Contact Center ServicesAnswering the Public's Call |
FirstContact: FAQ's
What is the FirstContact contract?
- Who can use the FirstContact contract?
- Why was the FirstContact contract created?
- How will this contract improve citizen service?
- How does the FirstContact contract accomplish this?
- What is an "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ)" contract?
- What is a multiple award contract?
- You contend that this approach will save me time and resources. How is that possible with five firms to learn about and choose from?
- How is this award different from a GSA schedule?
- Can I fulfill my agency requirements for small business and disability hiring if I use this contract vehicle?
How much will this service cost my agency?
- How are prices determined? Are they per minute or per call/email? About how much would it cost based on our SOW?
- Can you accommodate a cost plus award fee (CPAF) or a time and material (T&M) model?
- How can the contract be both firm fixed price and performance based?
- Is there a fee associated with using this contract vehicle?
- What is meant by "volume band"?
How can the FirstContact contract fit my agency's needs?
- Can I separately buy individual contact center services?
- Can I buy contact center technology insertion for our existing contact center operation?
- Can FirstContact help me meet my agency’s ever-increasing and dynamic event-driven volume of inquiries?
- What "requirements" do you anticipate satisfying for $150 million?
- Will the different contractors all provide the same services or will they each specialize?
- What if all the agencies select one or two of the five contractors?
- Can I be assured that if I use FirstContact that my contact center will not be located in a foreign country?
How do I get started?
- What does a "typical" statement Of work (SOW) look like?
- What is the difference between a statement of work (SOW) and a statement of objectives (SOO)?
- How quickly can I get a task order awarded?
- What happens once the task order is awarded?
- How would I transition from the current handling of responses to the selected vendor solution?
- Can these Solution Partners protest the award?
How can I be assured that services provided by FirstContact meet our high standards for quality?
- What is your selection of performance metrics based on?
- How do you address security and privacy concerns?
- How can I be sure your information specialists will respond correctly to questions, especially complex issues?
- The information we provide to citizens must be constantly updated due to changes in policy, public law, and current events. How can the FirstContact Solution Partners keep up?
What’s the relationship between the General Services Administration (GSA) and us?
- Will agencies contract with GSA or with the vendors directly?
- Would the contracting officer responsibility remain at GSA?
What is the FirstContact contract?
Q: What is the FirstContact contract?
A: The
FirstContact contract is a vehicle that affords government agencies a
way to secure more timely, cost-effective and efficient means of
responding to public inquiries.
Q: Who can use the FirstContact contract?
A: Potential clients include:
Federal Agencies
American Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations
District of Columbia Government Agencies
Wholly-owned Government Corporations
Qualified Non-profit Agencies
Q: Why was the FirstContact contract created?
A: Our goal in creating this contract was to streamline and simplify the
process of procuring contact center services for government agencies.
Q: How will this contract improve citizen service?
A: The availability of this contract enables agencies to obtain high
quality, state-of-the-art, cost-effective contact center solutions in a
timely manner to better serve citizens.
Q: How does the FirstContact contract accomplish this?
A: The General Services Administration (GSA) has pre-qualified a pool of
five highly skilled and experienced contact center companies you can
choose from; these five Solution Partners can tailor contact center services to meet your needs.
Q: What is an "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ)" contract?
A: An indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract is used to
acquire supplies and/or services when the exact times and/or exact
quantities of future deliveries are not known at the time of contract
award.
Q: What is a multiple award contract and why is it better than other types of contracts?
A: A multiple-award contract confirms that multiple companies have the
basic qualifications to perform a general type of work. This type of
contract puts into effect the government’s preference for multiple
awards for IDIQ type contracts in order to maximize competition and
choice for specific supplies and services.
Q:
You contend that this approach will save me time and resources. How is
that possible with five firms to learn about and choose from?
A: The contact center services industry is competitive. It is not uncommon
for you to receive bids from over 20 vendors if the procurement is done
through a full and open competition process. The amount of time and
resources needed to support a procurement effort through a full and
open competition process is greater than through the streamlined
competition process our new approach affords.
Q: How is this award different from a GSA schedule?
A: The awarded contract is designed for contact center services; the GSA schedule is not.
Q: Can I fulfill my agency requirements for small business and disability hiring if I use this contract vehicle?
