Electronic Payment Systems

Established in 2004, Procurement for Housing (PfH) is a national procurement consortium dedicated to the social housing sector and supported by the National Housing Federation (NHF), Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and HouseMark. Collectively our Members manage more than 75% of UK' social housing stock, with PfH helping them to achieve efficiency savings using a wide range of services including framework agreements, dynamic purchasing systems, spend analyses, strategy reviews, consolidated billing and comprehensive reporting. PfH is a contracting authority under Regulation 2 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("PCR 2015") and a central purchasing body under regulation 37 PCR 2015.

Please refer to www. pfh. co.

uk for additional information. PfH is administered by Inprova Limited and is headquartered in the North West of England with over 20 years of expertise and experience offering a complete procurement solutions package across outsourcing, technology and consultancy. By integrating procurement services and technology, Inprova operates as a delivery partner, supporting business performance improvement for the public sector.

The purpose of this new framework agreement ("this Framework Agreement") is to ensure we can provide an offering suitable for members of PfH in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and other public bodies permitted to use this Framework Agreement who require the provision of Electronic Payment Systems. Procurement for Housing has conducted the necessary pre-market engagement activities to develop this Framework Agreement to meet the immediate and future requirements of PfH members. The Framework will be divided into seven (7) Lots as:Lot 1 - Multiple Network Managed ServicesLot 2 - Single Network Managed ServicesLot 3 - Cash In SoluionsLot 4 - Outbound Payments - Prepaid CardsLot 5 - VouchersLot 6 - Open Banking Services - Payment InitiationServicesLot 7 - Debt Solutions - AssessmentsEach Lot permits the provision of associated services.

By definition, the Single Network Managed Service Organisation (Supplier) is expected to consolidate payments from Clients/Tenants and reconcile management information from only one network solution from which the payments were made, subsequently transferring consolidated funds and reconciled management information to the PfH member.

For the provision of Lot 2, PfH are seeking to appoint a maximum of 3 (three) Organisations (Suppliers) each offering one payment network with multiple payment solutions. Organisations (Suppliers) must be able to deliver solutions to capture and electronically transfer payments that are made to PfH members (the user of the framework agreement) by their Clients/Tenants.

This Lot will require Organisations (Suppliers) on the Framework Agreement to be able to deliver the following minimum requirements. Organisations (Suppliers) without the capability to deliver these requirements are unlikely to be invited to tender for a place on the Framework Agreement.

These are:

• Access to one established payment network with national coverage and a wide range of payment outlets across the UK
• The timely management and transfer of funds via a secure trust account
• The provision of generic and unique Issuer Identification Numbers
• The provision of multiple robust payment channels, e.g., card payment, internet payment etc.
• The provision of payment cards
• The provision of receipts to Clients/Tenants of PfH members on payment/per transaction
• The capability to transfer data to common I.T. systems.
• The provision of capped transaction pricing

The provision of consistent, robust, transparent, and auditable management information, including as a minimum:

• Transaction I.D.
• Payment value
• Payment method (card, internet etc.)
• Payment type (rent, council tax etc.)
• Payment date
• Clearance date
• Outlet tracking
• The provision of account management and support function
• The Organisation (Supplier) shall manage transitions of changes in service provider, payment solutions and payment methods on behalf of PfH members and assist with communications to Clients/Tenants to ensure the smooth transition of services/supply, thus reducing disruption to payments.
• The Organisation (Supplier) shall be able to offer guidance and advice on the types of payment services and methods suitable for PfH members Clients/Tenants in the form of a proposal, to maximise payment opportunities for PfH members Clients/Tenants through the consideration of accessibility, locality, ease of use and transition, efficiency, and cost.
• The Organisation (Supplier) shall conduct fraudulent checks on suspicious payment transactions.
• The Organisation (Supplier) shall actively promote the framework agreement to potential users, including Organisations such as Housing Associations, Local Authorities, Councils, Registered Social Landlords, Arm's Length Management Organisations, and other public sector Organisations.
• The Organisation (Supplier) shall seek to work with members to develop case studies, to be used as literature to demonstrate the benefits of using the framework to potential Clients/Tenants.

Organisations (Suppliers) are more likely to be selected to be invited to tender for this Framework Agreement if they can evidence the following additional technical capabilities:

• Proven experience of delivering electronic payment services
• Excellent customer service and dedicated account management
• Excellent and relevant references
• Good management information and reporting available.
• The provision of an online ordering solution for payment cards
• The provision of a cash-out solution(s) accessible nationwide

This Framework may be used by any contracting authority listed in or referred to in the FTS Notice. This includes: All current members of PfH at the time of the FTS notice for this procurement; Any registered provider of social housing (or Welsh registered social landlord ,or Scottish registered social registered social landlord) that becomes a member of PfH during the period of the Framework Agreement; Any public authority (as defined in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for public authorities in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland, or as defined in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 for Scottish public authorities) that becomes a member of PfH at any time during the period of the Framework Agreement; Any local authority (as defined in the Local Government Act 1972 for public authorities in England and Wales or as defined in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 for Scottish local authorities or as defined in the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 for local authorities in Northern Ireland) that becomes a member of PfH at any time during the period of the Framework Agreement; Any housing Arm's Length Management Organisation (ALMO) that becomes a member of PfH during the period of the Framework Agreement; Any wholly owned subsidiaries of any of the above Organisations; educational establishments and any other contracting authority listed on the following page of the PfH website :

http://procurementforhousing.co.uk/permissible-users/ at the time of the FTS notice for this procurement.