QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1-59.pdf

RFI 70FBTXI00000001

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION 1 - In Attachment 2 Request for Information on page 2, the second to last sentence in the first paragraph references a “requested addendum” that is not part of the 10-page limit for the RFI response. Is this addendum the same as the “separate attachment” referenced in Question 17 in the same document?

ANSWER: Yes, the “requested addendum” and “separate attachment” are one and the same.

QUESTION 2 - Is a Table of Contents allowed that is not counted toward the page limit?

ANSWER: Table of Content is allowed and will not count toward the page limit.

QUESTION 3 - BPA Structure Does FEMA anticipate establishing a single multi-award BPA for OC3 support, or multiple BPAs or pools (for example, by geography, language capability, or surge tier)?

ANSWER: A multi-award BPA per PWS, Section 2. PURPOSE

QUESTION 4 - Ordering Process Can FEMA clarify the anticipated ordering process under the OC3 BPA, including whether call orders are expected to be competed among BPA holders and the anticipated frequency or cadence of such call orders?

ANSWER: The call order procedures are listed in PWS, Section L. Call Order Proposal Request and would be based on disaster activity.

QUESTION 5 - Incumbent Transition Is FEMA anticipating any incumbent transition or phase-in support requirements as part of future OC3 call orders, or should offerors assume clean-start staffing and operational stand-up?

ANSWER: There are no incumbent transition or phase-in support requirements.

QUESTION 6 - Telework vs. Facility Model Does FEMA have a preferred or minimum expectation regarding remote/telework versus facility-based operations for OC3 support, assuming all performance, security, and data-handling requirements in the draft PWS are met?

ANSWER: Refer to PWS, Section 14. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

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QUESTION 7 - Can FEMA share their human resources and facility capabilities?

ANSWER: Historically surge support is based on the impact of the disaster.

QUESTION 8 - How many times in the past 1, 2, 5, and 10 years has FEMA required surge support?

ANSWER: FEMA has had surge support active every year in the last 10 years except 2019.

QUESTION 9 - Are any channels, besides phone, being supported? (i.e. email, chat, etc.)

ANSWER: Currently, the requirement is for a fully managed contact call center and support.

Other communication channels with the disaster survivors are handled internally with FEMA staff. Additionally, in section 3, additional technology requirements, at FEMA’s discretion, could be added to the BPA with additional CLINS.

QUESTION 10 - Does FEMA have security requirements for the Contractor provided telephony solution (i.e. FedRamp)?

ANSWER: All IT solutions must be authorized by FEMA in accordance with PWS, Section 21 – Information Technology Security Requirements.

QUESTION 11 - Does the Government actually use 175,000 production hours per week during a surge?

ANSWER: Yes, the requirement is up to 175,000 production hours, which is equivalent to 4375 FTE. Call orders are written based on the projected call volume associated with the location, magnitude and impact of the disaster.

QUESTION 12 - What is the average length of time, in weeks, for a typical surge?

ANSWER: Surge requirements are written based on the projected call volume associated with the location magnitude of the disaster. Historically, under this BPA the period of performance has been written for a 30 days base with three 30-day option periods, totaling 120 days.

QUESTION 13 - How is the Contractor notified that agents need to be activated?

ANSWER: Historically, under this BPA, the CO will send a RFQ to the BPA holders directly with the PWS, details.

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QUESTION 14 - How long does the Contractor have to activate agents and begin taking calls?

ANSWER: After award, the onboarding process and timeline is located in the PWS under Section 3.a pg. 11, there is an table provided for the current onboarding timeline expectation in days.

QUESTION 15 - What is the percentage of Registration Intake calls that result in “Delta calls”?

ANSWER: This is dependent on the magnitude and impact of the disaster. Catastrophic events, e.g. when cell towers or power is offline for extended periods of time, may result in more delta calls from shelters, disaster recover centers, or joint field offices.

QUESTION 16 - What is the percentage of Helpline calls that result in an escalation?

