Final -Att G - QandA draft.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 94 KB Posted
- Attached to
- 988 Contact CentersBid Documents
- Solicitation number
- 410-26-84962
- Issued by
- Marion County, Indiana
About this file
This is a Question and Answer document prepared by the Indiana Department of Administration (IDOA), in conjunction with the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) and Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA), addressing vendor inquiries regarding RFP 410-26-84962 for 988 Contact Center services. The solicitation seeks up to five vendors to operate 988 Contact Centers providing crisis intervention services through calls, chats, and texts on a 24/7/365 basis. All contact center operations must be conducted within Indiana, though administrative staff may work remotely within the state. The proposal due date is December 1st, 2025, at 3:00 PM ET, with a pre-proposal conference held on October 7th, 2025, and an anticipated contract start date of July 1st, 2026. The contract is structured for a four-year base term with potential one-year renewals. Currently, 137 Crisis Specialists and 49 administrative and supervisory staff are employed across all contact centers, with an average after-call work time of approximately seven minutes. The state manages all telephony and CRM systems through cloud-based infrastructure using Genesys Cloud Solutions for telephony and OpenBeds for CRM, with no separate vendor backup requirements. Vendors must achieve 90% Indiana-based call handling rates, with the remaining 10% routed to the National Backup line managed by Vibrant Emotional Health.
Pricing must follow the state-provided cost proposal template with five separate cost proposals (A through E), where all scope of work metrics must be met to qualify for a 10% performance-based bonus. The cost proposal structure allocates 90% through fixed monthly payments and 10% contingent upon achieving Key Performance Indicators. De minimis or indirect costs are typically allowable at 10% of operational budgets. Contract set-asides include goals of 8% for Minority Business Enterprises, 11% for Women Business Enterprises, and 3% for Indiana Veteran Owned Small Businesses. The current contracts expire after the full term with all renewal options exercised; incumbent information and historical spending data are available through the Indiana Transparency Portal. Vendors must demonstrate current accreditation from approved entities (AAS, CARF, COA, etc.) prior to proposal submission and comply with SAMHSA and Vibrant cybersecurity standards in addition to IOT and FSSA policies. The state provides access to its Learning Management System for centralized training, while vendors are responsible for organization-specific training, hiring practices, background checks, and credentialing. All vendors must provide comprehensive crisis intervention services across all three modalities—voice, text, and chat—regardless of their current service offerings.
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Question & Inquiry Form
| Attachment G | ||||||
| Question and Answer Template | ||||||
| RFP 410-26-84962 | ||||||
| Please submit your questions in the form below (yellow shaded area) per RFP Section 1.24. | ||||||
| Click the dropdown in the RFP Document Column to select topic. | ||||||
| No. | RFP Document | Section Number | Page | Topic | Question | Response |
| 1 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 4.0.C.2. and 4.0.C.3. | 9 | Security Questionnaires | 4.0.C.2 requires the use of the State's telephony system and 4.0.C.3. requires the use of the State's CRM. If the State is providing these components, what is being evaluated in the security questionnaires (i.e., Attachments L, N, and O)? | Please update the various sections/rows of the Security Questionnaires with “Not Applicable” as you deem appropriate. |
| 2 | Attachment K Scope of Work | Table 2: Key Performance Indicators #17 and 3.1.a | 25 and 8 | Calls handled outside of Indiana | Table 2: Key Performance Indicator #17 states that a key performance indicator is 90% of Indiana-based interactions handled by an Indiana Center. This seems to contradict 3.1.a "The Respondent must conduct its 988 Contact Center operations within Indiana." What is the State's allowance for calls handled outside of Indiana? | The respondent must conduct their operations in Indiana. The 90% refers to the in-state answer rate. There are instances when a call is not able to be answered in state and it is sent to the national backup line, which is supported and run by the National Administrator, Vibrant Emotional Health. This percentage means no more than 10% of calls originating in Indiana should be unanswered and routed to the National Backup. |
| 3 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 4.0.C.2. | 9 | Use of State Information Systems | Will the Supplier access State Information Systems (telephony and CRM) by accessing the State's cloud infrastructure or will the Supplier be expected to house State-owned Information Systems in its own environment? | At this time, all State Information Systems are cloud based. |
| 4 | Attachment O Artificial Intelligence - Technical Questions | Entire Document | All | Purpose | What is the purpose of this Attachment given the Supplier will be using the State's Information Systems? | Please update the entry fields of Attachment O Artificial Intelligence - Technical Questions with “Not Applicable” as you deem appropriate. |
| 5 | Attachments B1- IOT- IaaS | Attachments B1- IOT- IaaS | All | Purpose | What is the purpose of this Attachment given the Supplier will be using the State's Information Systems? | Please deem "Not applicable" where appropriate in your response. |
