Attachment J-6 Customer Service TIVOD Business Requirements 113023.pdf

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Partner and School Relations Center Business Requirements

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FINAL

Business Requirements – Customer Service Table of Contents

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Table of Contents

SECTION 1. OVERVIEW

SECTION 2. SCOPE

SECTION 3. CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER CURRENT STATE

SECTION 4. CUSTOMERS

4.1. INTERNAL CUSTOMERS

4.2. EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS

4.3. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

SECTION 5. INFRASTRUCTURE

5.1. CONTACT CENTER

5.2. CUSTOMER CHANNELS

5.3. PARTNER CONNECT

5.4. TELEPHONY

5.5. TOOLS

5.5.1. Workforce Management

5.5.2. Quality Management

5.5.3. Learning & Knowledge Management

5.5.4. CRM

5.5.5. Softphone

5.5.6. Reporting and Analytics

5.5.7. Ticketing

SECTION 6. CUSTOMER CARE SOLUTION

6.1. SYSTEM ACCESS

6.2. NEW SCHOOL SUPPORT (ON-BOARDING)

6.3. ESCALATIONS

6.4. REFERRALS

6.5. SELF-SERVICE

6.6. SERVICE LEVELS AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

6.7. DISASTER RECOVERY

6.8. ANCILLARY SERVICES

SECTION 7. CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT

7.1. CORE SUPPORT SERVICES

7.2. CYBERSECURITY

7.3. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

7.4. CONFERENCE SUPPORT

SECTION 8. TRAINING

8.1. AGENT TRAINING

8.2. TRAINING MATERIALS

8.3. TRAINING DELIVERY

SECTION 9. SERVICE AREAS

9.1. COMMON ORIGINATION AND DISBURSEMENT SPECIFIC CUSTOMER SUPPORT

9.1.1. New Award Year Training

9.1.2. New Award Year Support

Customer Service Business Requirements Overview

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9.1.3. Transaction Support

9.1.4. Exception Processing

9.1.5. Support Award Year Closeout

9.1.6. Campus-Based Program Support

9.1.7. Support for Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) Restoration

9.1.8. Loan Discharge Support

9.1.9. Outreach to Partners

9.1.10. School Reconciliation

9.1.11. Testing Support

9.1.12. Promissory Note Testing

9.1.13. School and Vendor Testing

9.1.14. Audit Support Services

9.2. NATIONAL STUDENT LOAN DATA SYSTEM (NSLDS®)

9.3. PARTNER CONNECT SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

SECTION 10. ENHANCEMENTS TO CURRENT OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE

10.1. COMPARABILITY ACROSS CHANNELS AND SERVICE AREAS

10.2. ORGANIZATION AND STORAGE OF KNOWLEDGE MATERIALS

10.3. FSA PARTNER CONNECT 3.0

SECTION 11. CUSTOMER SERVICE NEW DEVELOPMENT

Customer Service Business Requirements Overview

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Section 1. Overview Each year, Federal Student Aid (FSA) delivers more than $120 billion dollars to help millions of students and their families pay for postsecondary education. More than 5,600 postsecondary institutions and other organizations are vital partners in delivering this aid, responsible for the on-the-ground administration of federal student aid programs, from processing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and verifying the accuracy of the forms to disbursing loans, reconciling accounts, and completing reporting.

FSA Partner Connect is the digital portal for our partners. It is located at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/home/. FSA Partner Connect streamlines and modernizes the partner experience for individuals involved in the administration of Title IV financial aid for postsecondary education. Institutions and partners can explore policy and guidance in the Knowledge Center, access helpful tools, find training announcements, access self-service functions, and access links to other Federal Student Aid websites to manage Title IV program eligibility and complete aid administration tasks.

Prior to the launch of FSA Partner Connect, institutional partners had to navigate disparate resources, mountains of guidance, and more than 15 websites to perform their regular duties. For federal student aid processing and reporting, our partners use the Common Origination & Disbursement (COD) and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) websites.

To provide customer service support for Partner Connect, COD, and NSLDS, the FSA Partner and School Relations Center utilizes phone, email, fax, webform, and chat.

The business requirements describe the operations and maintenance of the FSA Partner and School Relations Center. The FSA Partner and School Relations Center is responsible for providing the personnel to operate under FSA’s single brand, an enhanced level of service beyond today’s environment, and supporting operations across the lifecycle. The FSA Partner and School Relations Center personnel will execute contact center operations and perform back- office activities not automated, in a manner consistent with leading financial services providers and other industry leaders recognized for their customer service.

AVG. VOL U ME B Y CH A NN E L

JU NE 2022 – MAY 2023

COD NSLDS Partner Connect

Phone 3963 5067 737

Email 2265 893 415

Chat 513 N/A N/A

Section 2. Scope

1. Current-state Operations and Maintenance (O&M) – the Contractor shall propose their service model for operation and maintenance of the FSA Partner & School Relations Center and shall include a staffing model and integration with FSA’s current IT infrastructure. In this volume, the Contractor shall propose industry best practices for cloud-based operations and maintenance.