ANSWER: Escalated calls are dependent on the agent’s level of training; if the call exceeds their training level, it is escalated to a higher tier agent or back to FEMA to resolve. Unfortunately, we do not have a percent of those calls.

QUESTION 17 - What is the standard wait time for an agent to learn if they have passed the adjudication process?

ANSWER: PWS Section 3, Contractor Responsibilities outlines the background screening process. After the COR receives the required forms and excel sheet FEMA Security historically has provided a denied or approved to work determination for disaster candidates within 2 days.

QUESTION 18 - Who will provide the knowledge base for the contact center?

ANSWER: In accordance, with PWS Section 5, part iv - Training will include all material and information necessary for the agent to be successful in answering registration intake and helpline calls as required and/or needed. FEMA is responsible for providing and maintaining the training material to the contractors through our internal repository.

QUESTION 19 - Who is responsible for maintaining the knowledge base?

ANSWER: In accordance with PWS Section 5 Training part xix - The Contractor shall provide the capability to host and distribute necessary documents such as Scripts, Reference Documents, FAQs etc. to all agents. The files are generally PDF and Microsoft Word documents. The Contractor shall provide screenshots of the environment for use during FEMA hosted training.

The documents provided shall not be renamed or edited to ensure consistency with training materials.

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QUESTION 20 - Can FEMA elaborate on the “specialized personnel skill sets” mentioned on page 7?

ANSWER: Specialized personnel skill sets aligned with customer service.

QUESTION 21 - How long does a full moderate risk background check take to complete?

ANSWER: PWS Section 3, Contractor Responsibilities outlines the background screening process. After the COR receives the required forms and excel sheet FEMA Security historically has provided a denied or approved to work determination for disaster candidates within 2 days.

QUESTION 22 - Is there a limit to the number of subcontractors that could be used?

ANSWER: No

QUESTION 23 - How often does FEMA request Ad-hoc Reports?

ANSWER: Ad-hoc reports have been requested since the 2021 BPA was awarded. Depending on the size and impact of a disaster, reports can be requested daily or weekly for specific call center data.

QUESTION 24 - How often is the BPA cancelled or expired?

ANSWER: The current BPA has not been cancelled or expired.

QUESTION 25 - Can the Government confirm what is the average period of performance of a call order?

ANSWER: Requirements are written based on the projected call volume associated with the location, magnitude and impact of the disaster. Historically, under this BPA the period of performance has been written for a 30-day base with three 30-day option periods, totaling 120 days.

QUESTION 26 - Can the Government confirm if multiple call orders overlap, or does FEMA only issue one at a time?

ANSWER: Yes, call orders overlap as disaster overlap.

QUESTION 27 - When a call order is issued how are FTE allocated. For example, if call order A is issued, multiple providers/contractors provide support simultaneously to call order A. If

P a g e 5 | 12 multiple providers/contractors can support an individual call order, how are FTE allocations determined?

ANSWER: Proposals are reviewed by Technical Evaluation Panel and a recommendation is made; the CO makes the final decision on how to allocate if the call order is a multi-award.

QUESTION 28 - “The Contractor shall factor in a 40% initial training failure rate in their staffing and adjudication forecast for scheduling purposes.”

FEMA mentions a 40% attrition rate or initial test failure rate in the scope of work; can the Government confirm that this data is based off of a historical average of all contractor performance? What are the attrition rates on the current contract, is there a range?

ANSWER: Yes, the government can confirm this data is based on the historical average from the current BPA call orders.

QUESTION 29 - What call management system does FEMA’s SDB Contact Center currently use for registration and helpline call management and monitoring? Is the software commercially available?

ANSWER: Contact Center Capability Modernization Program (C3MP) Cloud is our FEMA branded Genesys platform. (Subject to change)

QUESTION 30 - Page 10 of the PWS states, “The Contractor shall schedule favorably adjudicated agents with FEMA credentials to start training within five (5) calendar days and is encouraged to start training within two (2) calendar days when possible”. Please confirm the requirement that mandatory training must begin within five (5) calendar days of successful adjudication.

