2025-010 Purchasing Procedures for Merchant Services Card Processing Date: Nov. 22, 2024 Report No. 2025-010
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
Clarification on purchasing procedures questions that were asked during the Nov. 19 City
Council meeting related to ID24-2241 Merchant Services Card Processing.
DISCUSSION:
During the Nov. 19 City Council Meeting, Council Member Jester asked questions about the
notification process for solicitation of Merchant Services Card Processing.
To ensure every supplier can submit a proposal/bid for a city solicitation, the
Purchasing/Procurement Department does the following:
• Every solicitation that is issued to suppliers is listed in our electronic bidding software
(Ionwave). Vendors may register for the commodity code related to the good or service
they offer. Ionwave uses the National Institute of Government Purchasing(NIGP)
commodity codes. These codes are nationally recognized category codes for commodities
and services in public procurement. Every supplier that is registered under the NIGP
code(s) for the solicitation will receive an email with the invitation to bid, a link to our
online bidding software, and information about the solicitation.
• The City also searches the State of Texas Centralized Master Bidders List(CMBL) for
suppliers registered under the NIGP code(s) and directly emails them the invitation to
bid.
• The solicitation is advertised in the Denton Record-Chronicle at least once a week for
two consecutive weeks.
• Procurement asks that the department research possible suppliers and submit emails for
those suppliers. If emails are supplied, Procurement directly emails the bid to the
suppliers.
• All solicitations are accessible through the City of Denton Procurement page under open
solicitations - Procurement I Denton, TX
For the item referenced, the Scope of Work requested bidders to submit a non-fee-based pricing
schedule due to previous Public Utility Board and City Council direction. This direction asked
that card processing fees not be passed to the customer. This direction was generally given
because payment processing fees were being considered as part of the cost of doing business and
the card regulations tied to customer fee programs are complicated and in constant flux. Due to
this, departments have budgeted to pay for card processing expenses along with the expenses
incurred in accepting cash and check payments. In this instance, the Finance Department asked
Procurement to email the invitation to bid directly to those vendors that provided a bid during the
last Request for Proposal for these services; however, there were no local financial institutions
that met the criteria on the list.
Date: Nov. 22, 2024 Report No. 2025-010
STAFF CONTACT:
Jessica Williams, Chief Financial Officer
Jessica.JWilliams(&cityofdenton.com
(940) 349-8244
REOUESTOR: Staff initiated.
PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS: Purchasing and Finance Department
STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT: 0.5 hour