The Contractor shall propose a total number of service hours between 500-700, to support Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Interactive Voice Response Unit (IVRU) reporting and analytics. The total number of proposed service hours shall be a “bucket” of hours used by FSA to draw down from during https://fsapartners.ed.gov/home/

Customer Service Business Requirements Customer Service Center Current State

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2. New Capabilities Development – FSA requires new system or tool development and enhancements from time to time. The Contractor shall be required to analyze these requirements for impact on training development and documentation, and call center performance.

Contractor shall adhere to all requirements listed in the COD and NSLDS MITCRs.

Section 3. Customer Service Center Current State

The Contractor shall provide operations and maintenance support for the call center infrastructure, workforce management, internal and external communications, and updates for Title IV Origination & Disbursement (TIVOD) system(s) enhancements. Comprehensive user support is vital for ensuring the user community understands the TIVOD system(s) and uses its functionality to its fullest. The customer support team must provide accurate, timely information and training to system users, aid schools and data providers with data conflict resolution, and support FSA clients and Contractor teams.

Customer Service Business Requirements Customers

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The Contractor shall ensure FSA staff have real-time access to all customer service tracking, monitoring, volume tracking and information. The Contractor shall also ensure FSA staff have access to oversight tools, such as the CRM tool, Workforce Management tools, call monitoring and other quality control tools, and full access to training and knowledge management resources.

Section 4. Customers FSA Partner and School Relations Center serves as FSA’s partner facing customer support, comprehensively supporting a broad array of services FSA provides to schools and its partners. This support contract will serve as the unified contact center environment for FSA’s school and partner community providing knowledgeable, timely and accurate information to external and internal customers.

The Contractor shall support all customer groups submitting inquiries and request transaction support for the systems under the TIVOD System & Customer Service Transition. These customer groups include but are not limited to:

4.1. Internal Customers

Internal customers include FSA staff, servicers, and contractors responsible for fulfilling origination, disbursement, Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) compliance and support functions.

4.2. External Customers

External customers include IHEs and their representatives, software vendors, guaranty agencies, lenders, and school related financial aid and business associations responsible for the administration of Title IV financial aid.

4.3. External Stakeholders

The Contractor shall also serve and support requests from the public, congressional offices, state agencies, and other government representatives, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and representatives and advocacy groups.

Section 5. Infrastructure

The Contractor shall create and maintain databases, information, and other materials used to support operations (e.g., knowledge database, call flow diagrams, scripts, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), preformatted responses, business rules, training materials, call guides and other standard operating procedures, etc.). Periodically, the Government may request the Contractor to provide a copy of such databases, information, and other materials in a usable format without the need to acquire proprietary software or hardware.

• The Contractor shall, at least annually, furnish the full set of training and knowledge materials currently used to train staff and Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), in electronic format within 10 business days of written notification by FSA and during any final contract transition.

• All information resources developed in support of the task shall be turned over to the Government in its entirety.

The Contractor shall minimally host and participate in weekly call series during initial development and operations to provide status, reporting and other relevant information to program team and contractor.

5.1. Contact Center

• Call Centers shall be located across the continental United States and spanning multiple time zones.

Customer Service Business Requirements Infrastructure

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• Disaster Recovery Centers shall be located across the continental United States and spanning multiple time zones.

5.2. Customer Channels

The Contractor shall provide accessibility for hearing, speech, visually impaired groups, as well as those in advanced age, limited English proficiency, and low literacy.

The Contractor shall provide training, technical support, and outreach to customers, including bilingual (English and Spanish) support, on all communication channels. The Contractor shall respond to and resolve inquiries in both English and Spanish via the following interaction channels:

• Phone via a toll-free 1-800 number with IVRU. Route phone calls through an IVRU to an appropriately skilled agent, prioritizing routing to specific service areas with minimal transfers/escalations and updating the IVRU as necessary for emerging volume-sensitive issues and other business changes.

o The Contractor shall maintain the 800-999-8219 NSLDS helpdesk number, which will route directly to the NSLDS queue in the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.

• The Contractor shall respond to inquiries received on all communication channels, from international customers as well as continental United States customers, during operating hours to be determined by FSA (e.g., 8:00 am to 8:00pm Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday except for Federal holidays.)

• Voice Mail routed to the appropriate workflow, with the Voice Mail (VM) and case attached for a response.

The contractor shall support emails routed from COD, NSLDS, and Partner Connect.

• Emails are routed to the appropriate workflow with the case attached for a response.

• Web Form/Web Chat are supported while an authorized user is logged into the system.

