SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- CONSULTING SERVICES - NATIONAL CONTACT CENTER MIGRATION FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS, COST ESTIMATES AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
- Notice Date
- 8/14/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Acquisition Services Division, 1801 L Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC, 20507, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ07-0152
- Response Due
- 8/24/2007
- Archive Date
- 9/30/2007
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented, with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through FAC 2005-18, effective on June 30, 2007. This announcement is considered an unrestricted procurement. The NAICS Code is 541611. This solicitation is being issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ No. 07-0152), and is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 12.6, Acquisition of Commercial Items and Subpart 13.5, Test Program for Certain Commercial Items. The EEOC contemplates the award of a Firm-Fixed price type contract for Consulting Services for the National Contact Center (NCC) Migration Functional Requirements Analysis, Cost Estimates and Implementation Plan. Period of performance will be from date of award up through six (6) months thereafter. The overall total period of performance shall not exceed six months. Background: The EEOC is responsible for enforcing laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace because of a person's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age (40 and over), and/or disability. The specific laws EEOC enforces include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, sections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. EEOC works with various Fair Employment Practices Agencies at the state and local level, and the Department of Justice in carrying out the mandates of these laws. Further, the EEOC has Memoranda of Understanding with several agencies including the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Wage and Hour Division, the Department of Education and the National Labor Relations Board that relate to the handling of workplace-related discrimination issues. A two-year pilot for a national contact center was implemented in 2004 by contractor Vangent, Inc. (formerly Pearson Government Solutions, Inc). The objectives were to improve customer service and customer access to the EEOC using state-of-the-art technology and industry best practices; improve human capital effectiveness; and deliver accurate and consistent services to our customers throughout the nation. More than 70,000 people call the NCC's toll-free number each month while over 3000 send emails to the NCC. At least 35 percent of the calls are resolved by the interactive voice response (IVR) system while the remaining calls are answered by trained Customer Services Representatives (CSR) with less than one minute wait time on average, well within the recommended service level for federal government call centers. Questionnaires are mailed to more than 14,000 individuals each month within 7 business days of the call. Both headquarters and field staff have monitored the quality of the calls and attest to their accuracy and professionalism. Callers have been assisted in more than 30 languages under a contract that offers language interpretation services in more than 150 languages. At this time, the EEOC seeks to migrate the NCC from a centralized model in a single facility to an in-house environment staffed by federal employees using a decentralized model with locations within each of the EEOC's fifteen Districts. In order to properly carry out this migration effort, the EEOC requires a contractor to prepare a functional requirements analysis, cost estimates and implementation plan as well as to advise and assist on all activities and functionalities relevant to developing and implementing an insourced model in 15 various locations throughout the United States. Scope: The EEOC requires a contractor to provide cost estimates, migration time estimates, and necessary steps for providing the services the NCC currently offers (IVR, language interpretation service, answering calls for first time callers, providing general information regarding the EEOC and the statutes it enforces, providing information regarding charges filed with the EEOC, performing a preliminary screen of callers, making referrals to other agencies where appropriate, sending out intake questionnaires where appropriate) within EEOC covering both the business and technical components and using market data and industry standards for best practices. The goal of this migration is to have EEOC able to answer its incoming calls and emails using IVR, CRM software application (RightNow), and EEOC employees. The EEOC is willing to consider plans that assume comparable staffing, processes, technology and equipment as currently in use at the National Contact Center in Lawrence, KS. Likewise, the EEOC will consider options that differ from the staffing, processes, technology and equipment currently used in the National Contact Center in Lawrence, KS that the contractor believes would be of better or equal value for the EEOC to the extent the technology and equipment options do not conflict with the provisions regarding the transition of current Internet based information services as required under this Scope. Staffing plans should include a minimum of 45 FTE as information/intake representatives to answer calls and emails. Contractor estimates should use current EEOC resources-where appropriate. The EEOC requires a contractor who can provide consulting services to advise and assist in the transition from a contractor-operated contact center to an in-house operation and will work with the EEOC to develop and implement an in-house call and email answering function utilizing federal employees to manage the operation and as information/intake representatives. The transition plan should include at least five defined phases: planning (including site selection recommendations), defining requirements, buildout of space (as necessary), training and deploying staff, and operation. The planning phase should include plans for