Attachment 1 - Performance Work Statement Draft.pdf

B.2 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

1. BACKGROUND

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Experience Office (VEO), Multi- Channel Technology (MCT) is charged with enhancing Customer Experience (CX) through the various “channels” through which VA and its customers interact. Since its inception, MCT has connected VA’s lines of business (LOBs) and Office of Information and Technology (OIT) to catalyze change and develop solutions that address the needs of Veterans, their family members, Service members, Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), and the community of VA business partners and stakeholders. VEO’s Contact Center provides a variety of public facing services through the work of both Government and Contractor full time equivalent (FTE) staff.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care network in the United States, with 1,294 health care facilities serving over 9 million enrolled Veterans each year. When VA cannot provide the care needed, VA authorizes care to Veterans and eligible beneficiaries using community resources, referred to as Community Care for Veterans and Veteran and Family Member Program (VFMP) for family member beneficiaries. The VHA Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) is responsible for the management of the Veteran Community Care Program (VCCP).

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides a variety of benefits and services to Service members, Veterans, and their families. VBA seeks to understand the unique issues Veterans face and are here to help Veterans and eligible dependents to obtain compensation, education, health care, home loan, insurance, pension, vocational rehabilitation and employment, and burial and memorial services. The VBA support line is the initial point of contact for Veterans and their families to get started on applying for eligible benefits.

With all three organizations requiring call center support, this Performance Work Statement (PWS) hopes to capture as much of the common requirements as possible and create synergy to better help each organization support our Veterans and their families.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall provide contact center support, performance related data and program management support for an established contact center which answered 1.4 million calls in fiscal year 2023, reflecting a 21% increase from the prior year.

The Contractor shall leverage existing Government technology/tools to include Telephony, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Workforce Management, Quality Management, Knowledge Management, Customer Satisfaction, Data Visualization, and training.

The Contractor shall operate multi-channel operations to include various aspects of Veteran benefits, compensation, healthcare by receiving and responding to inquiries, providing information and services through various channels including telephone, a language translation service, mail, email, TDD/TTY, and web chat.

The Contractor shall provide program and management support to manage, monitor, and control all subsequent tasks initiated and completed by Contractor staff to maintain VEO Contact Center service to Veterans, their beneficiaries, caregivers, survivors, and advocates. This program support shall include real-time monitoring of any incidents and communication of such concerns to the VEO Contact Center leadership and designees.

The Contractor shall understand and have experience with Service Recovery, the process of effectively engaging customers to recover the damage done from a prior poor customer experience. This could originate from direct (i.e., phone) and indirect (i.e., chat, text, survey) customer interactions and would require review of customer encounter(s) and direct engagement with customers to execute service recovery, when warranted Service Recovery shall occur both in real-time escalations and post service failure. Service Recovery is a new focus area in VA and the contact center is a leader in that change effort.

The Contractor shall provide support to meet fluctuating 24/7 call volume (including holidays) in varying environments while providing accurate and quality customer service for all inquiries.

Surge support may be required in response to Congressional mandated work or deadlines, or urgent unexpected events such as a national disaster or a clinical safety notification.

The Contractor shall provide technical support with the agency web site (www.VA.gov), providing basic information about VA benefits and services, directory assistance, navigational support and/or referrals to the appropriate VA specialist or online resource, identity theft or sexual assault reporting, and intake of complaints.

Tier 2 work may be warranted, particularly in a surge situation. This work will include specialized assistance requiring agent to reach subject matter expertise and be trained in accessing VA customer specific databases. Examples of this type of service includes, but is not limited to individual specific disability claims, compensation, appeals, eligibility for benefits or services, changes in payment institutions, debt repayment plans or beneficiaries, and other related services.

3. CONTRACT TYPE

This is a firm-fixed-price contract.

4. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance shall consist of one (1) 12-month base period.

5. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The place of performance is to be in or in proximity (50 miles to nearest VA facility that can provide on-site technology support) Working from home requirements include hard wired (no WIFI) high speed internet that maintains a 25 Mbps download speed and a 5 Mbps upload speed.

6. TASK STATEMENT

Tasks performed shall be of a non-personal nature. VA organizations will not provide supervision of Contractor personnel. Contractor personnel shall at no time allow an employer-employee relationship to develop with VA organizations or their staff. VA organizations will refrain from any activities that create the appearance of such a relationship.

Contractors shall not perform inherently Governmental functions including decision-making, supervision of Government employees, supervision of other Contractors on other contracts, and activities that create the appearance of performing such functions.

The Contractor shall be responsible for assigning schedules and managing coverage throughout all shifts for its personnel, monitor and evaluate its performance, coach staff improvement, and manage process compliance with established standard operating procedures.

A Government Training Section will be responsible for development/delivery of initial, and subsequent training content. New hire training is virtual with two weeks of classroom type training followed by two weeks of nesting with an experienced contractor agent/supervisor, who provides immediate guidance and coaching on performance until personnel have demonstrated consistent ability to use technology tools and handle a call in an empathetic manner independently. Agents are expected to have a Personal Identification Verification (PIV) Card prior to beginning the training.