• Postal / Physical Mail are received and transmitted through a publicized and secure PO Box. The contractor shall adhere to the standard operating procures for physical mail receipt and processing as defined in the Federal Records and Controlled Unclassified Information section found in the system MITCR.

• Faxes are received and processed via a toll-free number. The contractor shall store materials received via fax with the appropriate case file. The contractor shall adhere to the standard operating procures for fax receipt and processing as defined in the Federal Records and Controlled Unclassified Information section found in the system MITCR.

• Social Media FSA is open to using social media as an interaction channel, outreach mechanism for notifications, feedback collection mechanism, complaint resolution tool, marketing tool, post publications and/or customer to customer networking.

• Mobile Applications support user access to TIVOD systems via mobile devices.

• Web User Interface is supported by Partner Connect, NSLDS, and COD.

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The Contractor shall support a Contact Center Backbone (CCB) infrastructure comprised of advanced call routing technology creating a single platform for managing the end-to-end customer experience. The Contractor shall support geographically diverse sites staffed with resources for handling contacts from schools and via phone and web chat. Contact center staff at each site shall make use of data from the CRM application and web user interfaces for contact handling.

The Contractor shall support call routing to multiple call centers, supported by a Contact Center Backbone (CCB) infrastructure. The CCB shall provide voice and data routing to the contact centers for Student Loans support (applicant services) and the FSA Partner and School Relations Center.

The FSA Partner and School Relations Center CRM application shall store call center case, customer, and school data which is used to service the call center cases. The CRM application is a thick client application, which is accessed by the call center CSRs, as well as TIVOD application management. The CRM application shall integrate with the web user interfaces to create and update various data elements and to enhance the CSRs ability to service cases more efficiently. The Contractor shall host within the CRM application a customer support portal integrated with the TIVOD systems. The portal shall support chat functionality on the TIVOD web user interfaces, as well as the customer support pages. The customer support pages shall be accessed by privileged TIVOD application management, FSA, and School and Third-Party Users, to view call center case details.

5.3. Partner Connect

Partner Connect at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/home/ serves as the digital front door, one-stop-shop for all FSA and partner engagement.

Partner and School Relations Center responds to customer inquiries and support requests for Partner Connect, COD, and NSLDS. The Partner Connect Contractor shall coordinate with and support FSA Partner and School Relations Center on a regular basis to resolve account access issues and data corrections. The Partner Connect Contractor shall notify FSA Partner and School Relations Center of emerging and ongoing system issues, bugs, https://fsapartners.ed.gov/home/

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• The Contractor shall respond to inquiries in relation to Partner Connect: account access, FSA Ask-A- Fed/policy questions, FSA Handbook, financial aid delivery, Knowledge Center, Partner Connect feedback, Partner Dashboard, Partner Profile, student aid recipient and parent accounts and StudentAid.gov views, technical support, Title IV program eligibility, and training.

• The Contractor shall manage inquiry escalation, unique to Partner Connect.

o The Contractor shall manage inquiry escalation for user inquiries which cannot be resolved through first call resolution. These inquiries are to be escalated to an FSA designated point of contact(s) for additional assistance. Once Subject Matter Expert (SME) response is provided, inquiry is resolved with inquirer through the Contractor provided customer service resources.

o The Contractor shall maintain a referral list and expand and update this list throughout the contract performance period.

o The Contractor shall create a process to reduce similar escalations by training and documentation.

• The Contractor shall ensure the work supporting the Partner Connect solution shall be severable from the remainder of the FSA Partner and School Relations Center functions, with minimal disruption or re-work required for the existing lines of business supported by TIVOD customer service. At the time FSA requests to unbundle Partner Connect customer service support, a change request will be issued for transition support (e.g., data or knowledge transfer), however no additional equitable adjustments shall be provided.

5.4. Telephony

The Contractor shall utilize the existing telephony infrastructure utilizing the existing 1-800 call numbers and personalized IVR customer experience based on caller attributes and auto-route callers to the appropriate contact center, connecting all relevant telephony and IVR data with the CRM solution.

5.5. Tools

5.5.1. Workforce Management

The Contractor shall provide contact centers workforce management capabilities.

5.5.1.1.Staffing and Personnel Retention o The Contractor shall employ, train, and retain staff with appropriate education and experience levels.

o The Contractor shall leverage customer service representatives with prior experience in higher education financial aid. Leveraging existing FSA Partner and School Relation Center customer service agents may be appropriate but should not disrupt or impact existing service level agreements. This approach should be managed in a way delivery remains severable with minimal disruption or rework.

o The Contractor shall ensure personnel turnover is minimized and individuals are motivated to achieve excellent performance throughout the life of the contract.