transition/migration, staffing, establishing and managing service levels, quality assurance monitoring and reporting, appropriate systems and technology, disaster recovery, and center management. The contractor shall provide technical and functional solutions to facilitate implementation of the in-house operation at the 15 recommended locations. The contractor will advise on the transition of current Internet-based information services including the 60 CRM software application (RightNow) licenses currently owned by EEOC, call center capabilities including the Intervoice Brite IVR server currently owned by EEOC, and appropriate knowledge management database already developed by EEOC and information technologies into a 15-location operation dedicated to answering calls, emails, and disseminating information to EEOC's customers. The contractor shall provide advice and assistance in transitioning the IVR and CRM technology and software, currently owned by EEOC, to an in-house environment. Specifically, the EEOC expects the contractor to provide a full range of services related to: Project planning to accomplish the successful implementation, operation and management of an internal call and email answering function in 15 locations; Technical planning, data gathering, data analysis and analysis of call volumes, estimated talk times, steady state and peak contact periods, planning to handle variable contact volume without adversely affecting customer service, development and integration of emerging technology, staffing, training, security, etc.; Advice on a management plan for day-to-day operation of the in-house operation; Advice and assistance in providing a complete in-house solution to support customer service needs and; Advice and assistance in providing a complete, integrated package of quality and productivity programs that includes: 1. Quality monitoring capabilities with analysis of both call data and agent performance. Monitoring must include the ability to perform both on-site and from a remote location; 2. Workforce management tools for both scheduling and forecasting staff schedules; 3. Customer contact/management/scripting software that enables online data capture regarding call/caller and whether the call was completed during the original contact. Please note EEOC currently owns 60 licenses for a hosted CRM software solution (RightNow); 4. Providing user interfaces for real-time reporting and program modifications of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) paths, call paths, agent skill sets and performance to ensure that program goals are attained; 5. Providing for tracking of calls and emails, call durations and routing data and ensuring consistency with EEOC performance measurement goals and; 6. Providing clear, consistent, accurate, timely, authoritative and complete information. The in-house solution must provide for, at a minimum, a disaster recovery down time of no more than forty-eight (48) hours, statistic reporting capabilities, and the ability to interface with several of the EEOC's information technology systems. It must allow for future expansion and technological improvement and growth. Initial components include Private Branch Exchange (PBX)/Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) with speech recognition in both English and Spanish, call accounting systems and agent data recording systems. The proposed system shall have the capacity to provide Internet Protocol technology and language interpretation service to EEOC customers. As an optional feature, EEOC is interested in a system to support information/intake representatives handling calls from home or an alternate work site, offering the equivalent training, functionality, reporting measurements, and security as information/intake representatives located in the EEOC facilities. Assumptions: Federal employees will be used to staff the operations in EEOC offices which are in Government leased space (federal or commercial) and with Government furnished or leased equipment. The Government furnished equipment includes the IVR and the CRM software application (RightNow) in use at the NCC and the outputs from the system (reports) that are useful to EEOC. Deliverables: The deliverables for this study are: CLIN 0001: $ _________ A written analysis of the functional requirements, cost, migration time, and necessary steps to transition the operations and services of the National Contact Center to an in-house environment at EEOC using a decentralized model operating in 15 districts. The analysis should include recommendations as to which office within each District should be used based on relevant factors such as rent costs, space availability, lease length, and existing telephone structure and technology. Draft due 45 days from award. Final report due 60 days from award. CLIN 0002: $_________ A written comprehensive transition plan to allow for a smooth, efficient, and effective migration of the contractor-run call center services to an in-house environment at EEOC. Draft due 45 days from award. Final report due 60 days from award. CLIN 0003: $________ A written comprehensive implementation plan that defines functional, technical, operational, and programmatic requirements for phase-in of the in-house solution. Draft due 45 days from award. Final report due 60 days from award. CLIN 0004: $ ________ Consulting services to provide direct daily advice, assistance, and direction in the implementation of the in-house solution, including relocation of the IVR to an EEOC location. From completion of study through deployment of the in-house center in 15 locations, not to exceed six months. TOTAL COST TO GOVERNMENT (CLIN 0001 thru 0004): $ ____________. Inspection and Acceptance: The Government will perform inspection and acceptance on all deliverables within five (5) work days after receipt by the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative . Government-Furnished Information: May 2006 EEOC Contact Center Customer Satisfaction Survey: Final Report; July 2007 EEOC Customer Satisfaction Survey, CFI Group; June 2006 The EEOC's National Contact Center: An Evaluation of its Impacts; Pearson Monthly Reports on Metrics and Contract Performance: March 2005 thru July 2007; NAPA February 2003 Study: EEOC: Organizing for