Agents will use resources available such as Job Aids, Knowledge Management (KM) tool, FAQs, email alerts, Bulletins, standard operating procedures, limited quantity of mandated scripts, team chats, and reference materials to improve knowledge and utilize these materials as the only source of needed information or guidance.

Performance monitoring and procedure compliance is within the scope of the contract.

6.1 Project Management

Kickoff Meeting The Contractor shall participate in a Kickoff Meeting within five (5) business days of contract award on a date agreed upon by the Contractor and VA.

The Contractor shall create a Kickoff Meeting Presentation describing the details of the approach for all deliverables and services under the contract in accordance with the expectations defined in the Schedule of Deliverables.

The Contractor shall present and be prepared to walk through in detail all of the deliverables due at the Kickoff Meeting. Those deliverables that are due in draft form at the Kickoff Meeting shall be of sufficient detail to define the full approach such that the deliverables can be presented to and reviewed by VA Subject Matter Experts (SME) for their real time feedback. The plans submitted by the Contractor shall be incorporated into the contract upon VA approval.

At the Kickoff meeting, the Contractor shall also provide a listing of its point of contact (POCs) including program manager, contract POC, and IT POC (if needed). The list of POCs should be updated as personnel changes are made.

The Contractor shall coordinate with the Contracting Officer (CO) to establish dates, location (may be virtual), and agenda for the Kickoff Meeting. The Contractor shall take meeting minutes, which shall be provided to VA in accordance with the Schedule of Deliverables. The meeting minutes shall include documentation of any major issues, agreements, or disagreements and agreed upon actions and timelines to resolve any major issues or disagreements discussed during the Kickoff Meeting.

Kickoff Meeting Deliverables:

Deliverable Frequency

Kickoff Meeting Presentation One time

List of POCs One time, update as needed

Meeting Minutes One time

Project Management Plan

The Contractor shall be responsible for project management and performance of the requirements of the contract. The Contractor shall create a Project Management Plan to be presented at the Kickoff meeting and approved by VA to capture all elements of managing the contract. The Project Plan must be submitted in accordance with the Schedule of Deliverables. As part of the Project Plan, the Contractor must create a schedule that will show the dates and steps that will lead up to fully meet the staffing requirements. This plan will include supervisory coverage during the initial 30 days of operation, as new supervisory staff are onboarded and trained.

Continuity of Operations (COOP) is an initiative of the federal Government, which enables agencies to continue to perform their essential functions during any incident which may potentially disrupt normal operations. The Project Management Plan shall include a COOP plan which addresses contingency steps that will be implemented when normal operations are disrupted.

For inclusion in the Project Management Plan, the Contractor shall create a list of duties for each of their personnel other than the contact center agent to show understanding of the contract requirements. (i.e., Program Manager is responsible for immediate communication with COR and Program office for work stoppage as a part of their duties). Supervisor coverage is critical to sustainment of regular operations and as such, any supervisor absence requires coverage from another supervisor. This coverage backup plan is referred to as a Supervisor Backup Plan.

The Contractor shall create a list of risks and the mitigation plan for the risks for the contract and include it as part of the project management plan and schedule to fully staff the contract. Known risks currently include:

Initial set up and establishment of connectivity through Government Furnished Equipment and VPN to VA systems.

Completion of required training (Rules of Behavior, Privacy, and Cyber) Fingerprinting: Before candidate forms are submitted, they are required to have fingerprints done at their local VA facility. Issues with fingerprinting has caused delays of up to two weeks in the past. Each local VA facility has their own procedures, of which the program office may not be familiar so it’s important the Contractors understand the procedure of the local VA facility.

Accuracy of forms: There are several forms that are required for onboarding. Incomplete or mistakes on forms will delay the onboarding process by usually 2 to 3 business days.

Filling out the eAPP: The eAPP is a required online form that needs to be filled out in order for candidates to continue in the onboarding process.

The form has stringent requirements and a completion date of seven business days. This has caused delays for onboarding up to one to two months in the past.

Getting the PIV: The PIV is required for logging into VA systems. Similar to fingerprinting, each VA facility can have different procedures. If a facility is Central Printing only, it could take up to 10 business days for a candidate to get the PIV after the appointment.

VPN issue: It’s been documented that remote facilities with high speed internet have had issues maintaining speed once logged into VPN, which is required for work. Contractor’s IT team needs to be prepared to work with VA IT to maintain internet speed.

Project Management Plan Deliverables:

Deliverable Frequency

Project Management Plan One time, then updates and notifications as needed

Recruitment Plan Initial and any time there is a related inability to meet associated key performance indicators

Technology Set Up Plan Initial hiring wave & any time there is a group of new hires that exceed 20 people

Supervisor Backup Plan Initial and any time there is a supervisor change.

