RFQ: Tax Foreclosure Outreach Improvement

The City of Rochester is seeking submissions from qualified Consultants (“Consultant(s)”) to identify their qualifications for a future project intending to improve the City foreclosure process through the following services: (a) identification of phone numbers and/or email addresses for owners of properties in tax foreclosure (otherwise known as “skip tracing”), and (b) providing physical notice at the physical address of properties that are in tax foreclosure (such services hereafter referred to as the “Project”).

Examples:

1. Utilize proprietary search databases or skip tracing capabilities to identify potential phone numbers or email addresses for owners of properties in tax foreclosure. Return results in an electronic format (.xml, xls) that is importable to our tax foreclosure CRM database.
2. A onetime physical posting of a tax foreclosure notice to each property sometime in September or October.

While the City is seeking such submissions from Consultants, the 2025-26 Budget of the City is still under development and no funds have been formally set aside for the Project as of the date of publishing this RFQ. The City is interested in identifying firms that are qualified to perform work of this type and have the capacity to quickly mobilize to meet the needs of the City in the event that funding is secured through the formal budget process.

View the RFP

Timeline

The dates shown above may be subject to change.

Contact

All communications by parties who have indicated an intent to submit or have submitted a submission in response to this RFQ (“Respondents”), including any questions or requests for clarifications, submission of the submission, requests for status updates about the submission selection process and any other inquiries whatsoever concerning this RFQ shall be sent, in writing electronically, to the following City staff person (“City Contact”):
John Fornof

Email: John.Fornof@cityofrochester.gov

No contact is permitted with any other City staff member with regard to this RFQ during the RFQ process unless specifically authorized in writing. Prohibited contact may be grounds for disqualification.

Questions and answers

• How often do you attempt to locate the taxpayer? (monthly or yearly)
  • We send tax bills annually, tax delinquent notices biannually, and 2 foreclosure notices before the RFQ scope of service dates.
• How many are you attempting to locate per year?
  • We estimate that number to be around 600.
• What happens if my server shows up at a property and someone is there? Can they serve them or are they required to only post the tax foreclosure notice? 
  • Notices should be posted conspicuously on the property. Steps taken should be consistent across all properties.
• How many attempts will my servers be expected to make before posting the tax foreclosure notices? Will they be required to do due diligence? Will they be required to make a Saturday attempt? 
  • Only one attempt is required per property. This is a supplemental action being contemplated by the City and not a legal requirement. Posting of the notices should be documented (a blanket affidavit describing actions taken will suffice), but no additional steps need to be taken, and no Saturday attempt will be required.
• Will my office be required to do mail behinds?  If so, just regular mail or certified mail as well? 
  • Mail behinds is not required.  This is a supplemental action being contemplated by the City. The City serves all owners by regular mail at their last-known address, which meets legal requirements for notice of foreclosure on its own.
• Will my office be providing affirmations once the service is complete?  
  • One blanket affidavit encompassing actions taken across all properties is sufficient.
• About how many pages are the tax foreclosure notices? 
  • We will not be serving pleadings due to the nature of our foreclosure actions. One or two pages at most is likely.

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