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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 12, 2011 FBO #3367
DOCUMENT

D -- VA Telephone Service Transformation Interactive Voice Response - Attachment

Notice Date

2/10/2011
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541511 — Custom Computer Programming Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;260 Industrial Way West;Eatontown NJ 07724
 

ZIP Code

07724
 

Solicitation Number

VA11811RI0177
 

Response Due

2/23/2011
 

Archive Date

4/24/2011
 

Point of Contact

Sarah H Basilotto
 

E-Mail Address

ct
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

VA Telephone Service Transformation Interactive Voice Response Request for Information (RFI) Background: The Veteran Affairs Telephone Service Transformation (VTST) was established in response to several key challenges that Veterans, service members, and their dependents experience when seeking information and services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Modernization of our telephony capabilities and ability to resolve Veteran's issues is a primary focal point of the VTST program. As such VTST project was established under VRM in response to Secretary Shinseki's interest in having a plan developed that charts a course for transformation of the VA call centers. VTST will chart a course to answer the phones consistently and efficiently and to provide an accurate and complete answer. The overarching goal of this project is to provide world-class customer service, reasonable wait times, stellar quality, and a consistent overall call experience across all Administrations and all lines of business. Statement of the Problem: VA seeks to implement an enterprise wide IVR service which will provide world class Veteran support, and empower the Veteran to seek self service with consistent timely responses to Veteran selections and verbal requests. The IVR system will overlay all of the VA existent IVR systems and auto attendants. The IVR service will also provide an environment for supporting rapid functional enhancements to the IVR. The IVR will have interfaces with and integrations to the Voice Access Modernization (VAM) project. The VAM is a services based contract for Hosted Intelligent Call Routing (HICR), call recording and a hosted Like-for-Like translation of the existent National Automated Response System (NARS). The NARS is a menu based touch tone and limited voice response IVR. This RFI is for three solutions: "Hosted IVR within the existent VAM "Hosted IVR Software as a Service COTS Hosted IVR Service Alternative one(1) to be considered is a Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) IVR to operate within the existent call routing environment as implemented by the Voice Access Modernization (VAM) project. Hosted IVR Software as a Service Alternative two (2) to be considered is a hosted, or Software as a Service (SaaS), solution for the IVR. The IVR would be hosted within a secure private environment and interface across the existent call routing environment as implemented by the VAM project. Capabilities regardless of solution: General Business and Operational Requirements: "Interoperability with existing HCIR and telephony systems. "Veteran self service selections (request delivery or direct agent assist), "Speech enabled or touch tone responses. "Query the caller for the VA service they wish to access oExample: Ask the caller if the question is health or benefits or cemetery, then a few more focused questions in those areas - and then depending on the answers, the IVR will look at the caller's area code or an entered zip code - and send that caller to either NCA, VBA 800-827-1000, Education, LGY, or HRC, or any of the VAMC locations. "Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for multiple language selection (initially English and Spanish) and verbal commands by the caller. "Text to speech responses for visually the impaired "Flexibility to make updates to the menu on demand or a scheduled basis, by local or system administrators, "User requested call back (scheduled or automatic based on queue time), "IVR usage reports. "Integration with existing VA data sources to fetch, update and convey data to the caller. "Scalable to meet increasing demand. oThe VA anticipates total call volumes as approximately 70,000,000/year. oThe VA has over 1,300 medical centers, outpatient clinics, Veteran Centers, benefit centers and national clinical and administrative business lines. oAgent staffing ranges from small independent local centers to large (100+ agents) enterprise level (virtual team) operations. oFor the purposes of the analysis, and this RFI request, the VA is defining contact center size as: "Small 5 - 25 Contact Representatives "Medium 26 - 100 Contact Representatives "Large - Over 100 contact representatives Requirements for the User/Veteran: "IVR Self Service options available 24 hours, 7 days a week. "User identification and verification for entry into the IVR "External users shall have the option to complete surveys via multiple channels. "External users shall be able to disconnect and reconnect when their place in the queue is reached. "External users shall be able to navigate the menus using key words and phrases, as prompted by the IVR Requirements for operation and administration: "The IVR service and application shall provide IVR responses to external users dependent on the time of day, for options to contact agents or counselors. "The IVR service and application shall be able to track and view IVR Usage and effectiveness. "Rapid enhancements and changes to the menu in real time and scheduled for special announcements and contingencies. "Near-real time editing for enhancements and changes to the IVR logic and routing. IVR Survey management and operation: "The IVR service and application shall have the ability to develop surveys using configurable input structures allowing multi-level conditionals to develop inference-type survey questionnaires. "The IVR shall have the ability to accept responses using DTMF or ASR input from caller during survey. Supporting Information: Currently Integrated Voice Response (IVR) support is provided by Verizon using the Networx contract service vehicle. The existing National Automated Response System (NARS) provides limited speech recognition for menu selections or touch tone selection. The system does not provide for externally selected call backs, surveys, multi-language or ASR. The VA anticipates that most development costs will be borne by the eventual provider with the appropriate chargeback to the