Agent Performance Evaluation Bias Mitigation Plan

Initial and any time there is a supervisor change.

Continuity of Operations Plan Initial and annually

Onboarding Technology Support Plan Initial

Retention Plan Initial and whenever there is an update to the plan.

6.2 Operational and Quality Reporting Requirements

Operational Reporting The Contractor shall provide the COR with operational reports, monthly performance summaries and a monthly action plan if any key performance indicators not met in the month prior. The Contractor shall monitor performance using established Government procedures (Knowledge Management) and software to include Workforce Management (WFM), Quality, Telephony and dashboard reports (VEO CC Frontline Performance and VEO CC Operations Dashboard). Key performance indicators include Abandonment Rate, Speed of Answer, Staffing Readiness, In Service Time, Service Recovery, Agent Call Evaluation, Customer Service, Schedule Adherence, Technical Needs, Team Metrics, Supervisor Metrics, WFM Review, Leadership Review, and Program Manager metrics. The monthly action plan shall include actions taken to address any key performance metrics that were not met. It is expected that the Contractor shall maintain communication with the COR accordingly so that any arising issues are transparent to both parties to proactively prevent performance issues.

Operation Reporting Deliverable:

Deliverable Frequency

Sufficient quantity of personnel to meet the assigned schedule

Daily

Agent performance evaluations (to be completed throughout the month that performance occurs)

Completed no later than the 1ST business day following the month that the performance occurred

Supervisor performance evaluations Completed by the 10th day of the month following the month that performance occurred

Monthly Progress Report (performance failure action plan)

15th of the month following the month that a performance metric was not met

Hours worked 10th of the month

Personnel status report (Authorized, In Production, Balance {Authorized – Production), % Vacant, In Training, Pre- Qualifying)

Weekly

Equipment Accountability Monthly

Mandatory Training

Annual

Readiness Certification of new personnel to start (equipment possession, headset on hand, VPN works, VA email account, VA access to NEED TO LIST operational, PIV/PIV exemption in place, required bookmarks established, TMS account, software operational)

3 business days prior to the start of Government new hire training class

Competency Certification (including computer skills) of each new agent/senior agent/supervisor (see agent competency requirements in Section 8)

3 business days prior to the start of Government new hire training class

6.3 Program Management (PM) Tasks

Program Manager Responsibilities:

Responsible for ensuring the Customer Service Representative (CSR) and Supervisor comply with established business rules.

Ensures supervisors are monitoring queues throughout the shift and making adjustments to staff breaks and supervisor activities to meet key performance metrics.

Ensures new supervisors meet competency requirements for supervisor role and for shift lead role

Provide one-to-one coaching to supervisors.

Identify operational problems or trends and escalate to appropriate contact center operations section and/or leadership.

Reinforce standards, and use progressive discipline when compliance continues to be an issue.

Ensures key performance metrics are met or exceeded.

Encounters that may require program manager service recovery will be reviewed and if service recovery is appropriate, contact will be made with the customer. This will occur for any interaction with a supervisor that failed to return an aggravated, dissatisfied customer to a state of calm satisfaction. This will include complaints received against a supervisor, issues identified during call calibration or call evaluations, and pre-determined customer satisfaction survey scores.

Maintains control over attendance, leave and excused absence of employee.

Ensures supervisors coordinate for coverage of the phone line dedicated to staff for requesting unscheduled time off.

Ensures all staff complete mandatory training (including training in the VA Talent

Management System) in a timely manner.

Ensure supervisors are entering all unscheduled leave requests into the WFM system for approval by designated WFM section member and approving exception requests appropriately. Breaks and lunches should be moved prior to approving any requests that would be unintentionally overwritten by the exception.

Follow a standard set of procedures on-boarding/off-boarding personnel.

Actively participating in weekly quality, WFM, training, collaboration, and call calibration meetings with the operations team, as appropriate.

Responsible for the Continuity of Operations (COOP) plan, both providing and adhering to the plan.

Attendance and participation in all required weekly quality, WFM, training, collaboration, and call calibration meetings with the operations team, as appropriate.

Responsible for all performance deliverables.

Responsible to adhere to all Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and other directives.

Responsible to provide notification of technical issues impacting the ability of agents or supervisors to complete their duties. Any large-scale outages require leadership notification as outlined in the SOP.

Responsible for other operational activities as identified.

Responsible for monthly report related to performance metrics and action plan addressing any metric which did not meet standards.

Responsible for monthly evaluation of each supervisor.

Responsible for a supervisory backup plan for any supervisor who is on regular or extended leave.

Responsible for other operational activities as identified.

6.3a Deputy Program Manager Tasks

Deputy Program Manager Responsibilities

Function as the acting PM in the PM’s absence.

Work closely with Program Manager ensuring the program is running on schedule.

Assist Program Manager as needed for operational tasks.

Assist PM with ensuring that Service Recover is completed in a timely manner.

