Amendment 1 Q As.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 15 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Virtual Contact Center Strategy (VCS) Help Desk changed to Beneficiary Network Services (BNS) Help Desk Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- RFP-CMS-2010-8A-0004
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Amendment 000001 Attachment 1 Q As
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment 3 Executed.pdf | ||
| Amendment 2.pdf | ||
| RFP Attachment J-3 Statement of Work.docx | DOCX document | |
| SF30.pdf | ||
| Solicitation CMS-2010-8A-0004.zip | ZIP file |
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Text version
Sheet1
| QUESTION | SOW SECTION | SECTION TITLE | QUESTION | ANSWER |
| 1 | 3.0 | BNS Help Desk Operations | In second paragraph requirement states that ‘contractor shall establish Help Desk functionality which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, except for CMS specified holiday closures’, but the next sentence states ‘The BNS Help Desk shall by fully staffed ….from the hours of 7:00am to 10:00pm Monday through Friday…’ These two sentences seem to contradict one another. What are the hours of operation that the BNS Help Desk must be manned and operational? | The Help Desk shall operate 24 X 7 with the exception of CMS specified holiday closures. The Monday through Friday 7 AM to 10 PM reference designates the hours of operation from the primary Help Desk location. Outside of these hours the Help Desk may operate from a remote location. |
| 2 | 3.0 | BNS Help Desk Operations | A statement is made that Remedy is the ‘mandatory trouble ticketing application.’ Will the contractor be provided with access to the current Remedy trouble ticketing application, at no charge to the contractor(s), or is the contractor expected to provide his own licensees to a contractor provided Remedy application? | Remedy is considered Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), so the awarded contractor will be provided with all Remedy software at no charge. See attachments J-4 for GFE and J-7 for assumptions. |
| 3 | 3.0 | BNS Help Desk Operations | In addition to the workforce located at the CMS Central Site at 7500 Security Blvd, where does the incumbent have staff that support this project? | The incumbent operates from their primary facility during the core hours specified in the SOW. They operate remotely outside of these designated hours. |
| 4 | 3.0 | BNS Help Desk Operations | It is unclear what the expectations are of CMS as to where the contractor staff are to be located. Under 3.0 (page 8) the RFP says that “the contractor shall establish Help Desk functionality which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year….Outside of these designated hours, the Help Desk shall operate remotely…” Later in 5.0 (page 15) it says that “CMS requires a BNS Help Desk technician to be on site at the CMS Central Office’s SRC to monitor the 1-800-Medicare infrastructure….” So, is the main location of our Help Desk staff at CMS during the main hours of operation, or offsite with the exception of the technician? | The Help Desk shall operate primarily at a facility established by the contractor during the hours designated in Section 3.0 (pg 9). Outside of these hours, the Help Desk shall operate remotely. Separately, the Help Desk shall provide one Help Desk technician to fulfill the requirements in Section 5.0 (pg 15). |
| 5 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | The table, on page 13, details the number of Incidents by type, totaling 6,901 for the period Jan – Dec -09. Also, the section details the Help Desk calls in calendar year 2009, as well as the number of emails received in CY 2009. Furthermore, the section states that the contractor/vendor should assume 2009 volume levels for all years. Can CMS provide the actual/average handle time (talk, wrap/research, hold, and after call work) for each type (1) case, (2) calls, and (3) emails? | Average handle time typically is a contact center metric. Therefore, AHT is not available. In a Help Desk environment, mean time to repair (MTTR) depends on the system or application issue at hand. Further, system issues are typically resolved by the Tier 3 contractor to which the Help Desk escalates the issue. The Help Desk shall ensure they are receiving update and resolution information from the Tier 3 contractors as documented in the joint operating agreements. Tier 1 shall be considered the contact centers, tier 2 shall be considered the Help Desk and Tier 3 shall be considered the system developers/maintainers. |
| 6 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Can CMS provide the staffing levels by type of employee the current incumbent contractor utilizes? Is this a fixed amount throughout the year or does the staffing fluctuate with the number of calls received into the VCS/1-800-Medicare line(s)? | Staffing levels are specific to the contractor's approach or business solution. Offerors need to propose a staffing solution that they feel will meet the contract requirements. |
| 7 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | What is the average call duration of a Help Desk request? | Call duration time is not available. (See also #5 above) |
| 8 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Can you break down the average call duration by type of request? | Call duration time is not available. (See also #5 above) |
| 9 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Based on historical data, what is the volume of requests that come during remote operations, both Monday thru Friday and then on the Weekends? | For 2009, total call information is the only historical data available. Total Emails for only June through December 2009, are available. |
| 10 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Are the requests coming in during remote operations coming in via email only? | During remote operations, calls and emails shall be received by the Help Desk. |
| 11 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Volumes: For clarity, please break down the number of requests in 2009 by: Telephone, Email, Other | The number of total telephone and email requests is provided in Section 4.0 of the SOW. |
| 12 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | And, what is the total number of requests for 2009 that you want us to use as an estimate? | Please refer to Section 4.0 in the SOW and the Assumptions in Attachment J-7 to generate the estimate. |
| 13 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Looking at pages 13-14, shows 6901 (VCS Voice), 4355 (phone) and 57,280 Emails (1/2 year and not all help desk) but all of this totals = 68,536 – is this the total we’re to use? | The 6,901 reflects the various types of issues by system or application and by service type that the Help Desk supports. For example, the table reflects some incidents/tickets that were generated to address telecommunications services used at the 1-800-MEDICARE contact centers. An additional example, the Help Desk classified 2,219 of these system or application incidents/tickets as fault troubles. In 2009, the Help Desk received a total of 4,355 telephone calls and between June and December 2009, the Help Desk received 57,280 emails in total. The historical data provided in Section 4.0 of the SOW shall be used by offeror's to determine their business solution or approach to supporting this workload. |
| 14 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Is the 4,355 telephone call volume part of the VCS voice chart volume showing 6,901? | The 2009 total of 6,901 represents incidents/tickets by system or application. The 4,355 total represents the total number of telephone calls to the Help Desk. The two tables are not an apples to apples comparison. |
| 15 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Were all the 2009 emails handled by Help Desk staff? | Yes, the emails were handled by Help Desk staff. |
| 16 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | How many FTEs does the current contractor have assigned to this project? | Staffing levels are specific to the contractor's approach or business solution. Offerors need to propose a staffing solution that they feel will meet the contract requirements. |
| 17 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | Will CMS support an effort by the winning contractor to selectively capture incumbent personnel? | CMS does not have the authority to support your efforts to selectively capture incumbent personnel. The contractor should propose a solution that they feel meets the contract requirements. |
| 18 | 4.0 | BNS Help Desk Staffing | The table of emails received by the Help Desk only shows 6 months worth of emails, what should contractors assume for the other 6 months. | Offerors shall assume 114,560 annually for emails. |
| 19 | 7.0 | BNS Help Desk Customer Communications | Page 17 references Help Desk tiers – what different help desk tiers are in place now? | Tier 1 shall be considered the contact centers, tier 2 shall be considered the Help Desk and Tier 3 shall be considered the system developers/maintainers. |
| 20 | 11.0 | Voice Network Requirements | Page 25, how many new call centers are planned for 2011? | The Help Desk is not driven by the number of contact centers rather it is driven by the systems and applications that the contact centers utilize. |
&"-,Bold"RFP-CMS-2010-8A-0004
AMENDMENT 000001
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