ANSWER: Yes, FEMA requires assistance with answering the incoming calls for disaster survivors. The agents need to be start training within five calendar days after an approved adjudication, billing for the agent does not begin until training starts. See section 5 Training of

PWS.

QUESTION 31 - Please quantify the number of billable hours allotted for an agent to complete all required training.

ANSWER: Training hours below are subject to change. In accordance with the PWS, section 5, part ix agents are required to complete Privacy and IT Security training which is typically 8 hours. Again, the following training timeframes are subject to change and shall be completed in sequential order in accordance with PWS Section 5.

• Registration Intake with wrap up session – 16 hours

• Basic Helpline - 40 hours

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• Helpline Tier 2 - 56 hours

• Additional training may be requested

QUESTION 32 - Understanding that some classes may be scheduled later in the day, please confirm the number of days the agent must complete all required training.

ANSWER: Disaster needs dictate the classes and times offered. See representative class hours as illustrated in question 31. Classes are not necessarily on sequential days but must be taken in order. Please review PWS Section 5 carefully as contractors are responsible for cost associated with re-training.

QUESTION 33 - PWS section B. Objectives and Outcomes for Management Support, items xii and xiii state: Contractor shall use an electronic method to capture the data for Missed Contacts, Call Agent Availability, and other data that will be used to reconcile invoicing along with time clock records. If the Contractor does not provide this electronic information/data then FEMA cannot reconcile invoices, therefore the invoices will be rejected; and Contractor shall provide electronic time clocks that track all Contractor personnel time by location. The Contractor shall ensure that all Contractor personnel utilize the electronic time clocks. Contractor personnel not signed in under a Contractor-provided time clock shall not be invoiced.

If the contractor-provided call management software is designed to also capture daily sign-in and sign-out times, providing an electronic time clock functionality, will it satisfy both reporting requirements for accounting and invoicing?

ANSWER: An electronic time clock function alone will not provide enough detail to fulfil reporting and invoice requirements (specifically call performance).

QUESTION 34 - PWS, Section F. Quality Control, item k. states: FEMA will conduct a Calibration Session with the Contractor after the initial FEMA QC training and at least one adhoc session throughout the activation.

Please define and provide details regarding the Calibration Session.

ANSWER: Historically, the first session is training for Quality Control staff on using the provided FEMA performance scorecard and supporting documentation. Subsequent sessions typically address frequently observed errors and how best to mitigate them in addition to clarifying policy and answering questions submitted by contractor QC staff.

QUESTION 35 - PWS, page 6, Fig 1. Seasonal Disaster Declarations by Month and Incident Type (2005 – 2024). A declaration can generate as few as 1,000 registrations, or more than 1,000,000. To clarify trends and support a better understanding of workload expectations, will FEMA provide additional/detailed data on registration volume for the same period?

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ANSWER: Disasters declared in the following years generated the included phone generated registration intake:

• 2025 - 21 disasters – 90,103 phone registrations

• 2024 - 56 disasters – 951,541 phone registrations

• 2023 - 21 disasters – 145,975 phone registrations

• 2022 - 16 disasters – 255,521 phone registrations

• 2021 - 24 disasters - 419,472 phone registrations

QUESTION 36 - PWS, page 6, Contractor Responsibilities states: “The Contractor shall apply a sound management, technical approach, and intelligent automation technology consistent with industry standards and market research that will provide the best value in meeting call order objectives.”

Does the term “intelligent automation technology” include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chat Bots, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA), Voice/Speech Recognition/ Conversational Artificial Intelligence as mentioned in the following paragraph?

ANSWER: The “intelligent automation technology” may include the additional features listed but it is not required beyond “consistent with industry standards and market research that will provide the best value in meeting call order”.