| 6 | Attachments B2- IOT- PaaS | Attachments B2- IOT- PaaS | All | Purpose | What is the purpose of this Attachment given the Supplier will be using the State's Information Systems? | Please deem "Not applicable" where appropriate in your response. |
| 7 | Attachments B3- IOT- SaaS | Attachments B3- IOT- SaaS | All | Purpose | What is the purpose of this Attachment given the Supplier will be using the State's Information Systems? | Please deem "Not applicable" where appropriate in your response. |
| 8 | Is this a new initiative, or does the DMHA have an incumbent on this? If there is an incumbent, please disclose their names and, if possible, provide the incumbent's proposals along with their cost proposals to facilitate competitive pricing. | Contracts may be viewed through the Indiana Transparency Portal at https://www.in.gov/itp/. Current contracts: 87198, 85553, 85563, 85551, 85540 | ||||
| 9 | What is the estimated budget for this contract? If unknown, please provide previous spending. | Please visit the Indiana Transparency Portal: https://www.in.gov/itp/ | ||||
| 10 | How many agents are currently working under this contract? | At this time, across all contact centers, there are 137 Crisis Specialists. Not including admin and supervisors. | ||||
| 11 | Over the past year, what is the percentage of calls received in English versus non-English? | Currently, the only data we have is that for Spanish speaking individuals. There is a Spanish Line (option 2) for individuals to speak with a National Spanish Contact Center. | ||||
| 12 | Is the DMHA facing any issues under the current contract? If so, please specify. | The State is not clear what is being asked, can discuss in detail during oral presentations. | ||||
| 13 | Please specify the current tools that the DMHA is utilizing for Call center services. | Genesys Cloud Solutions for telephony platform |
OpenBeds database for CRM Jira for submitting technical tickets Teams for communication with the State and other centers Vibrant's Unified Platform for Chat and Text at the moment
| 14 | It is our understanding that the vendor can provide services remotely (anywhere in the U.S.). Is it correct? | The vendor can provide services remotely, within Indiana. | ||||
| 15 | Is it possible for the DMHA to provide the transcript of the pre-proposal meeting? | The pre-proposal meeting was not a recorded event, transcripts are not available. | ||||
| 16 | Submission | Do the vendors need to submit the “Att N - Cloud Questionnaire” with the proposal? Or is it required after the award? | Submission of attachment N is required, answers may be deemed "not applicable" | |||
| 17 | Bidder's Library | Att M - Resource Usage Template | Referring to “Att M - Resource Usage Template”, is it possible for the DMHA to provide more clarity on how vendors need to fill this sheet? | Complete attachment where applicable. | ||
| 18 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 1 | Service Delivery Expectations | Does the State expect vendors to provide multi-lingual support (e.g., Spanish, ASL) for calls, chats, and texts, and will translation or relay services be provided by the State or should the vendor include these in their cost proposal? | The center should use their existing translation services when needed. The National administrator provides Crisis Support for Spanish and ASL via their subnetwork. | |
| 19 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 2.2 | CRM and Telephony Systems | Will the State furnish technical documentation, API specifications, and integration guidance for the State-provided CRM (OpenBeds) and telephony platform (Genesys) to ensure interoperability with vendor systems (e.g., scheduling, HR, or QA tools)? | At this time the State is not ready to release the technical documentation. The current contract for CRM is available through the Indiana Transparency Portal at https://www.in.gov/itp/. The contract number is 66358. | |
| 20 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 2.3 | 988 and 911 Interoperability | Please confirm whether vendors will be responsible for establishing secure data exchange channels (APIs or VPNs) between 988 Contact Centers, PSAPs, and MCT systems—or if these connections are centrally managed by the State. | Vendors must use the Genesys platform to communicate and share data to other parties, which is centrally managed by the State. | |
| 21 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 3.1 | Accreditation Requirements | Can vendors submit a proposal if they are currently undergoing accreditation with one of the approved entities (AAS, CARF, COA, etc.) and expect to complete certification before the July 2026 go-live date? | No. This will impede the onboarding process with the National Administrator | |
| 22 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 4 | Technology & Infrastructure | Does the State require vendors to implement redundant hosting or disaster recovery infrastructure to ensure 24/7/365 availability in case of internet or power outages? If yes, what recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) are expected? | At this time, no. | |
| 23 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 4 | Hardware & Security | What are the minimum technical specifications and security requirements (e.g., encryption standards, MFA, endpoint protection) for hardware and network systems used by 988 Contact Center staff? | Please review the Gov Ramp website at https://www.in.gov/iot/iot-vendor-engagement/ and the current contract # 66358. | |
