State’s New Payments Contract Saves Taxpayer Dollars, Increases Protections Against Fraud & Provides Quality Customer Service
SALT LAKE CITY – June 22, 2017 – Utah State Treasurer David Damschen today announced that the Office of the Utah State Treasurer saved Utah taxpayers over $5 million through a competitive procurement process for the State of Utah’s soon-to-expire merchant services contract. During the year long process, seven proposals were thoroughly evaluated jointly with the state’s Division of Finance to determine which service provider could best facilitate the State’s credit card, debit card, mobile and online payment processing needs. The over $5 million in savings will be realized over the course of the 10-year contract and save Utahns over $242,000 in the first year alone – a nearly 40 percent first-year annual cost savings.
“Our new contract saves Utah taxpayers over $5 million, a nearly 40 percent cost savings in the first year alone,” said Treasurer Damschen. “State agencies like DMV, Department of Natural Resources and DABC process millions of credit and debit card transactions each year for things from motor vehicle registration fees to hunting and fishing licenses – and while the treasurer’s office doesn’t collect this money from Utahns – we want to ensure the processes by which this is done are the safest, most cost-effective available.”
Chase Paymentech LLC, a division of J.P. Morgan Chase was chosen through the competitive process. The contract has statewide cooperative designation, which means any local government entity in Utah can join the contract and take advantage of the favorable terms negotiated by the State.
In addition to the over $5 million in taxpayer savings, other benefits for Utahns include quality customer service, increased security against payment fraud and enhanced protection against data breaches through Paymentech’s proprietary security solutions.
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