VA based on some vendor provided usage algorithm. The system and any of its components must comply with the following Technical and Security standards as well as any other standards identified by the VA and the vendor: "Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 "National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Special Publication 800-53 Revision 3, "Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations" dated August 2009 "Veteran Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). "The IVR system will adhere to all VA security requirements. Based on Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 199 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP 800-60, recommended Security Categorization is Medium. NOTE: From a security point of view, the application must support veteran identity and Access management. There is a need to guarantee that Personal Information Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is correctly secured and managed; accordingly the IVR must interface into the VA security infrastructure. PII data used within any proposed solution will remain within the VA secured network. Responding to this RFI: Responses should be identified with RFI VA118-11-RI-0177 and include company name, company address, Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number and/ Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code (if applicable) and denote the business size for North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541511 (Custom Computer Programming Services). The Government is open to considering teaming and prime/subcontractor relationships for future development and deployment. Also, please indicate if you, your teammates and/or subcontractors are a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or a Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB). Any questions regarding this RFI must be submitted via email to Contracting Officer, Anne Marie Vasconcelos, anne.vasconcelos@va.gov and Contract Specialist, Iris Farrell, iris.farrell@va.gov. Responses should be limited to no more than forty (40) single spaced pages, font size no less than 10, for each solution. The functional requirements matrix is not included in the page limit. Interested parties shall provide the following information when responding to this RFI: 1.Concept(s) - What is the private sector's perception of the viability of the innovation sought in this requirement? How this activity might be satisfied, and is there interest in providing this capability? 2.Business Continuity and Disaster Recover - What is the respondent's approach to preventing loss of access or loss of information in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise? 3.Security - How will the respondent ensure that security of PII data will be maintained for data transfers between users, agencies, and other interoperable systems? How will you guarantee no Veteran PII will be saved once its immediate need has been satisfied? 4.Integration services: How does respondent's product integrate with web self services, chat, email, and other channels? 5.Interoperability - How will respondent ensure that this system will be able to interact and share data with other systems, both those currently used and potentially added in the future? What standards does the solution meet for integration to existing systems and services? 6.Customer Service - How will respondent ensure excellence in customer service for veterans, service members and dependents? What technologies will be used, phone, email or live chat? What are the metrics used to measure performance, and how will VA be able to generate reports to measure performance? 7.Vendor Experience - Please describe the vendor's experience implementing the solution described above. In addition to the vendor's experience implementing the solution described above, please describe results that customers have obtained in terms of outcomes derived from the functionalities provided, the effectiveness of those systems implemented, and the size, scope and complexity of the customers and system solutions. Also describe results that customers have obtained in terms of vulnerabilities that have been discovered and how they were remedied. Please provide a list of clients and/or customers that can be contacted for commentary or demonstration of the solution described in this response. 8.What change management activities would the respondent suggest to: ensure eventual system acceptance, enable continued training and solicit modification requests from both management and non management VA users? 9.How will the respondent describe the compensation framework, e.g. what development and operational cost categories might be covered by usage fees and what type of services might carry a developmental cost plus usage fee? 10.Other - What other information and ideas does the private sector offer for pursuing this initiative? 11.Please provide Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) pricing for each of the following categories: Initial software licensing costs Initial hardware costs Initial development and integration cost, this may be expressed either on a cost/location, a cost/agent or as a fixed fee range Ongoing software licensing costs Ongoing maintenance costs Any other ongoing recurring expected costs This market research is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Any contract that might be awarded based on information received or derived from this market research will be the outcome of a competitive process. Responses are requested no later than 3:00pm (EST) on February 23, 2011, via email to sarah.basilotto@va.gov and anne.vasconcelos@va.gov. Point of Contact: Anne Marie Vasconcelos Contracting Officer Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center Phone (732) 578-5485 Email anne.vasconcelos@va.gov Point of Contact: Sarah Basilotto Contract Specialist Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center Phone (732) 578-5463 Email sarah.basilotto@va.gov
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/6fe19f202a47925d247f4decdcb7adc4)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: VA118-11-RI-0177 VA118-11-RI-0177.doc (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=175558&FileName=VA118-11-RI-0177-000.doc)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=175558&FileName=VA118-11-RI-0177-000.doc

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN02378005-W 20110212/110210234959-6fe19f202a47925d247f4decdcb7adc4 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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