| 24 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 5 | Staffing Requirements | Does the State have an established minimum Crisis Specialist-to-supervisor ratio or target number of FTEs per contact volume (e.g., per 1,000 calls/month)? | At this time, there is no specific staffing minimum. The State is able to change this at any time, as outlined in the Contact Center Manual. | |
| 25 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 5 | Hiring Practices | Will background checks, credentialing, and licensing verification for Crisis Specialists be managed by the vendor, or will the State provide a centralized verification system? | This will be managed by the vendor | |
| 26 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 5 | Training Management | Will the State provide access to its Learning Management System (LMS) for required trainings, or must vendors maintain an internal LMS and provide evidence of completion through manual reporting? | The State provides access to the LMS for all vendors for the state centralized training. The Vendor is responsible for any organization-specific training | |
| 27 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 6 | Technology Implementation | During onboarding, will the State provide sandbox/test environments for the telephony and CRM systems to facilitate configuration and user acceptance testing before go-live? | There is currently a test environment for the telephony platform. The current CRM does not have a test environment. The State will provide training for the CRM for any new Center) | |
| 28 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 6 | Software Integration | Can vendors integrate additional tools (e.g., analytics dashboards, workforce management systems) with State-furnished systems via APIs, provided no PHI/PII leaves the environment? | Any additional tools will need to be approved by the State. | |
| 29 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 6 | Data Retention | What are the data retention and archival requirements for chat, text, and call records, and will vendors be required to maintain separate backups of State-owned data? | Data Retention and archival are in alignment with the State's requirements as well as retained and managed by the State. Vendors will not be required to maintain separate back-ups. | |
| 30 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 7 | Partner Collaboration | How often will 988 Contact Centers be expected to attend coordination meetings with MCTs, CRSS providers, and PSAPs (e.g., monthly, quarterly)? | At this time, there are no regularly scheduled coordinated meetings. This is subject to change based on the systemic need at the State's discretion. | |
| 31 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 9 | State Resources | Will the State assign a dedicated technical support team or contact point to address CRM/telephony troubleshooting during implementation and steady-state operations? | Yes | |
| 32 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 10 | Quality Assurance | Will the State provide a standardized QA review tool or scoring template for evaluating call, chat, and text interactions, or should vendors design their own QA framework consistent with State standards? | Yes | |
| 33 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 12 | Reporting Requirements | Can the State clarify the expected reporting frequency (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly) and format (CSV, Excel, API submission) for operational, KPI, and quality data? | The State pulls KPIs from the system monthly. The Quality evaluations, required by Vibrant, are submitted in alignment with the Vibrant's outline | |
| 34 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 12 | Reporting Automation | Will vendors have access to data export capabilities from the State CRM and telephony systems to automate internal reporting dashboards? | Yes | |
| 35 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 13 | Communication Plan | Is there an expectation for vendors to use specific project management or communication tools (e.g., MS Teams, SharePoint, Jira) for collaboration with DMHA? | Yes. The State will provide links and training to all collaboration tools during onboarding. | |
| 36 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 14 | Subcontractor Oversight | Will subcontractors performing back-office or IT support be directly subject to State audits, or only the primary contractor? | Subcontractors are held to the same standards and expectations as primary contractors. | |
| 37 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 15 | Cybersecurity Compliance | Are there specific cybersecurity standards (e.g., NIST 800-53, SOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP Moderate) that vendors must comply with beyond IOT and FSSA policies? | Vendors must comly with SAMHSA and Vibrant cybersecurity standards, in addition to IOT and FSSA | |
| 38 | Incumbent | Who is the current incumbent for this Project? | Please visit the Indiana Transparency Portal: https://www.in.gov/itp/ | |||
| 39 | Budget | What is the budget allocated for this Project? | The State declines to respond to this question in the interest of receiving innovative proposal from respondents | |||
| 40 | Attachment D Cost Proposal Template | 2.5 | operational costs | Are we allowed to include a de minis or indirect cost as part of the operational budget? If so what is the percentage allowable? | Typically, with an allowance of 10% | |