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5.5.1.2.Volume Balancing and Capacity Planning o The Contractor shall manage resources as needed to respond to seasonal fluctuations efficiently and effectively in call volume to maintain the service standards for performance while minimizing operational costs.

o The Contractor shall assess the capacity to meet the ongoing and fluctuating support demands/volume based on the current utilization and estimated future volume.

o The Contractor shall assess the required capacity/support necessary to maintain and improve upon approved service level standards, including capacity utilization improvements for the purpose of helping to reduce future requirements.

5.5.2. Quality Management

The Contractor shall utilize a quality management tool, providing real-time monitoring and management of the call center performance, including but not limited to the oversight of forecasting call volumes and distribution of workload.

• The Contractor shall provide internal quality control ensuring inquiries are resolved in a timely, accurate, and effective manner.

• The Contractor shall monitor performance quality on inquiry responses and support requests through all communication channels, including live and recorded monitoring of phone calls, email, webform, and webchat.

• The Contractor shall ensure FSA staff have full access to quality monitoring tools.

• The Contractor shall email surveys to callers after all phone inquiries.

• The Contractor shall collect customer feedback through surveys including, but not limited to surveys collected through email, website and IVRU.

• The Contractor shall analyze customer feedback across all channels and conduct customer feedback sessions with FSA to discuss and provide strategic recommendations.

• Work with FSA to develop and provide proactive monitoring procedures to improve quality of service, call quality assurance plans, and overall customer satisfaction.

5.5.3. Learning & Knowledge Management

The vendor will work with FSA to support the training of all FSA Partner and School Relations Center Tools and processes.

5.5.4. CRM

The FSA Partner and School Relations Center relationship management (CRM) application stores call center case, customer, and school data which is used to service the call center cases. The CRM application is a Software as a Service (SaaS) application, hosted by the service provider, and managed by the TIVOD System application management. This toolset is provided by the Oracle Service Cloud vendor. The CRM application is a thick client application, which is accessed by the call center CSRs, as well as TIVOD System application management. The CRM application is integrated with the TIVOD Systems to create and update various data elements and to enhance the CSRs ability to service cases more efficiently. Also hosted within the CRM application is the customer support portal which is integrated with the TIVOD Systems. The portal supports chat functionality on COD web as well as the customer support pages accessed through COD Web. The customer support pages are accessed by privileged TIVOD System application management, FSA, and School and Third-Party Users, to view call center case details.

• The Contractor shall leverage the existing telephone infrastructure and CRM utilized by FSA Partner and School Relations Center.

o The Contractor shall provide a nine-month notification and obtain FSA approval for any potential infrastructure changes.

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• The Contractor shall procure all necessary Oracle CRM licenses for development and operations in support of this effort.

• The Contractor shall ensure the CRM tool includes FSA staff as a separate user group with privileges and access levels defined by FSA.

• The Contractor shall ensure the CRM tool accommodates tracking, monitoring, reporting, and documentation of casework performed by FSA staff, including seamless transfer, reassignment, and tracking of cases escalated to FSA staff, as defined by FSA service area criteria.

• The Contractor shall ensure the CRM is highly configurable and able to be customized and upgraded, at minimal cost, to meet service area business needs and enterprise data architecture vision.

• The Contractor shall provide a CRM solution integrating social media into outreach and inquiry responses.

• The Contractor shall ensure issue and case tracking support multiple issue categories for multi-dimensional analysis.

5.5.5. Softphone

• The Contractor shall utilize softphone technology to connect the Contact Center Technical Backbone to the CRM solution to associate all relevant telephony and IVR data to contacts and cases, allowing for a consolidated view of omni-channel interactions.

5.5.6. Reporting and Analytics

The Contractor shall utilize a reporting and analytics tool, providing reports and analysis of agreed upon customer service metrics. Additionally, the Contractor shall provide additional contact center related information providing insight into inquiry trends, areas for improvement, customer needs and expectations. These may include individual agent and channel metrics (e.g. average handle time, average response time, first contact resolution, customer satisfaction) or case-level metrics (e.g. cases by time created, by topic, or by type or location of school).

• The Contractor shall provide daily, weekly, and monthly reports encompassing metrics such as regarding customer service operations, call and email volumes, data conflict issue status, and other ongoing projects.

o The contractor shall report on all performance metrics, customer trends and analysis, volume history and forecasting, issue resolution, trouble ticket tracking, disaster response factors, workforce management metrics, and technological capabilities/failures/fixes.

o The Contractor shall provide data-driven recommendations and predictive analysis to FSA for strategic planning, capacity planning, improving customer satisfaction, disaster recovery, and the identification and tracking of issues unrelated to School Support, e.g. the COD system and/or process issues.

o The Contractor shall ensure issue and case tracking support multiple issue categories for multi-dimensional analysis.

o The Contractor shall provide FSA with summary level PPO case information, including case status and case resolution timelines.

• The Contractor shall ensure FSA has access to data for analysis of reporting and the ability to run ad-hoc reports for continuous improvement in service.

