RFP: 27.27-Merchant Solution Partner

ATB is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) to identify and select a strategic, modern merchant payment solutions partner to revolutionize its merchant services ecosystem. Ideal proponents provide a highly agile, bank-agnostic processing platform that supports flexible partnership models—including referral, wholesale, or hybrid structures. Proponents should self-select based on their technical capability to deliver frictionless merchant onboarding via an automated digital self-enrollment engine capable of approving standard business accounts, accelerating time-to-revenue efficiency, and facilitating real-time or same-day financial settlement.

Proponents must demonstrate institutional operational excellence, backed by 24/7/365 technical live phone support SLAs, swift incident resolution protocols, and a future-forward product roadmap prepared to natively support upcoming industry innovations such as the Payments Canada Real-Time Rail (RTR) infrastructure and embedded finance integrations.

This is an exciting opportunity for a long-term, strategic partnership. We are not just looking for a service provider, but a dedicated partner to grow with us. We are fully committed to collaborating on shared growth strategies, leveraging our combined strengths to expand our merchant ecosystem, and building a high-value, mutually beneficial relationship over the long term.

The intent of this RFP is to identify one or more Proponent(s) with whom ATB may enter into negotiations regarding a Formal Agreement for the provision of some or all of the following goods and/or services- a modern merchant payment solutions ecosystem, including hardware, software integration, value added services and ongoing technical support.

This Request for Proposal follows a two-phase evaluation process:
1.) Phase 1 (Request for Qualification): All interested proponents must submit Appendix 1C: Business Requirements and Appendix 2 (Acknowledgements) by the deadline outlined in Section 2.4: Our Schedule.
2.) Phase 2 (Detailed Evaluation): Proponents advancing from the Phase 1 qualification screen will be issued the confidential Phase 2 submission package via email.

Each Proponent shall submit one (1) complete electronic copy of its Proposal containing responses to all elements of Section 3.0 “What Your Proposal Should Include” to the ATB Contact listed below. Please note important details below.

Proposal No.:        RFP 27.27 Merchant Solution Partner
Closing Date and time as outlined in Section 2.4 “Our Schedule”

RFP Contact:        Maria Scott
mscott2@atb.com
Procurement
ATB Financial
CC: sourcing@atb.com
CC: Rabab Ahmad: rahmad@atb.com

All Proposals must be delivered to the RFP Contact, unless otherwise directed by the RFP Contact, and must be received by ATB prior to the RFP Deadline. Proposals received after the RFP Deadline or submitted to the wrong location may be disqualified. Proposals will need to be submitted in English unless otherwise specified.

The time noted in the electronic submission (by the ATB server) will be considered the time received. Proponents should not wait until the last minute to submit proposals as there is a possibility of a temporal delay between the time a proposal is sent and the time it is received on the ATB server. The ATB server has a limitation of 10MB, so please keep submissions under this limit.

Note: Word format copies may include an additional copy (PDF format) for signature pages.