| 41 | Attachment D Cost Proposal Template | 2.5 | 29 | Cost Proposal Narrative | Should the cost proposal narrative be in response to the amounts listed for the Cost proposal A or do we need to include the amounts also corresponding to each of the other cost proposals (B, C, D, and E)? | The cost proposal narrative should include all cost proposals. |
| 42 | Attachment D Cost Proposal Template | 2.5 | Cost Proposal | Will it be required to fill out each of the cost proposals A-E, including E? | Yes | |
| 43 | Has the current contract gone full term? | Yes | ||||
| 44 | Have all options to extend the current contract been exercised? | Yes | ||||
| 45 | Who is the incumbent, and how long has the incumbent been providing the requested services? | Please go to Indiana Transparency Portal | ||||
| 46 | How are fees currently being billed by any incumbent(s), by category, and at what rates? | Please go to Indiana Transparency Portal | ||||
| 47 | What estimated or actual dollars were paid last year, last month, or last quarter to any incumbent(s)? | Please visit the Indiana Transparency Portal: https://www.in.gov/itp/ | ||||
| 48 | Is previous experience with any specific customer information systems, phone systems, or software required? | All mandatory and preferred qualifications are outlined in the Scope of work, Section 3 | ||||
| 49 | What is the minimum required total call capacity? | No | ||||
| 50 | What is the minimum simultaneous inbound call capacity? | No | ||||
| 51 | What is the maximum wait time? | Calls are pulled back to Vibrant to be routed to the national backup after 2 minutes. | ||||
| 52 | What percentage of calls must be resolved without a transfer, second call, or a return call? | Calls should never be transferred, unless for Emergency Service Intervention. | ||||
| 53 | Is there a minimum or maximum number of operators and supervisors? | Not at this time. This is subject to change at the State's discretion | ||||
| 54 | What are the required language options? | The requirement is to provide translation services for anyone calling. | ||||
| 55 | What are the recording requirements for inbound and outbound phone calls and how long must recordings be maintained? | The State manages the recordings and the record retention | ||||
| 56 | What are the recording and storage requirements for non-phone communications? | At this time, current chat and text recording and storage requirements for non-phone communications must follow Vibrant and State standard practices. Once on the State's platform, the State will manage recording and storage communications. | ||||
| 57 | What information is to be included in call logs? | A detailed description of the interaction with the person calling, documented in DAP format. This is outlined in the Contact Center Manual. | ||||
| 58 | What is the current number of seats for operators and supervisors at your existing call center? | We currently have 137 Crisis Specialists across all contact centers |
There are currently 49 Admins and supervisors across all contact centers
| 59 | What is the current average after-call work time for operators? | Approximately 7 minutes, with variations from center to center. | ||||
| 60 | Over the past year, what is the percentage of calls received in English versus non-English? | .03% non English speaking calls have been received at Indiana's contact centers. Most Spanish calls are routed to the Spanish lifeline through the National Administrator | ||||
| 61 | Over the past year, what percentage of calls received were in Spanish? | So far in 2025, Indiana has had 1864 calls routed to the Spanish Lifeline calling into 988 | ||||
| 62 | What time of day, days of the week, or times of the year do calls typically peak? | Volume varies significantly, though historically call volume peaks between 6pm – midnight Eastern time, regardless of day of week. And historically, call volume increases more towards the end of the year. | ||||
| 63 | If there was a previous solicitation for these services, what was its title, number, release date, and due date? | There was no previous solicitation | ||||
| 64 | Why has this bid been released at this time? | In alignment with SB5 and the expiration of the existing contracts, an RFP is required to secure providers | ||||
| 65 | When is the anticipated contract start date? | 7/1/26 | ||||
| 66 | When is the anticipated award date? | Please Section 1.24 Summary of Milestones of the RFP Document | ||||
| 67 | Are bidders permitted to deviate in any way from any manner of quoting fees you may be expecting? For example, if there is a pricing page in the RFP, can bidders submit an alternate fee structure? If there is no pricing page in the RFP, do you have any preference for how bidders should quote fees or can bidders create their own pricing categories? | No. Vendors must use the cost proposal template. | ||||
| 68 | Please describe your level of satisfaction with your current or recent vendor(s) for the same purchasing activity, if applicable. | State declines to answer. | ||||
| 69 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 15 | 21 | KPI incentive | Do all scope of work metrics need to be met to qualify for the 10% bonus? | Yes |
| 70 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 3.1a | 8 | Operations | Can you confirm that operations can be conducted 100% virutally, as long as front line staff are located and working within the state of Indiana? | This is correct |
| 71 | Bidder's Library | Att k2 - Sect. VII | 19 | Contact Center Manual: Round Robin | How does the round robin system work with geo-routing of calls? | All centers in Indiana answer any and all calls from anywhere in the state. Calls are routed to our centers via a centralized queue, "The State of Indiana", and then once in our telephony platform, calls are routed in a round-robin style |
