CMS Content Training_Sources Sought_FINAL.pdf

Contact Center Training and Content Sources Sought

1 Synopsis

This is a SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified small businesses (e.g. service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran owned small business, and women-owned small business), capable of providing training and scripted content to customer service representatives (CSRs) at the Medicare and Marketplace Contact Centers. The purpose of developing these materials/content is to aid the CSRs when responding to inquiries in a manner that is complete, accurate and consistent to ensure quality interactions occur with beneficiaries and consumers, their families and caregivers across multiple access channels (e.g. telephone, written correspondence, web chat, etc.). CMS requires that information being provided to the contact centers is accurate, understandable, in plain language and consistent across all channels of communication.

The information from this market research will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered small business under the applicable NAICS code (i.e., 541611 should not submit a response to this notice.

2 Background

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is an Operating Division within the Department of

Health and Human Services (HHS). The creation of CMS in 1977 brought together the two largest federal health care programs at that time—Medicare and Medicaid. Since then, new legislation and program initiatives have expanded the CMS’s responsibilities and shaped its programs—Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), Health

Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Federally Facilitated Exchanges (Health

Insurance Marketplace) created in 2010 through the Affordable Care Act. Today, CMS is the largest purchaser of health insurance in the United States, working to ensure high quality care across the country, and in support of this, CMS operates two nationally available 24x7 multi-channel contact centers (1-800 Medicare and the Marketplace contact centers). In 2019, the contact centers handled 42 million phone calls across both the Medicare and the Marketplace programs. CMS relies on the contact centers to provide accurate, timely, relevant, understandable, and easily accessible information to help individuals manage their healthcare, including understanding their benefits, evaluating health plan options, and selecting and enrolling in plans.

3 Training and Content Overview

The purpose of this contract is to develop training and e-Learning products designed to increase the

Medicare and Marketplace knowledge of the CSRs and support them in providing world class service to our beneficiaries and consumers. It is important that the potential training and content contractor understand the complexity of the Medicare and Marketplace programs and the scope of the information that CSRs provide in response to inquiries. The contractor must be capable of developing both classroom training materials and eLearning solutions for self-paced modules to support the multiple contact centers that are staffed with an estimated 10,000 CSRs nationwide. Additionally, the contractor must have the ability to proactively review Medicare and Marketplace policy and new Government provided information to develop and verify the accuracy of scripts, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and other content across all contact center communication channels (telephone, written correspondence, web chat, etc.). It is also important that the contractor possesses an in-depth understanding of the functionality of Next Generation Desktop (NGD), which is the primary application used by the CSRs during all customer interactions. CMS requires that information being provided is accurate, understandable, and consistent across all channels of communication.

The work volumes for training and content have increased with the maturity of this contract. Currently there are approximately 1,000 training products supporting multiple lines of business (General

Medicare, Claims, etc.). This contract also ensures all products are maintained, updated or archived

(New Hire Training, Claims Training, e-Learning Modules, Job Aids, Process Manuals, Infographics, etc.) In addition, approximately 100 new pieces of training are in development each year. The content team has over 3,400 products (Phone Scripts, CSR User Alerts, Blast Alerts, Quick Letters, Reference

Materials etc.) that are maintained, updated and developed per year. All of these products are stored, deployed, and tracked through CMS provided Universal Content Management (UCM) and Learning

Management (LMS) systems.

For more detailed information about the Marketplace or Medicare programs, please refer to the www.cms.gov, www.healthcare.gov, or www.medicare.gov websites, or the Medicare and You

Handbook (updated annually in the Fall) at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/10050.pdf.

4 Requirements Overview

Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace are critical nationwide programs that are politically sensitive and highly visible. The contact centers serve as one of the primary outreach channels for over

300 million people and therefore requires high performance standards. As a result, this contract delivers critical support to the contact centers by providing training and scripted content to CSRs so they can effectively respond to inquiries.

The majority of this work will be conducted at the contractor’s facility with additional tasks being performed at CMS in Baltimore, MD. Key personnel may be needed for meetings with little planning for travel. In the event impromptu, face to face meetings are determined necessary, the contractor shall ensure key personnel are able to meet within one (1) hour of any such meeting notification. The following requirements are meant to provide potential responders with an overview of the types of support that would be required, namely planning, development and delivery of various content, classroom training and e-learning products intended to enhance the knowledge of CSRs. Note that although this is an extensive list, it is not meant to be all inclusive.

1. The contractor must understand the complexity of the various programs and the scope of the information that CSRs provide in response to inquiries in order to develop new content, maintain, update and archive training materials, and offer e-Learning solutions for self-paced modules to support the multiple operation centers that are staffed with an estimated 10,000

CSRs nationwide.

