Item - 2023.GG2.13

The General Government Committee recommends that:

1. City Council authorize, in accordance with Section 195-8.5 of the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 195 (Purchasing), the award of Ariba Document Number 3389680974 for the provision of collection services and approve the commission rates submitted by the Successful Suppliers listed in Attachment 1 to the report (February 15, 2023) from the Chief Procurement Officer, Purchasing and Materials Management Division, and the Director, Court Services.

2. City Council authorize the Director, Court Services to apply an average commission rate plus non-recoverable tax to be set at 12.97% for First (1st) Assignment Accounts and 21.20% for Second (2nd) Assignment Accounts and to be charged to the debtors for the defaulted POA fines that are owed to the City.

3. City Council delegate authority to the Director, Court Services to award contracts and enter into agreements with up to three registered collection agencies for the provision of collection services for the Third Assignment category on a non-competitive basis in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor, and to approve the commission rates that may be charged by the registered collection agencies and to set the average commission rate to be charged to the debtors for the Third Assignment Accounts.

4. The approval of the collection agency rates set out in Recommendations 1, 2 and 3 above shall constitute the City's approval for the purposes of subsection 165(9) and 70.1(1) of the Provincial Offences Act and section 240 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006.

The purpose of this report is to advise on the results of Request for Proposal ("RFP") Ariba Document Number 3389680974 for the provision of collection agency services to support the collection of defaulted fines under the Provincial Offences Act (POA) and approval of the collection rates under the City of Toronto Act, 2006. Existing contracts expire on March 31st, 2023, and new contracts are required to continue the service. Staff are requesting authority to negotiate and enter into agreements with nine (9) recommended Suppliers in accordance with the terms outlined in the RFP as listed in Attachment 1.

The debt collection agency services have been segmented into three (3) categories:

· "First (1st) Assignment" These accounts have been in default for up to two years from the date of the Accounts Receivable Report based on the debtor. These accounts may either have been previously assigned in third-party collections, or this may be the first assignment.

· "Second (2nd) Assignment" These accounts have been in default for more than two years and less than 20 years. All of these accounts have been previously assigned to third-party collections.

· "Third (3rd) Assignment" These accounts have been in default for more than 20 years. All these accounts have been previously assigned to third-party collections.

This report also seeks authorization to enter Non-Competitive Procurement Agreements with up to 3 Suppliers for the Third (3rd) Assignment as the RFP resulted in no bids for this category.

This report also proposes that City Council approve an average commission rate plus non-recoverable tax for the First (1st) Assignment and Second (2nd) Assignment. In addition, this report is requesting that delegated authority be given to the Director, Court Services to approve an average commission rate plus non-recoverable tax for the Third (3rd) Assignment. This will ensure that an equal commission rate is applied to City debtors with defaulted POA fines based on assignment category.