A: For small business considerations, it depends on how the program
funding is directed. The FirstContact contract specifies that 29% of
the work authorized must be completed by small businesses, and our
Solution Partners all subcontract to insure this requirement is met.
If the General Services Administration (GSA) manages your agency’s task
order (payment for task order services flows from your agency through
GSA to the contractor), then a GSA appropriations number is assigned to
the program and GSA receives credit for the small business requirement.
If your agency administers the task order directly (pays the contractor
directly), then your agency’s appropriation number is assigned and your
agency will receive credit for this small business requirement.
FirstContact specifies all Partners must comply with a 5% disability hiring provision. It does so not to meet a hiring requirement, but rather to demonstrate support for the government’s “hire the disabled” initiatives. In order to receive JWOD credit for hiring the disabled an agency must contract directly with the disabled individual or business. As such, a task order obtained through this vehicle will not help an agency meet its requirements for hiring the disabled.
How much will this service cost my agency?
Q: How much will services cost under this contract?
A: Your agency’s needs are unique, and each vendor’s proposal for filling
those needs is unique. Once an agency defines its needs in a statement of work (SOW), we submit the SOW to the five pre-qualified vendors.
Each vendor proposes a solution and its associated costs in response
to the SOW. From those proposals submitted, you choose the vendor proposal to be of greatest value. Because requirements will vary greatly from one agency to another, and costs will be dependent on the proposals submitted in response to those outlined needs, there is no way to standardize costs.
Q: How are prices determined? Are they per minute or per call/email? About how much would it cost based on our SOW?
A: Prices are determined based on factors such as:
- Project start-up complexity
(How complex it is to set up the knowledge base and how long it takes to train the customer service representatives (CSR's) to perform the work)
- Work complexity
(What CSR skill level is required to perform the work) - Work volume and average processing time
(The higher the volume and average processing time, the more CSR's will be required) - Project Management
(How much hand holding and oversight is required, the level of effort of keeping up the knowledgebase, and the reporting requirements) - Technology management
(How complex is the technology solution and the number of workstations required)
Because there are so many variables, we suggest you have one of our technical representatives discuss your specific needs to come up with a good cost estimate.
Q: We understand this is a firm fixed price contracting model. The complexity and ever-changing environment of our program would require us to use a cost plus award fee (CPAF) or a time and material (T&M) model. Can you accommodate these alternative models?
A: This is a firm fixed price contract so all task orders issued are Firm Fixed Price task orders.
Q: How can the FirstContact contract be both firm fixed price and performance based?
A: With a firm fixed price contract the vendor agrees to provide products or services for a predetermined cost. The vendor measures against how well it delivers on these products or services. Compensation is contingent upon the accuracy of responses, as well as the number of inquiries processed; this provides a disincentive to rush through calls in pursuit of profit. If the vendor doesn't perform as agreed to in the contract, there are steps taken to bring them into compliance with the contract and/or reduce payment.
Q: Is there an administrative fee associated with using this contract vehicle?
A: We do not charge an administrative fee for using FirstContact.
Q: What is meant by "volume band"?
A: Volume bands represent a range of work volume that the vendor can provide a fixed price for.
For example:
0 to 1000 calls a month = X dollars
1001 to 5000 calls a month = Y dollars
This method of pricing enables the Government to get a fixed price for each specified range of work volume. Most contracting officers prefer this fixed price arrangement over time and material pricing.
How can the FirstContact contract fit my agency's needs?
Q:
Can I separately buy individual contact center services (e.g.,
fulfillment, web services and correspondence management) through this
contract?
A: Yes, you can purchase individual
services. You don't need to buy services that you don't need. For
example, if you already have a customer contact center and you just
want to add a hosted FAQ solution, you may purchase just that
particular solution and the associated support.
Q:
Can I buy contact center technology insertion (e.g., desktop, speech
recognition, IVR) for our existing contact center operation?
A: This contract provides turnkey solutions and allows technology
insertion only if the technology insertion has services associated with
it. For example, you may purchase an IVR solution, as long as the
purchase includes telecommunications support. Or you may purchase just
Web Chat with customer service response support.
Q: Can FirstContact help me meet my agency’s ever-increasing and dynamic event-driven volume of inquiries?