QUESTION 37 - The use of intelligent automation technologies is a proven, efficient force multiplier. A virtual agent can ensure that proper protocols (information and spelling confirmations, etc.) are followed with every applicant, on every registration, without fail. Does FEMA envision that registrations will be generated utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and/or Intelligent Virtual Agents? If so, how does FEMA envision that interface to work with the existing Web RI platform?

ANSWER: FEMA is open to what the current market evolves to and is committed not to place obstacles to process improvement. This Request for Information is to help us address and analyze the capabilities of the industry.

QUESTION 38 - Page 22 of PWS, section 3, Issuing of a Call Order Does FEMA anticipate selecting only four BPA Contractors to provide and compete for call order services?

ANSWER: FEMA anticipates selecting multiple awardees.

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QUESTION 39 - If selected as one of the BPA Contractors, how soon after contract award will FEMA be able to provide GFE (or funding to acquire GFE) to meet the performance requirements contained within the PWS for this RFI?

ANSWER: Under this contract, the Government will not provide any Government owned equipment, office supplies, software, hardware, etc., unless specifically indicated in the Call Order. PWS section 6 Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) PWS Section 3.N Telecommunications and Information Technology

• The Contractor shall provide and maintain all necessary telecommunications equipment and services to support the specified current productivity requirements, which includes but is not limited to hardware, software, phones, headphones, ear covers, office supplies, etc. and will immediately report any problems to FEMA that cause or could potentially cause service disruptions.

• The Contractor shall provide each agent with (2) viewing screens that allows reference documents to be open on one screen and FEMA applications open on the other. A laptop plus an external monitor or a desktop with two monitors would satisfy this requirement.

QUESTION 40 - Is post award funding available to assure and maintain readiness of essential personnel?

ANSWER: No.

QUESTION 41 - May a respondent who proposes to provide only remote off-site call center services be selected as a BPA Contractor?

ANSWER: Yes, If Contractors are not able to report to a physical location, a remote workforce may be authorized. PWS section 14. Place of Performance

QUESTION 42 - Will a respondent who possesses dedicated call facilities be required to staff a government-operated facility?

ANSWER: No. All work shall be performed at Contractor managed facilities within the United States unless specifically authorized by the Government. If Contractors are not able to report to a physical location, a remote workforce may be authorized. The Contractor is responsible for ensuring that there are effective processes in place for communicating efficiently with remote employees. All facilities and remote workforce provided shall conform to the requirements set forth in the call order and shall be located CONUS and OCONUS locations including Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. PWS section 14. Place of Performance

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QUESTION 43 - Should vendors include all technology inside the fully burdened hourly labor rate, or will FEMA allow separate billing for technology?

ANSWER: Yes, vendors/ contractors should include technology inside the fully burdened hourly labor rate.

• The Contractor shall provide and maintain all necessary telecommunications equipment and services to support the specified current productivity requirements, which includes but is not limited to hardware, software, phones, headphones, ear covers, office supplies, etc. and will immediately report any problems to FEMA that cause or could potentially cause service disruptions. PWS Section 3.N Telecommunications and Information Technology

QUESTION 44 - Will the government provide fixed facility badging, or will staff seek badge appointments independently, at locations closest to their residence?

ANSWER: At this time, government badges are not required under this contract.

QUESTION 45 - Please clarify FEMA’s expectations regarding the physical location of call center operations. Specifically, does FEMA intend for call center services to be delivered from contractor-managed facilities, or will remote (work-from-home) call agent support be permitted under this requirement?

ANSWER: Please refer to the question 41 response.

QUESTION 46 - Please confirm whether FEMA will allow contractor call center operations, staffing, or support functions to be performed from OCONUS locations, including U.S.

territories, or if all services must be provided strictly from CONUS-based facilities.

ANSWER: Per PWS Section 3. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES: All facilities and remote workforce provided shall conform to the requirements set forth in the BPA and must be located within CONUS and OCONUS locations including Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Island.

QUESTION 47 - Will the incoming contractor be permitted to extend offers of first-refusal employment to the current incumbent contractor’s personnel? If so, please clarify the earliest point at which engagement with incumbent staff may begin.

