other agencies/organizations, or will contractors be encouraged to offer other products as alternative payment mechanisms? 

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Q639: CB.23.b Pre-Funded Card: The criteria for permitting cardholders to migrate from a pre-funded card to a 'regular' card are far too vague. Simply using a pre-funded card, which is funded by the Government, in an appropriate manner does not demonstrate that the cardholder can manage the individual liability of a 'regular' card. Industry practice is to screen even those who have demonstrated their ability to use a pre-funded card appropriately to determine if they qualify for an individual liability card. The contractors should be permitted to arrive at a mutually-agreed upon screening process with the agencies to determine who may migrate from a pre-funded card to a 'regular' card. 

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Q640: CB.23 Per Card Annual Fees or Pre-Funded Cards for Individually Billed Travel Card Accounts: With respect to the pre-funded card alternative, the card is not sufficiently flexible to accommodate the needs of employees. If the employee is required to stay on travel longer than anticipated, the pre-determined amount on the card may be inadequate. There may be processing delays in the request for additional funds to be put on the card. In this case, the employee would have to expend personal funds in order to meet any expenses normally paid by the government's per diem rate. The draft solicitation fails to address this issue, and it also omits any discussion of how the employee would be reimbursed for expending personal funds for official purposes. In a June 17 meeting, GSA and other procurement officials conceded that the above scenario was a limitation of the pre-funded card. These same officials recommended that the employee on travel whose pre-funded card has been depleted call the 1-800 number on the back of the card. The use of the 1-800 number is not a solution because there may be circumstances where money is simply unavailable, or the employee can't get through to the operator, or it is inconvenient for an employee to make an immediate phone call. 

It is also conceivable that an employee will exceed the pre-determined amount on the card while on travel. For example, if an employee goes out to dinner and the amount of the individual bill exceeds what is left on the card, how should the employee handle the payment. Can the employee put part of the bill on the card, and pay for the remainder out of pocket? Or does the employee have to pay the entire bill out of pocket? If the entire bill must be paid out of pocket, how will reimbursement work? In this situation, the employee would be entitled to the amount actually left on the card with the excess costs being incurred individually. As far as we can tell, the solicitation fails to address how these reimbursement procedures would operate.  

Maybe the individual agency task orders will resolve these questions, but they remain important problems for employees. 

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Q641: Per Card Annual Fees: In reference to the criteria for poor payment performance, it appears that the first bullet point states that if an account goes 60 days past due, a card fee could be assessed for one year. Is this correct? 

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Q642: The Per Card Annual Fees description states, "Should individually billed accounts once again meet the poor payment performance definition, the Contract may reinstate the annual per card fee as described above." Should the word Contract be replaced with contractor? 

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Q643: Pre-funded Card: The first paragraph indicates, "pre-funded card option shall be limited to those individually billed accounts that meet the poor payment performance definition as specified above, for the specific agency/organization level." The third paragraph then states, "pre-funded cards may also be offered as a standard risk mitigation measure regardless of payment." This appears to be a contradiction and may have little impact on the program, however there might be a lot of pre-funded cards if they can be offered at the agency's discretion rather than based on pay performance. 

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Q644: Pre-funded Card: Are Pre-Funded cards to be in a specific range? Does this equate to a Letter of Guarantee? 

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Q645: Risk Mitigation Measures--We have no problem with contractors charging an annual per card fee for individually billed travel card accounts that have demonstrated poor payment performance. However, it is not appropriate for agencies to pay the fees. Annual card fees should be addressed in the agreement between the card company and the individual cardholder.