6.4 Supervisor Tasks

Supervisor Responsibilities:

Understands the Workforce Management process and serves as a liaison between the Customer Service Representative and the Government Workforce Management (WFM) Section to handle change requests and exceptions to the daily schedule.

Responsible for ensuring the Customer Service Representative (CSR) complies with established business rules.

Oversee telephony queues.

Ensures sufficient Customer Service Representatives are present at work to fill the assigned schedule.

Identify Customer Service Representatives who are not in compliance with established processes and coach them to improved performance or appropriately disposition if improvement doesn’t occur.

Identify training gaps and tools.

Reinforce standards, and use progressive discipline when compliance continues to be an issue.

Ensures all Customer Service Representatives adhere to assigned schedule and that all adherence and performance metrics for their team are met or exceeded.

Encounters that require service recovery will be reviewed and if service recovery is appropriate, contact will be made with the customer. This will occur for any interaction with the VEO Contact Center that failed to return an aggravated, dissatisfied customer to a state of calm satisfaction. This will include complaints received against a VEO team member, staff issues identified during call calibration or call evaluations, and pre-determined customer satisfaction survey scores.

Administers the leave and excused/unexcused absence polices and regulations for CSRs under their supervision.

Maintains control over attendance, leave and excused absence of employee.

Coordinate leave with training supervisor (if needed) during employees training session(s).

Supervisors monitor the phone line dedicated to staff for requesting unscheduled time off.

Supervisors are responsible for entering all unscheduled leave requests into the WFM system for approval by designated WFM section member.

Supervisors should approve exception requests through messaging prior to the event for any preplanned exception. Breaks and lunches should be moved prior to approving any requests that would be unintentionally overwritten by the exception.

Shift Lead Supervisor is responsible for documenting disruptive callers into the Shift Report and for ensuring interim information from law enforcement is documented in the case prior to end of shift.

Supervisors and management officials will follow a standard set of procedures on-boarding/off-boarding personnel.

Supervisors are responsible for requesting new employee’s e-mail addresses to be assigned to their appropriate groups. This provides each employee with the appropriate security access automatically to the VEO Contact Center and Enterprise Contact Center Operation SharePoint sites.

Supervisors must be responsible for other operational activities as they are identified.

Responsible for agents’ performance, training, and ability to handle calls.

Supervisors are responsible to assist agents with technical issues and with submitting tickets and alerting designated operations personnel (Automated Data Processing Application Coordinator -ADPAC) when agents are unable to take calls.

Responsible for regular team meetings and 1:1 coaching Responsible for additional monitoring of performance, assigning training, and providing coaching for any agents who do not meet performance expectations.

Responsible for logging into appropriate systems to serve as an agent/senior agent when customer wait times exceed established thresholds

6.5 Tier 1 Customer Service Representative (Agent) Tasks

Agent Responsibilities:

Use knowledge management tool to locate process or information needed to assist the customer.

Capture the incoming phone number from telephony software. Telephony software will whisper identity of incoming phone line.

Use appropriate greeting appropriate to the incoming phone line: i.e.: “Thank you for calling the Department of Veterans Affairs. My name is (Insert first name). How may I be of service today?”

Show empathy and engage in active listening with the customer by:

o Apologizing and showing empathy for the issue or concern.

o Expressing gratitude for letting you know about the situation.

o Listen to caller as they explain they need and obtain relevant information.

o Use established procedures and techniques (such as asking probing questions) to clarify what their need(s) is(are).

o Provide the appropriate information or take the appropriate action based on their response.

Agents must utilize the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tool to document the calls.

o Repeat back what you think you heard.

o Document required case notes (who, what, when, why, where, and how)

Triage level of solution necessary to address customer’s need.

Determine if customer need can be met during call, if immediate referral to the right

VA specialist is warranted or if intake and routing electronically is appropriate.

Protect privacy of customers and release information only to authorized personnel after properly verifying customer identity and need to know.

If escalation is appropriate, collect the required information.

Provide tele-interpreter services for callers needing assistance in another language.

Warm transfer call, if appropriate, to designated VA specialist at the Veterans Crisis

Line, National Call Center (NCC) for Homeless Veterans, Veterans Benefit Administration Education Call Center, Veterans Benefit Administration National Call Center (NCC), Veterans Health Administration Health Benefits, Eligibility and Enrollment, National Cemetery Administration Cemetery Scheduling, or the VA Hotline.

The agent will utilize pre-approved, content located in the Knowledge Management (KM) tool.

This includes future implementation of additional communication channels.

Conducts service recovery or caller de-escalation, as appropriate to the situation.

Collect, document and review appropriate information to verify identity.

End call by following call closing procedures.

Agents must be responsible for other operational activities as they are identified.

6.6 Tier 1 Senior Agent Tasks

Senior Agent Responsibilities:

Handle calls on the supervisor escalation queue and overflow calls when customer demand exceeds agent resources.

