In a request for proposals (RFP) released Monday, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is seeking assistance with “Treasury Management Software.” The authority said it “invites proposals from qualified consultants to implement, support, and maintain a Treasury Management Solution (TMS)” that can be either software or web-based for its Treasury Department. Among the takeaways:
- OCTA’s investment portfolio totals approximately $2.4 billion, and three banks hold the investments. Investment managers do up to five trades daily. The Authority’s Treasury Department delivers monthly investment reports to its Finance and Administration Committee and Board of Directors. Being able to track daily investment activity is vital to “understanding the overall risk and performance of the portfolio,” according to the RFP. The TMS’ main goal is to “reduce the amount of staff time devoted to data manipulation and free up time to allow staff to analyze the market and report portfolio characteristics.”
- The TMS ultimately provided must have full support of all securities allowable for purchase under the California Government Code and OCTA’s investment policy. It must offer capabilities including investment analytics, “flexibility of manual data entry;” full download of export data; consolidated reporting; standard and custom reports; the capability of reports for daily, weekly and monthly timelines; transaction processing that “captures all trading activity of all asset classes”; and “potential integration with the IFAS (Integrated Financial and Administrative Solution) general ledger.” The contractor selected must host the TMS, which must be securely protected. It must have a “complete audit trail of individual balance and transaction records storing data elements such as posting date, modification date, and the TMS user IDs that process and/or modify transactions.” And it must have the administrative reporting and logging-in capabilities needed to track “user and functional and security authorizations.”
- Proposals must describe the TMS’ minimum system requirements and any “browser dependencies,” explain how it “manages version control management for testing and deployment of application upgrades for clients while maintaining service level expectations,” and describe security in detail, including “the use of encrypted internet connectivity, digital certificates, or other multi-factor authentication, if applicable.” Proposals must also lay out the network intrusion detection and prevention systems that will protect the TMS and specify whether security features including password constraints, user lockouts, personal identification numbers and automated deactivation of inactive logons are provided.
- The consultant chosen must verify that the proposed solution will work on the platform that is agreed upon — including hardware and software, and that the solution will meet OCTA’s technical standards. The consultant must “install or provide on OCTA equipment a baseline version of its core software and any partnered products” during initial solution setup. This will include tools needed for maintenance and administration of the system.” Additionally, the consultant must provide all hardware, software and installation services specs, and the environment “shall be multi-user capable and able to support the final, fully configured solution as designed.” The consultant must also demonstrate via a proof-of-concept model that the functions “are well within OCTA’s computing environment and associated standard platforms.”
- The project budget is $984,800, and the RFP is for an initial five-year contract term with the option of one two-year extension, presumably by OCTA. OCTA will hold a pre-proposal conference via teleconference at 9 a.m. Dec. 29. Questions are due by 5 p.m. Jan. 4, and responses will come by Jan. 6. Proposals are due by 2 p.m. Jan. 20, and interviews are slated for Feb. 17. An award date isn’t specified.