the Future; NAPA January 2007 Study: EEOC: Changing Technology, Changing Business Practices; Active Scripts of NCC Knowledge Base as of August 2006; Training Modules for CSRs; June 2003 Assessment of a National Contact Center Solution for EEOC; EEOC Order 120, Jurisdictional Boundaries for Field Offices; Information from the union (possible call center options and results of its survey); Information on the current telephone lines for each EEOC office; Information on the rent, lease length, staffing and space available in each EEOC office and; Other relevant information as requested and agreed upon. Confidentiality: All data and other information supplied to the contractor and all communications between the contractor and EEOC personnel are confidential and will not be disclosed by the contractor to any source. Failure to meet this requirement will result in prosecution under 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(e) and/or prosecution under 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(b). GSA schedule holders are encouraged to submit a quotation. All interested parties shall submit a quotation to be considered. Your quotation in response to RFQ 07-0152 is due August 24, 2007, 12:00 Noon, (Washington, DC local Time). Submission must be sent to the following mailing address: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Acquisitions Services Division, 1801 L Street, N.W., Room 6234, Washington, D.C. 20507 Attn: Caroline A. Fowler; Contracting Officer. A quotation submitted electronically, (via e-mail) to caroline.fowler@eeoc.gov, will be accepted. Questions regarding this request for quotation should be submitted to Caroline A. Fowler, Contracting Officer, via e-mail at caroline.fowler@eeoc.gov, with a cc: to Anthony Price, Alternate Contracting Officer at: anthony.price@eeoc.gov. Telephone inquiries or responses are not acceptable. The deadline for submission of questions regarding RFQ No. 07-0152 is August 20, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. Washington, DC local time). The Government will not reimburse interested parties for any cost associated with responding to this business opportunity. All responsible sources may submit a quotation which shall be considered by the EEOC. Quotations shall be organized into Three (3) separate volumes: Volume I - Technical Capability, Volume II - Past Performance, and Volume III - Price. Pricing shall not be included in Volume I and II. Award will be made to the quoter determined to be the Best Value to the Government, using the trade-off approach. The anticipated contract award date is on or before September 11, 2007. Evaluation factors for award: The EEOC will use the following factors to evaluate quotes: technical capability, past performance, and price. Technical Capability and past performance when combined are more important than price. Factor I. Technical Capabilities: (1) Understanding the requirements - The quoter must demonstrate its understanding of the technical requirements and describe technical approach which includes research methods. (2) Corporate capabilities - The quoter must demonstrate its corporate capabilities as it relates to the requirements. (3) Key personnel resume -The quoter must demonstrate through submission of resume, its qualification to provide services. Factor II. Past Performance: Quoters shall be evaluated on the following: 1. Quoter past performance on projects directly related to the work to be accomplished under this procurement. 2. Experience on same or similar projects. The vendor must provide a minimum of three (3) references for past performance for same or similar work awarded within the past three (3) years. The information for each reference shall include the following: 1. Name and address of government agency or other non-government client; 2. Name, titles and telephone number of Contracting Officer, or other point of contact; 3. Name, title and telephone number of client(s) program or project manager, if applicable; 4. Contract number, period of performance, and dollar value of contract; and 5. Description of services provided.; The vendor will be evaluated on customer satisfaction and timeliness, and Factor III. Price: price will be evaluated in comparison to the independent government cost estimate. Notice: The Government intends to evaluate quotations and make award without discussions (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a). Therefore, the quoter(s) initial quote should contain the vendors best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions, if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offeror-Commercial Items applies to this solicitation. The provision at 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items applies to this solicitation. The quoter shall include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offerors Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items with his/her quote. The following clause shall apply to this solicitation: FAR 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference; Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and Clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Order-Commercial Items are incorporated by reference. Clause 52.203-6, Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government-Alternate I, Clause 52.222-3 Convict Labor, Clause 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities, Clause 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity, Clause 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era and Other Eligible Veterans, Clause 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities, Clause 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans, Clause 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases, and Clause 52.232-36, Payment by Third Party are incorporated by reference. To obtain the above provision/clauses in full text, please visit www.arnet.gov. Method of payment: via the Governmentwide Commercial Purchase Card.
- Place of Performance
- Address: WASHINGTON, DC
- Zip Code: 20507
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20507
- Record
- SN01372600-W 20070816/070814222430 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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