A: Yes, because our Solution Partners have the ability to staff appropriately for fluctuations in call
volumes. They’ll draw on a pool of pre-trained information specialists
to handle your seasonal or predictable changes, your sudden or
short-term surges, and your gradual long-term increases. Agencies that
use contractors to respond to public inquiries have flexibility in
redeploying their own knowledgeable employees to address more complex
issues. We anticipate this flexibility will become even more important
as retirement attrition has an ever-broadening impact on the federal
workforce.
Q: What "requirements" do you anticipate satisfying for as much as $150 million?
A: Agencies expend a considerable amount of money annually contracting for
contact center services to serve their customers. For example, the
Federal Citizen Information Center’s National Contact Center,
which is small compared to other Federal contact centers, spends about
$5 million per year on its current contract. This translates to about
$29 million over a five-year period. The $150 million figure takes into
account other agencies using the new contract to obtain similar support
for their contact centers over the life of the contract.
Q: Will the different contractors all provide the same services or will they each specialize?
A: All of the selected contractors require to show that they provide the same suite of services. However, an individual contractor may elect to bid only on certain types of work.
Q: What if all the agencies select one or two of the five contractors?
A: All task orders require competition among the selected contractors. It
is up to each contractor to decide whether they will bid for a specific
task order. If task orders are consistently awarded to one or two
contractors through a fair and competitive process, it means only that
the other contractors aren't offering the best value solutions to the
government.
Q: Can I be assured that if I use the FirstContact contract that my contact center will not be located in a foreign country?
A: Unless you (with the requirement) specify otherwise, all contractor-provided, operated, and managed contact centers shall be located within the contiguous 48 states. Any deviation from this policy must be approved by our program manager in advance of such placement.
How do I get started?
Q: How do I get started?
A: There are a couple of ways to get started, depending on your needs.
If you know what services you want and have drafted a statement of work (SOW) or other procurement document, we will help you finalize the procurement package.
If you are unsure of what you want, we will discuss your needs with you and help you develop a procurement package.
Either way you choose to go, our team will review the procurement package, obtain contracting officer approval, and issue the package to the Solution Partners for competition.
Once you receive the proposals, you will have a choice in the way the selection process is managed. You may handle the entire process yourself, or we may assist you with all or part of the process.
Q: What does a "typical" Statement Of Work (SOW) look like?
A: An SOW is tailored to the agency’s requirements. However, all orders require these fundamentals:
- Program Description
- Services Required
- Period of Performance
- Performance Standards and Reports
- Billing and Payment Procedures
- Workload Volume Data
- Instructions for Submitting Proposals
- Methods of Proposal Evaluation.
A copy of the National Contact Center Task Order/Statement of Work shows the content required for each element and may serve as a guide for you in preparing your own SOW.
Through our Federal Citizen Information Center team, we handle the mechanics of reviewing the task order, obtaining contracting officer approval, and publishing the task order.
Q: What is the difference between a statement of work (SOW) and a statement of objectives (SOO)?
A: When you know what you want, you can prepare an SOW, which is a
narrative description of products or services to be supplied under
contract. If you are not really sure what products or services are
needed, you may prepare a “SOO.”
An SOO describes what you are trying to accomplish and asks the vendors for their recommendations as to how they would arrive at this objective. It allows your customer to learn of many options and allows the vendors to offer creative solutions. SOO's may be more difficult to evaluate because there are no predetermined criteria to benchmark against.
Q: How quickly can I get a task order awarded?
A: It depends on the complexity of the requirements and how much you want
to be involved in the procurement process. After completion of the
procurement package, we could award within 6 weeks.
FirstContact recently met a FEMA request to establish a call center immediately. In just two days a Solution Partner was selected and began providing services to people in need of relief programs as a result of the Florida hurricanes.
Q: What happens once the Task Order is awarded?
A: Once the task order is awarded, you can either work directly with the selected vendor and manage the program or have us manage the program. Even if you choose to manage the program, our experts will be available to help monitor performance measures and provide ongoing support.
Q: How would I transition from the current handling of responses to the selected vendor solution?
A: Once the contact is awarded, the new vendor will need plenty of
training and oversight. You provide the newly selected contract center
vendor any pre-approved frequently asked questions (FAQ's) or
preformatted responses. You will want to conduct training for the new
contact center employees at the contract facility as to how you respond
to citizen inquiries. After the training, you will want to monitor the
contact center employees for a certain period of time as they respond
to inquiries to ensure they are handled correctly. After the center
officially opens, the vendor should conduct periodic refresher courses
for the contact center employees. New and updated FAQ's and preformatted
responses should be added as needed.
