CTS Network & Firewall Migration Thursday, July 31

Partners,

Consolidated Technology Services (CTS) will be performing a Network & Firewall Migration on Thursday, July 31 from 8 pm – 11:30 pm.

During this time, the following cannot be accessed:

·         Fortress Customer Test and Production environments

·         Secure Access Washington (SAW) Customer Test or Production environments

 For any questions or issues, please contact:

 CTS Service Desk

servicedesk@cts.wa.gov

(360)753-2454

Toll-Free (888) 241-7597

~BLS Partnership Services

Recent Public Disclosure Request

Partners,

We are aware of a public records request that has been sent to Washington cities from Noble Ventures Inc.

Some of the information being requested is not public information and cannot be made available to the public.

Here is a list of what’s OK to release publicly:

• Unified Business Identifier (UBI)
• Legal Entity
• Firm Name
• Mailing Address
• Physical Address
• Endorsement Expiration Date
• Endorsement Start Date
• Endorsement 1st Issue Date

We also provide our partners with a public disclosure file that lists all the businesses registered in your city, but only shows public information. It is generated monthly, and can be found in your city SFT folder.

Thank you,

~ BLS Partnership Services

Credit Card Fees

Currently when customers use debit/credit cards to pay for their application or renewal fees, BLS is charged a fee of 2.25% on average. As a partner, you have been billed for your portion of these fees on your monthly billing statement.

 

This fall, BLS will be moving to a new payment system and will start passing the debit/credit card fees on to customers that choose this payment method.  The transaction fee will not be charged or received by BLS, but by the third party vendor. Customers can avoid the fee entirely by paying with E-check.

 

A federal lawsuit settled in 2012 allows merchants to pass debit/credit card fees on to customers. Now that we offer the "free" E-check option, we felt it was time to make this change. This change will result in savings for both the state and city partners. Our savings will be used to help fund the BLS system replacement.

 

You will soon receive an amended contract from Maria Moore, our Contracts Manager, reflecting this change. Please sign and return the contract as soon as possible.

 

Thank you,

 

~ BLS Partnership Services