Provide service recovery when caller expresses dissatisfaction with the interaction with agent.

De-escalate aggravated callers when warranted.

Handle calls in the Veterans First Queue for callers identified as frequent and/or disruptive.

Provide 1:1 training as time permits.

Coordinate and handle nesting, and coaching responsibilities with new agents.

Enter exceptions for agents in WFM software, with supervisor approval.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for CRM and other software releases.

Approve urgent, time sensitive and high priority (Priority 1 and Priority 1 Other) cases.

Troubleshooting basic agent technology issues.

Advise supervisor on team performance.

Participate in call calibration activities.

6.7 Tier 1 Program Manager Administrative Assistant (PMAA) Tasks

PMAA Responsibilities:

Submits and monitors onboarding and offboarding tickets for equipment and access.

Monitors issuance of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), headphones, and access.

Collects pre-hire competency certifications.

Ensures new hires have PIV exemptions when required.

Coordinate nesting partners for new hires during and after training, as required.

Communicates any changes in status of staff to Workforce Management and

Training Sections, when required.

Tracks equipment status.

6.8 Training

In person supervisor and senior agent training is done on a quarterly basis at Shepherdstown, West Virginia and other locations arranged by the Government. The purpose of this is to provide training on Call Monitoring, Quality Management, Performance Evaluations, and other topics that are constantly being refreshed and updated as needed. Supervisors will disseminate updates to their teams upon completion of training. Supervisor and senior agent training is a three-day event.

Description: Training for Supervisors and Senior Agents to teach and enhance supervisor skills such as handling call escalations for service recovery, handling priority cases involving suicidal callers and threats, coaching, call evaluations, exception processing and intraday workforce management, case documentation, and understanding analytics and reporting of agent performance. Additionally, supervisors and senior agents are provided training on shift lead responsibilities, using the Issue Portal to report and track technical issues, working with the tech support (ADPAC) team to resolve connectivity and other technical issues that agents encounter, and managing disruptive callers. The training also incorporates use of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools to improve processes that impact operations by providing opportunities for supervisors and senior agents to participate in Rapid Improvement Events which are conducted concurrently. All Senior Agents and Supervisors and required to take this training annually. Trainings are provided each quarter; one quarter of the supervisors and senior agents will participate to ensure minimal disruption to operations.

Location of Training: Frederick, MD

Length of Training: 8 hours per day (0800 to 1630 EST)

Duration of Training: Three days of training and two days of travel

Frequency of Training: Annually (Offered Quarterly)

Training is provided by members of the operations team and by contracted trainers.

Contractors will be notified of training dates 30 calendar days before the training.

7. KEY PERSONNEL

Certain skilled and experienced professional and/or technical personnel are essential for accomplishing the work to be performed. These individuals are defined as “Key Personnel” whose experience resume shall be submitted and marked by the Contractor as “Key Personnel”. Substitutions shall only be accepted if in compliance with the “Substitution of Key Personnel” provision identified below.

Program Manager, Deputy Program Manager, Supervisors and Senior Customer Service Representatives are defined as Key Personnel and, except in cases where individuals commit criminal conduct or violations of company policy, shall not be removed, diverted, or replaced from work without notifying the CO and COR.

Any personnel that the Contractor offers as substitutes shall have the ability and qualifications to meet or exceed the requirements of the contract. The Contractor shall submit a complete resume for the proposed substitute and any other information requested by the CO needed to approve or disapprove the proposed substitution. The COR will evaluate such requests and the CO will promptly notify the Contractor of approval or disapproval thereof in writing.

Agents are not defined as key personnel but should have a minimum of a High School degree or equivalent, customer service experience, and meet basic competency requirements for a Customer Service Representative. See Competency requirements.

Call center work experience is preferred.

Agent Competency Requirements

- Active listening and speaking

- Data entry (word processing skills of minimum 30-40 words per minute)

- Grammar/sentence structure

- Knowledge retention

- Time management

- Problem solving

- Use of multiple applications simultaneously and ability to switch between applications

- Basic understanding of Windows and Office applications

- Understanding of VPN and remote log in

- Ability to use computer equipment (keyboard, mouse, monitor(s), docking station, headsets, and volume controls)

- Ability to use files and folders to name, save, and retrieve information

- Ability to send and receive emails, open and add attachments, and encrypt messages

- Ability to use messaging applications (e.g., Teams) to communicate and share screen

- Ability to navigate websites (e.g., VA.gov)

- Other basic computer skills as required to complete daily tasks

The Contractor shall submit a complete resume for the proposed substitute and any other information requested by the CO needed to approve or disapprove the proposed substitution. The COR will evaluate such requests and The CO will promptly notify the Contractor of approval or disapproval thereof in writing.

The Contractor shall develop and implement a plan for staff retention and to lower attrition, which may include incentives to help retain high performing staff. The Contractor shall develop and implement a plan to incrementally and sequentially start key personnel, such as Program Manager, Deputy Program Manager, Administrative Assistant(s), Senior Agents, and Agents.

