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CollectionsA good RFP tells you which agency will protect your brand and net you the most, before you hand over a single account. This kit gives you the gates, 8 weighted criteria, model questions and an editable scoring template.
A collection services RFP should screen agencies on licensing, regulatory record and data terms first, then score them on 8 weighted criteria: compliance, recovery and net-back, data security, account workflow, call quality and complaints, reporting and oversight, pricing, and transition. Ask for evidence you can check, and score every answer on a written 0-to-5 scale.
TSI (Transworld Systems Inc.) publishes it. TSI provides Accounts Receivable Management (ARM), Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), CXBPO and Loan Servicing (via UAS). DebtNext, a TSI company, makes recovery management software for creditors. Some options this page describes compete with services TSI sells. Each figure names its publisher and date so you can check it yourself.
The template below is editable. Change any weight, gate or question to fit your portfolio; the scoring sheet recalculates.
Screen every response on these before scoring. An agency that fails one doesn't reach the scoring sheet.
| Criterion | Weight | What it covers | TSI's answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance management and regulatory record | 20 | Who owns compliance and where it reports; orders and remediation; rule-change tracking; consent and call limits; model governance | Company facts |
| Recovery performance and net-back | 20 | Liquidation by placement month, gross and net of fees; segmentation; measurement against other agencies | Collection agency fees and net-back |
| Data security and privacy | 15 | Audit reports, data locations, offshore and subcontractor access, breach notice, data at contract end | Trust center and your data at contract end |
| Account workflow and controls | 10 | Placement to close: notices, holds, credit reporting, settlements, recalls, remittance | Placement to close |
| Call quality, complaints and consumer treatment | 10 | Recording, human scoring, consequences, complaint handling and rates, language access and hardship | Call monitoring and complaint handling |
| Reporting, oversight and technology | 10 | Reports, portal, file exchange, audit rights, subcontractor oversight | Placement to close |
| Pricing and commercial terms | 10 | Rates by segment, costs outside the rate, recall and settlement fees, termination terms | Collection agency fees and net-back |
| Implementation, transition and exit | 5 | Plan to first placement, incumbent handover, exit and data return | Your data at contract end |
| Total | 100 |
Compliance and net-back get the most weight because they carry the most risk. An agency's compliance failure lands on your brand and your regulators' desks, and a low fee can still lose money if liquidation falls further than the fee does.
The template holds 34 questions. These are the ones that separate agencies fastest.
| Question | A strong answer shows |
|---|---|
| Describe your compliance management system: who owns it, where it reports, how findings reach the board. | A compliance leader independent of operations, board committee reporting, an annual risk assessment and examples of findings closed |
| List every regulatory order, settlement and pending lawsuit in 10 years, and what changed after each. | A complete, dated list with the remediation and current status of each |
| When a consumer revokes consent to calls or texts, how fast does every channel stop? | A stated time, system enforcement across channels and an audit trail |
| If models score accounts or pick contact strategies, how do you explain and test them? | Why a given account got a given strategy, how often scores refresh, fairness testing and human review |
| Report liquidation by placement month for portfolios like ours, gross and net of fees. | Vintage curves with definitions, sample size, period and who calculated them |
| How do you want to be measured against other agencies, and what happens if you trail? | Agreement to side-by-side measurement on matched accounts, with remedies |
| Where will our data be stored and processed, and who can reach it, including offshore staff and subcontractors? | Named locations, an access model and a list of every subcontractor with data access |
| What happens to our data at contract end? | Retention by record type, return format, destruction standard, backups, subcontractors, proof and use limits |
| Which events stop collection, and how fast do we hear about them? | Each event, the stop mechanism and the notice time to you |
| How many of each collector's calls does a person score, and who does the scoring report to? | A sample size, how calls are picked and a scorer who sits outside operations |
| How do you define and report complaint rates? | A numerator and denominator, sources included and 12 months of trend |
| How do you oversee subcontractors that touch our accounts or data? | An inventory, annual review of their audit reports, contract flow-down and a right to audit |
| What costs sit outside the contingency rate? | Letters, legal costs, skip tracing and any fee on settlements, direct payments or recalled accounts |
| Show the net-back we'd receive at your rate and at a lower rate with lower liquidation. | A worked example on your own data, with the same assumptions for both |
Gross recovery and the fee rate can both mislead on their own. Total cost includes the fee, costs outside the rate, the implementation effort, your own oversight time and the cost of complaints and remediation. The fees and net-back page has a worksheet for the comparison.
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | No answer, or declined |
| 1 | Claim only, with no detail or evidence |
| 2 | Partial: some detail, key parts missing |
| 3 | Meets the requirement, with some evidence |
| 4 | Strong: complete, with evidence you can check (documents, samples, reports) |
| 5 | Exceeds: checked evidence plus a commitment you can write into the contract |
The template averages question scores within each criterion, then weights them: criterion points = weight × (average score ÷ 5). Points add up to a total out of 100 for each agency.
Score alone first, then meet as a panel and settle any gap of 2 or more points with the evidence in hand. Write down why each score was given. That record is what you'll show an auditor.
Ask the top 2 agencies to prove what they wrote:
This template is a starting point, current as of Nov 5, 2026. It isn't legal advice. Change it to fit your needs, and have your own counsel review any contract terms before you use them.
If you're building an invite list now, send your RFP or invite-list request to TSI. The pages linked in the criteria table are TSI's own answers to this kit, published so you can check them before you invite anyone.
Healthcare buyers should use the early-out and bad-debt RFP kit, which adds 501(r), HIPAA and patient-billing questions.
The collection services RFP template (Excel) has 5 tabs: instructions, pass/fail gates, criteria and weights, the 34 model questions with what a strong answer shows and a score column for each agency, and a scoring summary for up to 5 agencies. It uses plain formulas, so it works in Excel, Excel for the web and SharePoint. Download the template.
The Recovery Performance Diagnostic takes one portfolio, stage or segment and covers baseline economics, channel strategy, complaint and risk analysis, and a carve-out design that converts to a measured pilot.