5.5.7. Ticketing

The Contractor shall provide a ticketing system ensuring clear identification, documentation, escalation, and resolution processes and effective inquiry support.

• The Contractor shall ensure FSA staff have access to the ticketing system and are accounted for as a unique user group.

• The Contractor shall integrate the ticketing system with Knowledge Management.

Customer Service Business Requirements Customer Care Solution

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• The Contractor shall ensure issue and case tracking support multiple issue categories for multi-dimensional analysis.

Section 6. Customer Care Solution The contractor shall provide support structured in a tier system of customer support and escalation

• Front-line Universal Agents skilled for call types not specific to any service area.

• Front-line Service Area Agents skilled for call types specific to a service area, but do not require advanced or specialized skills.

• Advanced Service Area Agents skilled for call types specific to a service area requiring advanced or specialized skills.

• Specialized Skills / Back Office Service Area Agents skilled for back-office tasks requiring minimal interaction with the customer and advanced or specialized.

6.1. System Access

The Contractor shall verify the inquirer is authorized to access the requested information prior to release of any personally identifiable information (PII) or privacy protected information. The operational workflow must account for FSA data access protocols.

• The Contractor shall supply or support access to the technological components and tools necessary for the communication channels, including operation and maintenance of new communication channels.

• The Contractor shall support access to the following systems so an agent may resolve inquiries by providing expert and thorough advice:

o COD Web user interface o National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) web user interface o Student Aid Information Gateway (SAIG) Website o G5 o Partner Connect

• The Contractor shall support reviews of the contact center IVR in conjunction with FSA as required by law, regulations, congressional requirements, and presidential initiatives.

• The Contractor shall host and support FSA staff in periodic site visits throughout the year.

• The Contractor shall provide the ability for FSA to run ad hoc reports to ensure continuous improvement in service and proactive monitoring.

• The Contractor shall support requests to provide updated communication pertaining to report delivery, system status, outages, key software change notifications, and/or software issues on an as needed basis provided by FSA.

6.2. New School Support (On-Boarding)

The Contractor shall be responsible for on-boarding new schools, which includes basic setup actions necessary for a school to process records via the TIVOD Systems. On-boarding may include activities such as setting up a school’s online account, retrieving school contact information, and explaining the tools and resources available to schools.

6.3. Escalations

• The Contractor shall support contact center escalations from Schools, Third-party Servicers, Guaranty Agencies, Federal Loan Servicers, Lenders, Lender Servicers, State Agencies for all TIVOD systems.

• The Contractor shall provide reporting and escalation/delivery support for COD, NSLDS, and Partner Connect.

Customer Service Business Requirements Customer Care Solution

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• The Contractor shall escalate inquiries and support requests to FSA according to FSA criteria.

6.4. Referrals

• To maintain high level of service to callers, the Contractor shall provide “warm hand-off” of callers to FSA customer service centers (e.g. COD Customer Service, various FSA loan servicer customer centers, etc.)

when other organizations are needed to resolve a caller’s question or issue.

6.5. Self-Service

The Partner Connect web user interface shall provide robust self-service options, including a source where both internal and external customers may find real-time updates, FAQs, or Knowledge Center articles. Self-service options include, but are not limited to, a dynamic knowledge center, an interactive Q & A, and powerful search functionality.

The Contractor shall develop and retain dual-facing Q&As appropriate for both internal and external publication, access, and consumption, including feedback mechanisms for customer-driven input and improvements.

6.6. Service Levels and Performance Standards

The Contractor shall be required to meet and report upon a predefined list of Service Level Agreements (SLA). Refer to the Customer Service SLAs in Attachment 1.

6.7. Disaster Recovery

Contractor shall implement best practices for Continuity of Operations in customer service capability.

• The Contractor shall conduct annually a Customer Service Disaster Recovery Test to assess and measure the recovery teams’ ability to notify and assemble the business resumptions teams; route incoming calls to the Customer Support recovery facility; and access TIVOD systems from the recovery facility.

o The Contractor shall coordinate the schedule with Federal Student Aid to perform this test from the established command center.

o The contractor shall ensure the Disaster Recovery Plan results in the contact center’s continued use of the designated “hot site.”

• The Contractor shall conduct the Customer Service Disaster Recovery test independent from the TIVOD system(s) Disaster Recovery tests.

• The Contractor shall ensure the Customer Service function is not concentrated in one geographical area and spans multiple time zones for disaster recovery purposes.

• The Contractor shall ensure the Disaster Recovery plan is in place for short-, medium-, and long-term events.

6.8. Ancillary Services

Ancillary Services provides services for processing paper Direct Loan documents - receiving and sending mail via mailroom function, imaging paper documents in the Image Repository, storing documents in a vault, and sending documents to the Federal Records Center (FRC). Upon scanning and imaging the paper documents for MPNs and Endorser Addendums, Ancillary Services sends metadata to the COD System to perform processing and linking.