By the conclusion of pre-hire competency assessment, new hire training, post-training evaluation, and new hire nesting, the Contractor shall certify the following minimum conditions are met: Demonstrated ability to use telephony tools, customer relationship management applications, email and other messaging applications, basic computer competency and agent skills noted earlier in this section, ability to listen to call simultaneously with an assigned experienced agent or supervisor, handle a call with supervision, create, document, and route cases if needed, use standard greeting, use knowledge management (KM) article, ask probing questions, and transfer a call (both cold and warm transfers). This competency shall be certified prior to the agent being cleared for production.

Labor Category Description Minimum Education

Minimum Experience

Key Personnel:

Program Manager

Responsible for ensuring the Customer Service Representative (CSR), Senior CSR, Administrative Assistant and Supervisor comply with established business rules.

Ensures supervisors are monitoring queues throughout the shift and making adjustments to staff breaks and supervisor activities to meet key performance metrics. Identify operational problems or trends and escalate to appropriate contact center operations section and/or leadership.

BA/BS At least 12 years of progressive call center management experience in a variety of industries (healthcare, Government, service)

Deputy Program Manager

Functions under the supervision of the Program Manager to assist with the operation of the contact center and to serve as Acting Program Manager in the absence of the PM

BA/BS At least 8 years of progressive call center management experience in a variety of industries (healthcare, Government, service)

Key Personnel:

Contact Center Supervisor

Responsible for coaching agents, interacting with clients and other team members of the contact center team, and actively participate in improving the VEO Contact Center’s performance by assisting in balancing all workload requirements, responding in a positive manner to management requests for information or ideas that enhance the effective operation of the contact center or reinforcing training on matters regarding the contact center.

BA/BS 2 years of contact center supervisor experience and 4 years of call center experience

Key Personnel:

Contact Center Senior Customer Service Representative

Responsible for handling escalated calls, nesting new hires, processing time sensitive, high priority cases and software testing.

3 years of contact center agent or higher experience

8. CONTRACTOR – PURCHASED EQUIPMENT:

The contractor is expected to purchase any and all supplies or equipment required to provide the deliverables within this PWS including compatible headsets and office supplies. The Government will provide only the GFE identified in Section 10 of this

PWS.

9. GOVERNMENT- FURNISHED EQUIPMENT (GFE)/ MATERIALS/ FACILITIES/

INFORMATION

The Government will provide encrypted laptop, monitor(s), internet-based phone, electronic mail (e-mail) account, and software (workforce management, telephony, quality, CRM, word processing, training, and internal communications). For alternate locations the Government will provide an encrypted laptop, monitor(s), internet-based phone, electronic mail (e-mail) account, and software (workforce management, telephony, quality, CRM, word processing, spreadsheets, training, and internal communications). The expectation is that the Contractor will be able to pick up GFE at a VA facility within 50 miles of the Contractor location. All call center work will be conducted on Government systems, including communication through Government email accounts.

The Contractor shall adhere to all VA security requirements for any VA issued equipment, and all Contractor personnel that will receive and utilize VA issued laptops shall sign a VA property loan form and all associated documentation prior to receiving the equipment. All VA policies related to networked computer use will apply. PIV cards shall be required for all Contractor personnel with VA network access/accounts.

Contractor personnel shall complete VA’s Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training before networked computer access will be granted. The Contractor is expected track each GFE that is issued to the Contractor and maintain a list of what is issued. The Contractor is also expected to recover the GFE from their employees and return to Government, including the cost of shipping back the GFE if needed within 15 business days of date employment ended. Equipment not turned in within 45 days will be considered lost. Contractor will participate in Government process to investigate loss and process to reimburse the Government for the associated cost when equipment was not recovered.

Prior to the use of any Government-furnished equipment, the Contractor shall complete all mandatory training courses on the VA training site, currently the VA Talent Management System (TMS), and will be tracked therein. The TMS may be accessed at https://www.tms.va.gov. If an individual does not have a TMS profile, go to https://www.tms.va.gov and click on the “Create New User” link on the TMS to gain access.

The VA laptop computers must comply with all rules/requirements regarding patches and updates and must be returned to VA at the conclusion of the task order or the departure of the personnel.

Contractor personnel who are unable to work due to an issue outside of Government control (failure to renew PIV badge or exception, failure to complete annual privacy rules of engagement, internet disruption at home or non-Government facility, or failure to report work stoppage within established timelines) shall be reported to the COR and will not be considered in production as time spent out of production is at no cost to the Government. NOTE: the Contractor will not be paid during this time unless it is a Government technology issue. The Contractor shall submit tickets per established protocols, and work stoppage will be reported to the COR and to the Government Operations team immediately. The Contractor shall also notify the COR when the agents return to production.

10. QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

Performance Standards define required performance for specific tasks. The Government performs surveillance to determine if the Contractor exceeds, meets, or does not meet these standards. Contractor has a 30 calendar day grace period from staff entering into production to obtain performance proficiency.

The Contractor shall meet performance targets established by the QASP. To provide for changing quality assurance and quality performance conditions, either VA or the Contractor may request changes to the components of QASP measurement and reporting. If the Contractor fails to meet the performance requirements, the Contractor shall report self-identified correction action plans in their monthly program report (include timeline for corrective action milestones and completion). VA will utilize the QASP to monitor the quality of the Contractor’s performance. The oversight provided for in the QASP will help to ensure that service levels reach and maintain the required levels throughout the contract term. The QASP will be finalized upon award and a copy provided to the Contractor after award. The QASP is a living document and may be updated by VA as necessary and executed upon bilateral agreement with the Contractor.

The Contractor shall address all QASP performance metrics and whether the performance threshold missed, met and/or exceeded for each standard in a section entitled: “QASP Summary Report” within its Monthly Progress Report (MPR).

If problems have not been completely resolved, the Contractor shall provide an explanation, including its plan and timeframe for resolving the issue. The Contractor shall participate in ad hoc project related meetings with VA.

The Contractor shall provide a performance plan which includes, but is not limited to, schedule, milestones, metrics, strategy, stakeholders, as well as respond to QASPs, which indicates quality metrics reporting timeline and formats for those metrics.

10.1 METHODS OF SURVEILLANCE

Various methods exist to monitor performance. The COR shall use any or several of the surveillance methods listed below in the administration of this QASP.

1. 100% Inspection (evaluates all outcomes) - Each month, the COR shall review all of the Contractor’s performance/generated documentation and document results accordingly. This review will include reports and dashboards updated monthly by the Operations team. This assessment shall be placed in the COR’s QA file.

2. Random Sample - The COR shall review a random sampling of the Contractor’s performance/generated documentation and document your results accordingly.

This assessment shall be placed in the COR’s QA file.

3. Validated Customer Complaint or Validated Below Average ALP in a Specific Area - Each month, the COR shall review the Contractor’s performance/generated documentation corresponding to a validated customer complaint or validated inability to perform in accordance with the ALP in a specific area and document your results accordingly. This assessment shall be placed in the COR’s QA file.

10.2 FREQUENCY OF MEASUREMENT

During contract performance, the COR will periodically analyze whether the negotiated frequency of surveillance is appropriate for the work being performed, and at a minimum shall be. NOTE: All Privacy Violations shall be reported to the CO, COR, and Privacy Office via email communication within 30 minutes of identification of a potential violation.

10.3 ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE LEVELS (APLS)

The initial 30 days in production will be non-evaluated time.

Table A:

Contact Center Metrics

Performance Objective

Performance Standard Acceptable Performance Levels

Source/Indicator

1.

Abandonment Rate

The total number of calls abandoned in the service queue/total number of calls offered in the service queue.

<3% abandoned monthly

Telephony Software, Dashboard

2. Speed of Answer

The average amount of time that callers spend in the service queue waiting for their call to be answered.

Average speed to answer each month is less than or equal to 28 seconds.

Telephony Software, Dashboard

3. Staffing Readiness

The Contractor shall have the service to meet the forecasted demand and schedule.

Maintain average monthly:

Schedule Deviation < +/-10/% and In- Service Time at least 74%

Workforce Management tool, Dashboard.

4. Service Recovery

Encounters that may require service recovery shall be reviewed and if service recovery is appropriate, contact shall be made with the customer.

This shall occur for any interaction with contract staff failed to return an aggravated, dissatisfied customer to a state of calm satisfaction.

This shall include complaints received against a contract team member, contract staff issues identified during call calibration or call evaluations, and Contractor customer satisfaction survey scores for the VA Hotline business line average less than 3.5 and all others equal to or less than 1.

Service recovery will be completed and documented within 7 calendar days of identification of a situation that warrants service recovery. Annual compliance rate of 99% for all business lines

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, Dashboard

5. World Class Customer Service

The agent, supervisor and management officials must demonstrate a pattern of world class customer service and provide an exemplary customer experience by effectively communicating with respect, courtesy, empathy, tact, and professionalism in a clear, concise manner which complies with the established protocols, performance standards and procedures.

Annually maintain 80% passing rate for agent, supervisor, and program manager key performance metrics

Dashboard

This includes agent call evaluation, customer service, schedule adherence, technical needs; supervisor team/supervisor metrics, workload management, quality control, leadership; program manager program metrics, quality control, leadership team metrics, and service recovery.

6. Privacy, Information & Equipment Security

Privacy, information security and equipment security are required for Government service. All contractor personnel are required to complete initial and annual privacy and information security training. Staff working virtually must extend additional measures to protect the privacy of their customers, and peers, information, and equipment.

Initial training requirement.

Certification annually of mandatory training requirements.

Certification monthly of equipment status.

