10 Print and Mail RFP Requirements Every Tolling Agency Should Include

A print and mail RFP can look like a procurement exercise. For tolling agencies, it’s much more than that.

In an all-electronic tolling (AET) environment, printed notices often become the first formal trigger for payment, dispute resolution, and enforcement. When notices are delayed, inaccurate or hard to understand, the impact shows up quickly. Revenue slows down. Call volume rises. Customers get frustrated. Compliance timelines get harder to manage.

That’s why agencies should look at print and mail differently. This isn’t just about who can print at the lowest cost per piece. It’s about choosing a provider that canprotect revenue, reduce operational risk, and give you confidence that the right notice reaches the right customer at the right time.

A strong RFP helps you get there. It gives vendors enough detail to respond accurately. It makes proposals easier to compare. And it helps prevent the kind of post-award surprises that surface only after production begins.

Here are 10 requirements every tolling agency should include in a high-performance print and mail RFP.

Key takeaways

A strong print and mail RFP should help your agency compare vendors fairly, protect revenue and reduce operational risk after go-live.

• Don’t evaluate print and mail on cost per piece alone. Postage, address quality, presort strategy, change fees, and operational performance all affect total program cost.

• Define the full workflow, not just the finished document. Include file intake, data validation, business rules, exception handling, print specifications, USPS induction, and reporting requirements.

• Be specific about performance expectations. Clear SLAs, turnaround times, and report examples make it easier to hold vendors accountable.

• Treat postal optimization as a cost-control requirement. Agencies should ask how vendors reduce postage and manage returned mail, not simply accept broad optimization claims.

• Plan for change before the contract starts. Governance, testing, escalation paths, and change request processes help the agency adapt without disrupting billing, collections or compliance.

1. Define volumes, peaks and variability

Start with realistic volume data. Vendors need this information to price accurately, plan capacity and design the right operating model.

Include average monthly volumes by document type, peak daily and weekly volumes, annual growth assumptions, seasonal spikes, reprints, returns, inserts, and certified mail. Monthly averages are useful, but they don’t tell the whole story. A vendor may be able to handle your average volume but struggle during a major billing cycle, enforcement push or policy-driven notice increase.

Why it matters: Vague volume estimates can lead to padded pricing or capacity gaps once production begins. Clear volume data helps vendors plan properly and reduces the risk of missed timelines.

2. Define data, file intake and business rules

Print and mail performance depends on the quality and structure of the data behind each notice. Your RFP should explain how files will be delivered, validated, acknowledged, and turned into customer communications.

Include file delivery methods such as SFTP, API or secure portal. Specify file formats, file drop frequency, acknowledgement requirements, error handling, and rejection processes. Also define the business rules that drive correspondence: document type mapping, record codes, suppressions, routing logic, conditional pages, reprint rules, and lockbox or remittance processing integration where applicable.

Here’s a simple example. An agency sends a file for violation notices, but some records should be suppressed because the customer has already paid, entered a dispute process or moved to a payment plan. If those rules aren’t documented upfront, the agency may rely on vendor assumptions. That can create duplicate notices, unnecessary calls, and avoidable customer frustration.

Why it matters: A notice is only as accurate as the data and rules behind it. Without clear requirements, agencies can become dependent on undocumented vendor logic, making changes slower, audits harder and operational risk higher.

3. Be specific about document composition and print specifications

Do not leave document requirements open to interpretation. Your RFP should spell out exactly what needs to be produced.

Include page sizes, paper weight, color and grayscale requirements, simplex or duplex printing, samples of all document templates, perforation requirements, envelope types, inserts, buck slips, backers and business reply envelopes.

For tolling agencies, these details matter. Notices are not just routine customer communications. They support payment, dispute handling, collections and statutory requirements. A small formatting issue can affect whether a customer understands what they owe, how to pay or how to respond.

Why it matters: Clear print specifications reduce production errors, support compliance and help vendors price accurately.

4. Address postal optimization and address hygiene upfront

Postage is often one of the largest cost drivers in a print and mail program. It’s also one of the most overlooked areas in RFPs.

Your RFP should define expectations for NCOA processing, CASS certification, USPS compliance, returned mail handling, address hygiene reporting, presort strategy, householding where relevant, USPS handoff timing and proof of acceptance.

Don’t settle for broad claims like “we optimize postage.” Ask vendors to explain how. How many induction points do they use? How do they manage presort depth? How often do they process address updates? How do they report returned mail? What visibility will your team have?

Why it matters: A lower print price can be outweighed by higher postage costs. Strong postal optimization helps control total program cost and improves the likelihood that notices reach customers on time.

5. Set clear SLAs, reporting and performance measures

Agencies should separate general capacity claims from committed performance. A vendor may be able to handle high volume, but your RFP should still define how quickly work must move from file receipt to USPS induction and how performance will be measured.