ANSWER: FEMA will not provide a list of agents previously approved to work. Candidates must work for only one contractor, and it is up to the candidate to select which contractor.

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QUESTION 48 - Please provide the number of current call center agents and identify how many are employed in full-time versus part-time positions.

ANSWER: FEMA federal employees are part-time and full-time. The number of federal staff is unavailable.

QUESTION 49 - Please identify the call center platform and associated software currently used to manage call routing, reporting, and agent interactions.

ANSWER: Contact Center Capability Modernization Program (C3MP) Cloud is our FEMA branded Genesys platform. (Subject to change)

QUESTION 50 - Does the current contract workforce include any personnel who are blind or who have other disabilities requiring workplace accommodation?

ANSWER:

Per PWS, Section B. Objectives and Outcomes for Management Support, C. Work Schedule iii.

The Contractor shall provide for all equipment, services, or any other requirement necessary in order to meet any reasonable accommodations required under the Americans with Disabilities Act for Contractor personnel. All expenses for reasonable accommodations shall be the sole responsibility of the Contractor. The government does not maintain or require records of contractor agent disabilities or accommodations needed.

QUESTION 51 - Please provide Felicia Castillo’s email address for response submission.

ANSWER: …RFI responses electronically to Felicia Castillo, Contracting Officer, at felicia.castillo@fema.dhs.gov and Demetria Carter, Contracting Officer, at demetria.carter@fema.dhs.gov no later than 3:00PM Eastern Time (ET), January 28, 2026.

QUESTION 52 – (pp. 5–7, 16–17) Can FEMA clarify how much advance notice is typically provided for surge staffing beyond the 48-hour adjustment window, and how forecast accuracy is evaluated during peak disaster activations?

ANSWER: As we are Disaster driven, we strive to give as much lead time as possible. The severity of a concurrent disaster affecting a current call order is impossible to forecast.

QUESTION 53 – (pp. 5–6) When weekly production hours are increased up to the 210,000-hour maximum, are these increases generally sustained over multiple weeks or intended as short-duration surge events?

mailto:felicia.castillo@fema.dhs.gov

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ANSWER: The production hour requirement is dependent on disaster activity and call volume.

QUESTION 54 – (pp. 7–10) For candidates eligible for DHS reciprocity, what is the typical turnaround time from submission to favorable adjudication, particularly during large-scale activations?

ANSWER: Per PWS Onboarding Timeline Example, Adjudication status sent to the Contractor approximately 48 hours after forms are received.

QUESTION 55 - (pp. 8–9) During major disaster events, does FEMA anticipate deploying fingerprinting teams at scale, or should contractors plan to independently manage high-volume fingerprinting capacity?

ANSWER: Refer to PWS, Section 3. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES for fingerprinting information.

QUESTION 56 – (pp. 28–29) When FEMA-led training is utilized, what is the maximum number of concurrent training classes FEMA can support during peak disaster activations?

ANSWER: Training class sizes may vary depending on the type of training class.

QUESTION 57 – (p. 29) For agents who completed FEMA RI/HL training within the past 60 days, can abbreviated refresher training be used in lieu of full retraining during urgent surge activations?

ANSWER: This is not in the current PWS but could be considered at a later date, dependent on disaster activity.

QUESTION 58 – (pp. 7, 16) Is the requirement for 25% Spanish/English bilingual staffing enforced at every 30-minute interval, or evaluated across the daily staffing profile?

ANSWER: Per PWS, Section 3. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES: The Contractor shall provide a fully-managed and scalable contact center and remote contact center workforce solution with a minimum of 25% staff being Spanish/English bilingual proficient.

QUESTION 59 – (pp. 27, 30) In cases where service levels are missed due to government-controlled factors such as system provisioning or adjudication delays, how does FEMA distinguish contractor-controlled versus government-controlled performance impacts?

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ANSWER: Any government related issues that would impact performance would be documented and not held against the Contractor.