FSA will provide the text for the correspondence sent by the Ancillary Services contractor to the borrower when their MPN or Endorser Addendum does not pass the visual inspection. FSA will pay for the postage.

Customer Service Business Requirements Customer Service Support

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The COD System produces all existing reports related to Ancillary Services for FSA.

The COD System will modify the Mail To address for correspondence.

The Contractor shall adhere to the Federal Records and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) requirements found in the system MITCR.

Section 7. Customer Service Support

7.1. Core Support Services

The Contractor shall serve and support FSA’s partners and staff performing critical federal student aid delivery functions through general inquiry support (i.e., account access, website navigation), as well as specialized service area support (e.g., COD reconciliation, NSLDS enrollment reporting).

The Contractor shall deliver and maintain customer service to FSA’s partners and FSA staff by fulfilling these general customer service requirements.

• The Contractor shall serve the partner community by supporting access to and use of Partner Connect, COD and NSLDS systems for delivery of federal student aid.

• The Contractor shall deliver seamless, transparent, and adaptive customer service through employment and training of appropriately skilled agents and agent groups, seamless escalation and transfers across channels and service areas, as well as outreach activities and continually updated publicly accessible knowledge articles and Q&As.

• The Contractor shall respond accurately and professionally to partner inquiries and support requests received through all communication channels, including, but not limited to, phone calls, emails, online web forms, web chat, and physical mail.

o The Contractor shall ensure agent scripts, procedures, issue resolution, and service platforms maximize options for customer self-service, including but not limited to password resets, account reactivation, school account administrator features (update school contact info, add school representatives), records corrections, and data queries, reporting, and updates.

o The Contractor shall have access to appropriate tools and information to complete inquirer verification efficiently and securely. Additionally, research of issues and inquiries may require access to various FSA systems.

o The Contractor shall, to the extent possible, answer any basic FSA partner inquiries where knowledge is readily available, accurate and verified. The Contractor shall plan to route unsupported partner inquiries to the appropriate other business lines; direct transfers are preferred but Contractor shall minimally maintain and utilize a referral list (e.g., inquiries related Foreign School Contacts, G5 Hotline, HEAL Program, Loan Consolidation, Total and Permanent Disability Discharge and Veterans Disability Discharge, Loan Servicing Centers for Schools, FSA Office Numbers, etc.).

• The Contractor shall support partners in the completion of a variety of system, account, and aid transactions for the delivery of federal student aid. The Contractor shall support partners in obtaining data from and reporting to the systems within the TIVOD System Transition as well as updating and correcting data within the guidelines established by FSA.

• The Contractor shall support, at FSA's request, partner inquiries aimed at ensuring appropriate public information is shared resulting from a national emergency, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In these instances, significant surges in volume may require adjustments in service level agreements.

Customer Service Business Requirements Training

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• The Contractor shall support front end and back-end system testing for Partner Connect, COD, NSLDS, and the FSA Partner & School Relations Center.

• The Contractor shall provide incident and problem resolution support for system related inquires.

• The Contractor shall provide a front-line view of new issues and relay issues to the appropriate staff in a timely manner.

7.2. Cybersecurity

• The Contractor shall establish centralized cybersecurity services to refer schools swiftly and accurately for support in responding to cybersecurity breaches as well as implementing cybersecurity measures.

• The Contractor shall provide front line assistance and referral for cybersecurity measures, including escalated referrals for security breaches.

7.3. Internal and External Communications

• The Contractor shall develop and implement a communications program for end users using FSA-approved media and FSA-approved content including Newsletters, Technical Updates, Web Messages, and DPI changes.

• The Contractor shall prepare user documentation, external communication materials and field associated customer service questions related to those documents.

• The Contractor shall support, at FSA's request, partner inquiries aimed at ensuring appropriate public information is shared in response to a national emergency, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In these instances, significant surges in volume may require adjustments in service level agreements.

7.4. Conference Support

• The Contractor shall coordinate with FSA to provide technical expertise when needed and attend various advisory group meetings as requested.

• The Contractor shall develop presentations and/or demonstrations at the direction of FSA for key user conferences, as well as updating and maintaining the training databases.

Section 8. Training The Contractor shall develop training materials for each new system release or change, and/or enhancement for FSA to review and approve.

The Contractor shall develop new hire, release, and knowledge materials (including standard operating procedures, knowledge articles, pre-approved inquiry responses, and Q&As) business and operational processes, help desk support, and problem-solving skills, as well as the basics of customer service, and exceptional telephone skills techniques.

The Contractor shall customize training programs for the TIVOD systems and non- ED groups.

All other deliverables not containing PII shall be delivered with unlimited rights, consistent with FAR clause 52.227- 14.