Be specific about file-to-mail timelines, daily versus batch service expectations, reprint handling, exception handling, rejected files, cutoff times, SLA measurement methods and reporting cadence.

Also ask vendors to provide real examples of reports. This could include daily mail reports, job-level production reports, USPS reports, exception reports, month-end operational summaries and SLA dashboards.

Why it matters: Clear SLAs reduce disputes later. Strong reporting gives billing leaders visibility into where work stands, where issues are emerging and whether delays could affect revenue collection or enforcement timelines.

6. Require transparency around production facilities and continuity

Agencies should know where their documents are produced and how the vendor will maintain service if something goes wrong.

Ask vendors to disclose primary production facilities, backup facilities, disaster recovery plans, business continuity processes, data retention periods, archive practices, chain-of-custody controls and redundancy across equipment, staffing and locations.

This is especially important for agencies managing high-volume, time-sensitive notices. A facility outage, equipment failure or staffing gap can quickly become a revenue and service issue if there’s no credible continuity plan.

Why it matters: Facility transparency helps agencies assess operational resilience, security and oversight risk before awarding the contract.

7. Clarify optional digital communication capabilities

Even when the RFP is focused on print and mail, agencies should identify any digital capabilities they may want to use now or in the future.

Consider asking for QR codes linked to payment or dispute pages, email or SMS companion messages, app notification support, digital inserts, coordinated messaging across mail, web and mobile channels and reporting on digital engagement.

This doesn’t mean replacing print. In tolling, print still plays a critical role. But digital options can make printed notices more useful. For example, a QR code can take a customer directly to a payment page, reducing friction and lowering call volume.

Why it matters: Digital options can improve response rates, reduce avoidable contacts and give customers a faster path to action.

8. Compare total program cost, not just cost per piece

Cost per piece matters, but it rarely shows the full cost of a print and mail program.

Agencies should evaluate the total package: print production, postage, mail class assumptions, address hygiene, postal optimization, one-time fees, recurring fees, optional services, change fees and ad hoc requests.

A vendor with a lower print price may still cost more overall if postage costs are higher due to fewer induction points, weaker presort strategy or limited address optimization.

Use a standard pricing table or cost matrix. Require vendors to separate print, mail, postage and optional services. Ask them to state postal assumptions clearly and explain how postage will be optimized over the life of the contract.

Why it matters: A standardized pricing structure makes proposals easier to compare and reduces pricing disputes after award.

9. Address security, legal and contractual requirements

Operational detail matters, but the RFP should also make security, legal and procurement expectations clear.

Include requirements for data ownership, data retention, confidentiality, security controls, liability boundaries, subcontracting limitations, contract term, renewal options, state or federal procurement rules and agency-specific compliance policies.

These items are sometimes treated as boilerplate, but they can create real delays if they are not visible early. They also affect how much control the agency has over data, production risk and vendor accountability.

Why it matters: Clear contractual requirements reduce post-award friction and help protect sensitive customer and account information.

10. Define evaluation criteria and ongoing governance

A print and mail program does not end at vendor selection. Your RFP should define both how proposals will be evaluated and how the relationship will be managed after go-live.

Common evaluation categories include technical alignment, operational experience, production and reporting approach, security and compliance, implementation plan, pricing, total cost and value-added services.

For ongoing governance, set expectations for stakeholder roles, regular business reviews, change request handling, template updates, content changes, UAT, production testing, escalation paths and issue resolution timelines.

This is where many agencies gain or lose control after award. If governance is vague, every change can become a one-off negotiation. If governance is clear, both sides know how decisions are made, how issues are escalated and how performance will be reviewed.

Why it matters: Clear evaluation criteria lead to stronger proposals and more consistent scoring. Strong governance helps agencies adapt to regulatory, operational and customer changes without unnecessary disruption.

Where CSG fits

CSG works with tolling agencies and public sector organizations that depend on accurate, timely customer communications to support billing, collections, compliance and customer experience. Our role is not just to produce documents. It’s to help agencies manage complex communication workflows with the controls, reporting and operational discipline needed at scale.

That matters because print and mail performance doesn’t sit in isolation. It affects revenue, service levels, contact center demand and public trust.

Final thought: a strong RFP protects more than the budget

A well-written print and mail RFP does more than secure competitive pricing. It gives your agency a clearer view of vendor capability, operational risk and long-term fit.

For agencies, the goal is simple: make sure notices are accurate, timely, trackable and cost-effective. The RFP is where that discipline starts.

Before your next print and mail procurement, take three practical steps:

1. Map the full notice lifecycle. Follow the process from file creation to customer response, including exceptions, reprints, returns and reporting.

2. Standardize what vendors must show. Require comparable pricing, sample reports, SLA commitments and postal optimization details.

3. Build governance into the RFP. Define how changes, issues, testing and performance reviews will be managed after go-live.

The stronger the RFP, the easier it is to choose the right partner and avoid surprises once production begins.