Banking and merchant card services for county government

Solicitation #RFP 27-001. Issued by Finance Department. Cecil County, Maryland (County) is inviting proposals from qualified financial institutions interested in providing general banking services which may include merchant card services. The County's primary objective is to evaluate the current banking environment and establish a new contract with a financially secure institution that best meets the needs of the County. The County would like to take advantage of the latest technology while also improving efficiency. The County's contract for general banking services ends on June 30, 2026. The contemplated contract period will be for one (1) initial year with a seven (7) renewal years at one (1) year increments. Price adjustments may be negotiated for the extension terms. The objective of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is for Cecil County, Maryland to select a Respondent(s) for the banking services as described in the specifications attached and any Federal, State and Local requirements. The County's objectives with this solicitation are outlined below: Obtain services available from the banking community more economically and/or efficiently than the County can provide itself; Maximize use of technology to enhance efficiency in the Port’s banking program; Meet or exceed current banking services; Provide strong internal and external controls over its fiscal management. Cecil County, Maryland, is requesting proposals for the BANKING, MERCHANT, AND COMMERCIAL CARD SERVICES ” to support the functions, are currently provided by a single bank under a contract that will expire in June 30, 2026. This RFP covers all of Cecil's finance operations including DDA, Lockbox, and other ancillary services. Ideally, Cecil is looking for one vendor for all of its banking needs, but may split the services among multiple banks if that best meets its requirements. Finance operations are located in the County offices in Elkton, MD. There are currently no operations outside of Maryland. There is no current lockbox and you may assume that the majority of payments received are from Maryland residents. The primary objective of this RFP is to identify a financial services provider or providers best able to deliver the account structure and banking services required by the County. The Cecil County Finance department has developed its business requirements which are outlined in this RFP but is open to alternative ways of achieving their objective. A secondary objective of the RFP is to ensure that the financial services provider will be able to deliver cost efficient account and payment methods to accommodate continued growth of electronic payments and digital payments via the internet.