Customer Service Business Requirements Training

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8.1. Agent Training

• The Contractor shall deliver training focusing on the TIVOD Systems and related systems, business, and operational processes, help desk support and problem solving.

8.2. Training Materials

• The Contractor shall develop, and update training and knowledge materials as needed to maintain to ensure agents accurately respond to general inquiry types not specific to any service area, such as password resets (e.g., for AIMS accounts), general inquiries (e.g., Partner Connect website navigation), and call transfers.

• The Contractor shall develop, and update training and knowledge materials as needed to maintain agent information and expertise, so agents can respond to inquiries and support requests accurately in the context of developing programmatic guidance, arising system and technological issues, and changing business requirements for the delivery of federal student aid.

• The Contractor shall ensure FSA staff have full access to training and knowledge materials – i.e., FSA staff must be able to access materials in the same manner agents, supervisors, and trainers access the materials.

• The Contractor shall develop and maintain training plans, tools, and materials for delivery of training as needed and requested by FSA (i.e., independent of system release schedules).

• The Contractor shall ensure the training and knowledge materials are both searchable and organized by logical categories so agents and FSA staff may search or browse a table of contents to find relevant information easily.

• The Contractor shall collect and incorporate user feedback to develop and update training and knowledge materials.

• The Contractor shall collaborate with FSA and obtain FSA approval of all training and knowledge materials (including training presentations, Q&A’s, and procedures), publications, and other written material before implementing or publishing such documentation and data.

• The Contractor shall ensure public-facing knowledge materials adhere to FSA style and plain language standards, as defined by the FSA Branding Guidelines, found on the system MITCR.

• The Contractor shall ensure agents have quick access from the CRM tool to pre-approved responses to common inquiries organized in a searchable and logical manner (i.e., category hierarchies) so agents provide consistently accurate and efficient responses to any potential customer inquiry.

• The Contractor shall create and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all School Support processes.

8.3. Training Delivery

• The Contractor shall determine the type of training required and deliver the training to the customer service representatives.

• The Contractor shall regularly update and deliver new hire training to maintain accurate, current information and procedures.

• The Contractor shall deliver refresher training routinely so agents can respond to general and service area-specific inquiries and support requests accurately in the context of developing programmatic guidance, arising system and technological issues, and changing business requirements for the delivery of federal student aid.

• The Contractor shall conduct re-training when multiple complaints of misinformation or incorrect information are reported.

Customer Service Business Requirements Service Areas

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Section 9. Service Areas The Contractor shall provide support to the FSA Partner and School Relations Center for COD, NSLDS, and Partner Connect service areas supported under the TIVOD System Transition contract:

Agent Service Area Group Customer Service Capabilities

General Inquiries

Frontline support for General Inquires include (but are not limited to):

Account access support Website and systems/tools access, navigation, and other support (including COD, E-App, NSLDS, Partner Role Management (PRM), Borrower Defense Portal and Partner Connect) General referrals to internal and external partners (including redirecting students to the Federal Student Aid Information Center) General inquiries in relation to Partner Connect: account access, FSA Ask-A- Fed/policy questions, FSA Handbook, financial aid delivery, Knowledge Center, Partner Connect feedback, Partner Dashboard, Partner Profile, student aid recipient and parent accounts and StudentAid.gov views, technical support, Title IV program eligibility, and training.

Customer service feedback through surveys Miscellaneous inquiries School Eligibility and Oversight Services – Questions for the claim’s module and action queue for both schools and FSA

COD

Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

• Scheduled reporting assistance

• Customized ad-hoc report requests

• School outreach

• Reconciliation and closeout (e.g., cash monitoring, ad hoc reports, and report analysis)

• Batch processing support

• Reject resolution assistance

• Liaison for G5 issues

• Audit support services

• Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) loan credit checks

– inquiry support

• COD testing support

• Other transaction processing

COD Grant Processing Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

• Prior award year support (closeout issues), (e.g., cash monitoring, ad hoc reports, and report analysis)

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• New Pell school outreach

COD Campus-Based Processing

Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

• Assistance with completing and submitting the Fiscal Operations

Report and Application to Participate (FISAP)

• Federal Work Study (FWS) and Federal Supplemental Education

Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Earnings Reporting

• Closeout Support (e.g., cash monitoring, ad hoc reports, and report analysis)

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)

Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

• Enrollment reporting

• Transfer student monitoring

• Discharges

• Cohort default rates, and

• Batch processing and data transmissions

Partner Connect

Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

• Partner Role Management (formerly Participation Management)

• Enrollment, access, and login assistance for SAIG), ED Connect, and foreign schools

• Assist intake of school closures

• Account Access

• Policy Guidance for Domestic & Foreign Institutions

• Case Management

• Financial Aid Delivery

• FSA Handbook

• Knowledge Center

• Partner Connect Feedback

• Other Topics

• Partner Dashboard

• Partner Profile

• School Reports

• Student, Parent, Borrower Accounts

• Studentaid.gov Student view

• Third-Party Servicers

• Program Review

• School Closures

• Partner Improvement Services

• Title IV Program Eligibility

• Training

• Technical Support

Cybersecurity Support Frontline, advanced, and back-office support include (but not limited to):

Front line assistance and referral for cybersecurity measures, including escalated referrals for security breaches.