Compliance with policy notification requirements of potential privacy violations, information security violations or equipment losses.

Privacy violations identified by Contractor or Government. Self- Certification of equipment inventories Government Talent Management System (TMS) reports for training requirements.

7. Onboarding Readiness

The contractor shall keep track of training classes readiness. The contractor will submit forms on time, submit tickets on time, and update the tracking sheet daily

Initial submission of paperwork is accurate 95% of the time.

Required changes are completed within 1 business day

SharePoint Tracking Sheet

Table B:

In the absence of the Program Manager the Deputy Program Manager will be accountable for the Program Manager key performance metrics.

Contractor Program Manager (PM) Performance Metrics

Performance Objective

Performance Standard

Acceptable Performance Levels

Source/Indicator

1. Satisfaction and Recovery

CSAT (Customer Satisfaction): The PM will be responsible for the entire team to have an average score of 3.5 or greater for all 5 questions on the post call surveys. If the score for the month is

3.5 or greater, the PM will receive 1 point.

The PM will receive 1 point if all 3 of the below metrics are met for the month:

- PM completed all supervisor surveys within 7 calendar days of receiving them in VSignals.

- All supervisors completed their team’s surveys within 7 calendar days of receiving them in VSignals.

- All management verified complaints are completed within 7 calendar days of the concerns being opened.

Annually: 22 points.

Monthly the target is 2 points. To get Green for this category, the PM will need to receive 2 points. Yellow if the PM receives 1 point. Red if the PM receives 0 points.

VSignals, Dashboard

2. Quality Team Call Quality: The PM will be responsible for the entire team to have an average score of 90% or greater. If the

Annually: 43 points.

Monthly the target is 4 points. To get Green for this category, the PM

Quality score for the month is 90% or greater, the PM will receive 1 point.

Supervisor Audit the Auditor scores: The PM will be responsible for all of their supervisors to have an average score of 90% or greater. If the score for the month is 90% or greater, the PM will receive 1 point.

Supervisor completing 5 call evaluations per agent: The PM will be responsible for the 100% completion of call evaluations. If 5 evaluations cannot be completed on an agent due to missing a significant number of days, the PM is responsible for requesting a waiver from the Quality Management Team. If 100% of call evaluations are completed for the month, the PM will receive 1 point.

Supervisor Performance Evaluation Form: The PM is required to complete the Supervisor Performance Evaluation form for all their supervisors. This task is to be completed by the 14th of the following month. If 100% of evaluations will need to receive 4 points. Yellow if the PM receives 3 points. Red if the PM receives 2 or less points.

are completed for the month, the PM will receive 1 point

3. Compliance Required Annual TMS training completed on time: The Contractor PM shall be responsible for 100% completion of annual TMS training due the previous month, on time, for the entire team. If TMS is completed on time, the PM will receive 1 point.

PII/PHI (Personally Identifiable Information/Protected Health Information) Violations: The PM will be responsible for 0 Privacy violations. If there is 1 or more privacy violation, this is an automatic failure for this metric.

Processed High Priority and Time Sensitive concerns on time: The PM will be responsible for their supervisor’s processing Threats, Sexual Assault, Priority One Other concerns correctly and within the defined timeframe. If it is less than 100%, this is an automatic failure for this metric.

Meeting Attendance:

The PM is responsible for attending VEO Operations meetings. A spreadsheet located at PMs Mandatory Meetings.xlsx has all of

Annually: 46 points.

The monthly target is to get 4 points.

To get Green for this category, the PM will need to receive all 4 points.

The PM will receive Yellow only if they do not get the point for the TMS metric and/or Meeting Attendance. The PM must receive the points for the other 2 metrics. The PM will receive Red if they do not receive a point for either Privacy Violation or High Priority & Time sensitive metrics.

TMS Report, Dashboard.

the meetings that the PM is required to attend. If the PM is unable to attend, they are responsible in advising the meeting owner of the alternate person that will be there. The PM is allowed to have only 1 unexcused absence a month to earn 1 point. If the PM has more than 1 unexcused absence for the month, they will receive a 0 for this metric.

4. Adherence Supervisors Adherence: The PM will be responsible for all supervisors to have a 90% or greater adherence for the month. If adherence is 90% or greater, the PM will receive 1 point.

Agents Adherence: The PM will be responsible for all agents to have a 90% or greater adherence for the month. If adherence is 90% or greater, the PM will receive 1 point.

Supervisors entering exceptions into the WFM tool on time: The PM will be responsible for all supervisors entering exceptions on time. If the exceptions are entered in the described timeframe, the PM will receive 1 point. (Ref. KM 5602)

Annually: 32 points.

The monthly target is to get 4 points.

To get Green for this category, the PM will need to receive 3 points.

Yellow if the PM receives 2 points.

Red if the PM receives 1 point or less.

Workforce

5. Staffing In Service Time: The PM will be responsible for the In-Service time to be 74% or greater for the month.