2. An in-depth knowledge of the NGD (CSR Desktop) system, including operations, administration, and functionality.

3. Facilitate content, training, and e-Learning services to help craft an overall strategy for improving the customer experience across multiple communication channels (e.g. email, phone, web chat) and support CSRs in providing world class service to CMS consumers.

4. Develop e-Learning programs available with diverse training hours and channels to accommodate a 24/7 operational environment.

5. Create a responsive and knowledgeable training and content development team that shares information across functional areas and incorporates new program initiatives and other emerging/specialized needs.

6. Provide recommendations for continuous improvements and innovations within the training delivery industry and contact center environment.

7. Proactively review current and new Medicare and Marketplace program policies and other provided information to develop and verify the accuracy of scripts, frequently asked questions

(FAQs) and other content across all CSR communication channels (telephone, written correspondence, web chat, etc.) in English and Spanish.

8. Implement, measure and follow processes and best practices for continuous improvement of training and content materials.

9. Provide widely available training resources and content that enables the CSR to respond to customer inquiries with high quality, timely, accurate information that is easy to read and understand; and, ensure training curricula supports the various processes and lines of business within the contact centers.

10. Training and content products produced for all communication channels must be Section 508 compliant.

11. Create and accurately evaluate customer satisfaction by compiling and analyzing the results of the CMS-developed and OMB-approved Customer Satisfaction Survey. The survey is administered by the interactive voice response (IVR) and captures callers’ responses to questions at the end of their call with the CMS Contact Center.

12. Develop and implement a New Survey Plan for periodically introducing new customer satisfaction surveys, including technology to be used, sampling method, sample size, criteria, survey questions, etc. Provide performance metrics that correlate with the survey approach and that will enable CMS to evaluate the survey results.

13. Develop monthly survey reports with metrics that report customer satisfaction by contact center location, CSR tenure, Average Handle Time (AHT), script hits, transfers, line of business, and identification and trending of high and low call scorers.

5 Capability Statement Information

Please provide a capability statement not to exceed fifteen (15) pages outlining your experience providing relevant training and content services. Please address your knowledge of and experience with each of the following points (1) through (6). Reference, where applicable, specific items from the

Requirements Overview section while providing content and training development support services.

Capability statements must demonstrate the minimum requirements outlined below:

1. Demonstrate your expertise and experience providing content development, script writing, and training programs in support of a health care related or politically driven program.

2. Demonstrate your expertise and experience designing, developing and deploying training, content solutions, and process improvements.

3. Demonstrate your expertise and experience in developing a program for training and certifying customer service agents in subject matter expertise to support inquiries that will be received across various access channels (phone, mail, and web chat) as well in the functionality of various desktop tools and scripts.

4. Demonstrate your expertise and experience in developing training and content programs utilizing data from reporting, process monitoring, call monitoring, and best practices.

Specifically, provide information on how you measure, track, monitor, improve and ensure the quality, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of products developed and deployed.

5. Demonstrate your experience and expertise in developing and delivering training materials designed to provide a flexible training schedule and reduce in-class training time.

6. Demonstrate your expertise and experience in creating and deploying critical information to customer service agents within a 6-hour window.

6 Information Requested

All offerors are to provide the following information within a one-page limit:

a. Company Name

b. Company Address

c. Technical point of contact (email and phone)

d. Contractual point of contact (email and phone)

e. DUNS number

f. Tax ID

g. Current GSA Contracts (Schedule, 8(a), SPARC, STARS, OASIS)

h. Business Size Status (e.g., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) for the applicable NAICS code (i.e.

541611).

i. Do you have a Government approved accounting system? If so, please identify the agency that approved the system.

j. All offerors must be registered in SAM located at https://sam.gov.

Responses submitted without Information Requested will not be reviewed. Responses must be submitted not later than September 1, 2020. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date.

Teaming arrangements are encouraged. However, teaming arrangements shall be developed with the understanding that any contract awarded as a result of a procurement set aside for small or small disadvantaged businesses will include FAR 52.219-14, Limitations of Subcontracting.

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the

Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in a government-wide point of entry. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

6.1 Confidentiality

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.

The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Questions concerning submission requirements may be directed to the below addresses:

Lauren.Teal@cms.hhs.gov – Lauren Teal (Contract Specialist)

Deborah.Lester@cms.hhs.gov – Deborah Lester (Contracting Officer)

CMS will not entertain questions related to contracting strategy.

mailto:Lauren.Teal@cms.hhs.gov mailto:Deborah.Lester@cms.hhs.gov