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9.1. Common Origination and Disbursement Specific Customer Support

The Contractor shall support customer inquiries and support requests for COD. The Contractor shall coordinate with and support FSA Partner and School Relations Center on a regular basis to resolve account access issues and data corrections. The Contractor shall also notify FSA Partner and School Relations Center of emerging and ongoing system issues, bugs, fixes, workarounds, etc. The Contractor shall supply expert guidance on the COD System for the development of knowledge materials (training materials, knowledge articles, prepared responses, and Q&As).

The FSA Partner and School Relations Center shall fulfill the following requirements to deliver COD specific customer service to FSA partners, including but not limited to:

9.1.1. New Award Year Training

• The Contractor shall provide documentation and training in support of New Award Year Releases (Annually, beginning in March).

o Unless otherwise agreed, the Contractor shall submit new release training materials to Federal

Student Aid for approval under the Contract, o The Contractor shall be entitled to rely on all decisions and approvals of authorized Federal Student

Aid representatives in connection with the Contract.

9.1.2. New Award Year Support

• The Contractor shall provide the following New Award Year Release services: customer service user testing;

school and vendor testing; customer service release training and COD web demonstrations.

• The Contractor shall attend requirements, general design, testing, test script walk through, post implementation verification review, and implementation meetings.

• The Contractor shall review design documentation, provide feedback, assist with the creation of test scripts and track issues identified with testing.

• The Contractor shall participate in the Post Implementation Verification of the COD Web site functionality, both new and regression, following each New Award Year implementation.

9.1.3. Transaction Support

• The Contractor shall assist schools in researching and resolving issues related to origination and disbursement, booking, financial and funding transactions for the loan and grant programs.

9.1.4. Exception Processing

The Contractor shall, upon written request from IHEs and in line with any applicable FSA criteria, perform exception processing on behalf of a school including but not limited to on-line updates to origination or disbursement records, school options, updating report options, confirming closeout, or requesting extended processing.

9.1.5. Support Award Year Closeout

• The Contractor shall support Award Year closeout for all aid programs supported by TIVOD systems, including but not limited to Direct Loans, Teacher Education Assistance for College, and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants, Pell Grants, and Iran and Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG), by responding to inquiries, conducting outreach, and analyzing and problem-solving balance discrepancies.

o The Contractor shall analyze and attempt to resolve IHE award year account balance closeout discrepancies through outreach, inquiry, and problem resolution.

• The Contractor shall run ad hoc reports upon request by IHE or FSA, act as liaison to FSA, and notify FSA when an IHE has a Grants Administration (G6) issue.

• The Contractor shall act as liaison to FSA for manual closeout or reopen requests.

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9.1.6. Campus-Based Program Support

The Contractor shall include responding to inquiries regarding annual and ongoing Campus-Based operational processes, including (but not limited to) completing the Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) and other supplemental forms, waivers, and signatures, and assisting schools with FSEOG/FWS funding processes and administration of their Perkins loan portfolios. The Contractor shall be responsible for escalating inquiries to FSA as appropriate, and for performing various annual targeted outreach efforts (e.g. obtaining valid FISAP signature pages, resolving unreconciled or unpaid balances, etc.).

9.1.7. Support for Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) Restoration The Contractor shall support Pell Grant LEU Restoration including, but not limited to, responding to inquiries regarding operational LEU restoration processes, supplying ad-hoc reports for restoration data, and performing large scale/group correction actions as needed. The Contractor shall be responsible for escalating Pell Grant LEU restoration inquiries to FSA as appropriate.

9.1.8. Loan Discharge Support

The Contractor shall respond to inquiries related to large scale/group discharge policies impacting student aid eligibility such as recent discharges for Borrower Defense and False Certification.

9.1.9. Outreach to Partners

• The Contractor shall conduct outreach to IHE’s and partners to support partners in meeting FSA program guidelines including but not limited to reconciliation and year-end closeout for Direct Loans, Pell Grant, TEACH Grant, and IASG.

• The Contractor shall conduct outreach to IHE’s and partners to support resolution of transaction processing and system issues, including but not limited to resolving undeliverable mail/contact information.

• The Contractor shall respond to any questions and inquiries arising from outreach and escalate to FSA according to escalation criteria, or upon request by FSA.

• The Contractor shall provide school outreach support services as they relate to COD transaction processing, system…