SECP Quick Facts

Electronic Funds Transfer
  • OSC has a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Bank of America for the processing of EFT transactions, a five-year contract, which became effective June 24, 2013.
  • The vendor-levied cost of an EFT transaction is less than one penny.
  • The biggest user of EFT for inbound payments is the Department of Revenue. During FY 2009-2010, 2.9 million transactions were received electronically from taxpayers, totaling $18.8 billion. This represented 75% of the tax dollars received, compared to 72% the prior fiscal year.
  • The biggest users of EFT for outbound payments are the Beacon Payroll System and the Retirement System. BEACON Payroll has a participation rate of 99% (85,000 out of 86,000) while the Retirement System has a participation rate of 96% (220,000 out of 229,000).
  • During FY 2009-2010, the Common Payment Service gateway (CPS) processed 2.8 million of the EFT transactions, totaling $8 billion
  • The success of the EFT program for outbound payments can be measured in part by the decrease in the number of paper checks issued by the State. During FY 2009-2010, there were 7.6 million paper checks issued, compared to 9.1 million the prior fiscal year, and 18.2 million during the peak FY 2001-02.  There has been a 60% reduction in the annual volume since the peak FY 2001-2002.

Merchant Card Processing
  • OSC has a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with SunTrust Merchant Services, LLC (a First Data company) for the processing of credit/debit cards, a five-year contract, which became effective February 1, 2015.
  • OSC has a contract with Coalfire, a Qualified Security Assessor to provide PCI Security Validation Services to agencies accepting credit/debit card payments, a three year contract, which became effective March 1, 2015.
  • OSC amended its contract with First Data in 2009, proving agencies the opportunity to subscribe to PayPoint, a web capture service that will allow more agencies to accept payments online.
  • The vendor-levied cost of a merchant card transaction is $.015. This is in addition to the pass-through fees charged by Visa and MasterCard, generally known as interchange fees, which averages 1.7% of the transaction amount for governmental agencies.
  • There are 102 participants in the State Controller's MSA - 29 agencies, 15 universities, 27 community colleges, 30 local units of government, and 1 local school system (1,000+ merchant numbers).
  • During FY 2009-2010, the Common Payment Service gateway (CPS) processed 24% of the State's merchant card transaction activity (2.1 million transactions), totaling $120 million.
  • The biggest user of merchant card services is DMV Vehicle Registration, with 1.5 million transactions totaling $50 million annually.
  • The success of the merchant card program can be measured in part by the increase in merchant card activity from year to year. During FY 2009-2010, there were 9 million card transactions totaling $784 million. The transaction volume doubles every three years and triples every five years.

E-Commerce Impact on State's Green Initiative
  • There is perhaps no other single initiative that can have the impact on the elimination of paper than a successful E-Commerce program.
  • The 60% reduction in the annual issuance of paper checks from FY 2001-02 to FY 2009-2010 was nearly 11 million checks, representing a stack of eliminated checks that would have been equivalent to the height of over 4 Empire State Buildings (5,250 feet).
  • The 9 million credit/debit card transactions during FY 2009-2010 eliminated the processing of paper check receipts, which would have been equivalent to the height of 3 1/2 Empire State Buildings (4,300 feet).