Debt Management Services

⁠⁠⁠Energy Queensland Limited (EQL), on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries (including Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd t/as Ergon Energy Retail), is seeking Responses to this invitation for expressions of interest (EOI) from the market to identify suitably qualified suppliers to transition the tiered referrals for Debt Management Service under the following disciplines:

Part A - Debt Management

Part B - Credit Risk Exposure Monitoring

Part C – Capacity to Pay Calls ( Interactive IVR Solution)

Suppliers can submit an EOI for each part individually, or multiple Parts. Ergon Energy Retail reserves the right to award Parts separately, or multiple Parts together

SCOPE

Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd (Ergon Energy Retail) is a government owned electricity retailer that services approximately 740,000 customers across regional Queensland. Ergon Energy Retail sells electricity at the Queensland Government’s notified prices, enabling regional Queenslanders to access the same regulated electricity tariffs wherever they are located in Queensland.

Ergon Energy Retail partners with Service Providers to complete the debt management lifecycle of unpaid electricity accounts for both active and finalised (contract ended), commercial and consumer customers as well as other associated accounts.

Part A – Debt Management

The services under this discipline includes all activities from initial referral to completion of the debt management lifecycle that includes but is not limited to collecting outstanding debt, skip tracing, entering and managing payment arrangements, listing and managing credit defaults with one or more appropriate credit reporting bodies.

The successful service provider should have a strong focus on quality assurance and compliance as well as a focus on innovation and continuous improvement.

Part B - Credit Risk Exposure Monitoring

Service Providers will need to have the appropriate licences and accreditations (if applicable) to undertake credit checks in accordance with ASIC requirements.

As outlined in Part D - Technical Specification, the Service Provider will be required to provide Credit Reports upon request and produce a proven Propensity to Pay model that incorporates a varied range of all current technologies available (machine learning, artificial intelligence, in depth industry analytics).

The Service Provider is required to have a solution or reporting mechanism, referred to in Part D - Technical Specification for EOI as “Person/Entity Monitoring” to monitor and the risk profile of specific consumer or commercial entity’s credit report and provide updates as they occur to Ergon Energy Retail.

The Service Provider must have a solution or mechanism for which it can determine whether a Customer has filed for bankruptcy, is in a state of insolvency or is under a Part IX Debt Agreement.

Part C – Capacity to Pay Calls (Interactive IVR Solution)

The Service Provider must have an interactive outbound dialler which has an inbuilt decisioning tool to route customer’s call depending on their soft touch and/or voice activated selection.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

This EOI is the first stage in a two staged Procurement Process, the purpose of which is to ultimately select a successful service provider/s to deliver Services, commencing no later than 1 February 2021. Only those Respondents shortlisted from this EOI will be invited to participate in stage two of the Procurement Process – Request for Tender (Stage 2 – RFT).

Stage 2 – Request for Tender will require shortlisted applicants to participate in workshops. Indicative timelines for Stage 2 are as follows:

Process                                                                       Indicative Timeline
Shortlist Notified and issued Agenda for Workshop        8 October 2020
Workshop Commences                                                  15 October to 22 October 2020
Tender Close                                                                   30 October 2020
Award                                                                              Late November 2020

Note: Successful providers are requried to be available for testing from late November 2020 through to February 2021.

Services are to commence on 1 February 2021