| 72 | Bidder's Library | Att k2 - Sect. VII | 19 | Contact Center Manual: Round Robin | Within the round robin system, are all participating centers given the same geographical coverage area of counties? | All centers in Indiana answer any and all calls from anywhere in the State. |
| 73 | Bidder's Library | Att K1 - Avg Call Volume | Call Dispositions | On average, how many calls result in mobile crisis dispatch? | In 2025, this has ranged from 25-50 Mobile Crisis dispatches per month for all modalities | |
| 74 | Bidder's Library | Att K1 - Avg Call Volume | Call Dispositions | On average, how many individuals consent to follow-up? (broken down by call, chat and text modality) | Follow-ups are not offered on every interaction. Of the follow ups offered, 99% are accepted/consented to. This results in about 915 follow ups scheduled per month on average. | |
| 75 | Attachment K Scope of Work | 2.2. | 4 | Current 988 Contact Center Network | Could the agency please provide the total annual funding awarded to 988 Contact Centers for each of the past three fiscal years? | Please go to Indiana Transparency Portal |
| 76 | Bidder's Library | RFP - Sect. 3.2. | 34 | Evaluation Criteria | The RFP identifies Attachments C, D, E, F, and J as “Mandatory Requirements.” However, several additional attachments included within the Bid Documents contain sections to be completed. Could the agency clarify which attachments Respondents are required to submit with their proposals? Specifically, should the following attachments be completed and submitted: Attachment B – Sample Contract (including Attachments B1–B3); Attachment H – Reference Check; Attachment L – Infrastructure Overview; Attachment M – Resource Usage Template; Attachment N – Cloud Questionnaire; Attachment O – Artificial Intelligence | Attachment B is a sample contract for the respondents to review and not required to be submitted. Attachements B1-B3 are Terms and Conditions, not required to be submitted. Attachment H should be completed and submitted by respondents reference. Attachments L,M,N,O are required to be submitted. |
| 77 | Attachment A/A1 MWBE/IVOSB Commitment | Att. A and A1 | 1 | Impact on proposal evaluation | Section 1.20 (page 14) of the RFP indicates that failure to address equal opportunity commitment requirements “may impact the evaluation of your proposal.” However, both Attachment A and Attachment A1 state that “Failure to address these subcontracting opportunities will not impact the evaluation of your Proposal.” Could the agency please clarify how respondents should interpret this distinction? | The proposals will not be disqualified if there are no subcontracting opportunities submitted. |
| 78 | Is the IDOA Supplier Portal where we will need to sign in to respond to the solicitation? We have logged into Access Indiana, and have accessed the DMHA Provider portal; however, we cannot view the solicitation here | Please refer to Section 1.8 Due Date for Proposals and Section 1.17 Procurment Division Registration of the RFP document. | ||||
| 79 | Will organizations that provide only 988 text and chat sevices(but not voice) be considered eligible and competitive for this award? | Yes, the State will consider all proposals. All vendors will be required to provide all three modalities for the duration of this contract. | ||||
| 80 | How will proposals from text/chat-only providers be evaluated compared to full-spectrum (voice, text,chat) providers? | All vendors will be required to provide all three modalities. All Proposals will be evaluated using the same methodology. | ||||
| 81 | Do the required staffing levels or service hours in the RFP apply equally text/chat services, or are those requirements specific to voice operations? | All centers and modalities must be staffed 24/7/365. | ||||
| 82 | Are there character or file size limits in the Supplier Portal that applicants should be aware of when uploading PDFs or narrative resonse? Are there specific formating requirements (e.r., page limits, font size, file types) for the technical, cost, and business proposals that could result in disqualification if not followed? | Please refer to Section 1.8 Due Date for Proposals of the RFP Document. | ||||
| 83 | Which documents are considered mandatory at time of submission versus those that may be submitted upon award or request (e.g., Certificate of Good Standing, insurance documents, or financials)? | Please see response to question #76. | ||||
| 84 | Are applicants permitted to subcontract specific components of the proposed services, and if so, are there additional requirements for listing subcontractors in the proposal? | Subcontractors are held to the same standards and expectations as primary contractors. This should be outlined in the technical proposal, Section 1. | ||||
| 85 | Is the timeline outlined in the RFP (including award date and contract start date) still accurate, or are any extensions or amendments anticipated? | At this time, the dates are still accurate. | ||||
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| Attachment A/A1 MWBE/IVOSB Commitment |
| Attachment B Sample Contract |
| Attachment C Indiana Economic Impact Form |
| Attachment D Cost Proposal Template |
| Attachment E Business Proposal Template |
| Attachment F Technical Proposal Template |
| Attachment H Reference Form |
| Attachment I Pre-Proposal Network Opportunities Form |
| Attachment J Attestation Form |
| Attachment K Scope of Work |
| Bidder's Library |
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