Q: Can these Solution Partners protest the award?
A: Task orders issued are not protestable unless the task order’s scope of work is outside the scope of the FirstContact contract.
How can I be assured that services provided by FirstContact meet our high standards for quality?
Q: How can I be assured that services provided by FirstContact meet our high standards for quality?
A: Our Solution Partners were selected, in part, based on their track
record of providing high-quality service and maintaining superior
performance levels. FirstContact affords you the ability to develop
customized etiquette, protocols, and quality standards that meet your
specific demands.
Q: What is your selection of performance metrics based on?
A: The metrics available in FirstContact are those most commonly regarded
as industry best practices. We can help you select the specific
metrics, and metric standards, that will best assess the quality of
your Solution Partner’s service.
Q: How do you address security and privacy concerns?
A: All of our Solution Partners must complete a Certification &
Accreditation process as specified by your agency and NIST (the
National Institute on Standards and Technology). Information
specialists are trained not to discuss sensitive and confidential
information away from the worksite. In addition, your Task Order will
dictate the level of background checks performed on prospective
employees.
Q:
How can I be sure your information specialists will respond correctly
to questions about our subject matter or operations, particularly for
those issues that are very complex?
A: Everyone struggles with this concern. Agencies that do decide to augment their operations with contractor-provided services are pleasantly surprised with the result.
The key to a successful relationship is first deciding what questions are best answered by a contact center and what questions are best answered by your agency; then decide what should be the source of our information specialists’ answers. Careful crafting of a solid knowledgebase with appropriate scripting, as well as an effective training regimen based on this knowledgebase, will ensure a staff of customer service representatives well prepared to promptly and accurately address your customers’ needs.
You can supply the Solution Partner with your own pre-developed knowledgebase, or we can work with you to develop one. As an alternative, you may feel your website FAQ's and links supply a better source of answers for responses. Our Solution Partners provide responses using both as sources of information, depending on the client agency’s preference.
We also encourage your subject matter experts to actively assist in the actual training of our agents, an excellent way to ensure the quality of responses offered. Finally, you can monitor telephone calls and review email responses as often as you like, and you can receive inquiry/response reports as often as you feel necessary.
Q:
The information we provide to citizens must be constantly updated due
to changes in policy, public law and current events. How can the
FirstContact Solution Partners keep up?
A: All of our
partners utilize best practices and protocols, specifically attuned to
their client agencies’ requirements, in maintaining and updating the
body of knowledge that supports their information specialists. As
appropriate to your program, the Solution Partner can either rely on
your own ever-changing website as a source of answers, or can devote
staff to researching and updating content for a scripted knowledgebase
the Partner maintains. Our Partners use software solutions that
specialize in trending actual inquiries as a basis for adding,
removing, and re-prioritizing responses. Finally, as a client agency
you may choose to maintain and update the knowledgebases our agents use
yourself, insuring our agents have “real-time” access to the latest
information you have. The choice is yours.
What’s the relationship between USA Services and the General Services Administration?
Q: What’s the relationship between USA Services and the General Services Administration?
A: We are one of the President’s E-Gov initiatives, tasked with improving access and delivery of government services to the American public, and serving as the driving force behind the FirstContact contract. We are your first point of contact in coordinating E-Gov collaborative efforts or obtaining FirstContact contract services.
The General Services Administration (GSA) is a managing partner for us, and established a project management office within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC). The Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) office within OCSC, long responsible for managing the 1 (800) FED INFO number and the USA.gov site, is responsible for running our operations and managing the finances. GSA-FCIC handles all contractual and procurement matters involved with the FirstContact contract.
Q: Will agencies contract with General Services Administration (GSA) or with the vendors directly?
A: GSA’s team will handle the mechanics of reviewing the task order, obtaining Contracting Officer approval, and publishing the task order. We review the five bids and manage the selection process, with your input, if you desire. As an alternative, you may choose to manage the entire selection process.
Once the task order is awarded, agencies work directly with the selected vendor on programmatic issues and have access to GSA experts who help establish performance measures and provide ongoing support.
Q: Would the Contracting Officer responsibility remain at General Services Administration (GSA)?
A: You may provide your own contracting officer’s technical representative (COTR), but the contracting officer responsibility will remain with GSA.
» Contact us, if you have any questions or need additional information about FirstContact.