Overview:
    "Financial Connection"

Current Issue

Back Issues

Subscribe Free

By Charles Dixon and Mariel Castro, General Revenue Collection Division

The General Revenue Collection (GRC) Division recently completed the Mail Channel Application (MCA) Financial Agent Selection Process (FASP). This is a significant milestone for the Collections and Cash Management Modernization (CCMM) effort, which seeks to streamline and improve the systems and processes supporting FMS's collections and cash management responsibilities. The winner of this FASP will assume operations, maintenance, and future limited development of the Electronic Check Processing (ECP) application by January 1, 2009. More importantly, in 2009 the financial agent will help create a business case for the development of the new MCA, the next generation application to process and collect funds received by government agencies through the mail.

Five major financial institutions, who currently serve as our Qualified Lockbox Providers (QLPs), were invited to participate in this FASP. Four QLPs responded with proposals that were scored on their vision for the MCA and their software development, project management, banking, imaging, security and customer service expertise.

Ultimately, Citibank was selected from among the interested banks and FMS signed a Financial Agent Agreement (FAA) with Citibank on September 30, 2008. While FMS and Citibank design and implement the MCA, ECP will operate as it does today, albeit with a new provider. Effective January 1, 2009, however, ECP's new customer service telephone number will be (866) 855-5735, and the ECP email address will change to fms.mca@citi.com.

The ECP transition is well underway. Citibank identified the core of their ECP and MCA teams in their proposal and hit the ground running with transition activities starting on October 1, 2008. Over the next several months, Citibank will work closely with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (FRBC) and FMS to complete a smooth and orderly transition.

Our partners at FRBC have done an outstanding job developing and maintaining the ECP application. FMS looks to Citibank to continue the high level of service that our agencies have come to expect as they assume control of ECP and develop the new MCA.

For more information about the Mail Channel Application, contact Charles Dixon at 202-874-6599.

Viewing PDF files requires the free Acrobat Reader.

You can sign up for your free subscription to The Financial Connection [here].