R426--QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - Telephone Operator Services

If there is an incumbent, please provide the contractor's name and contract number. Answer Magellan Solutions USA Inc. 36C26120C0034

p49,(2)Factor #1, 1a Staffing - Will the government consider removing "Provide employee roster of current telephone operators that could work on this contract. Do not provide employees or names of individuals that are not presently employed by your firm." as it gives any incumbent with the current VA cleared telephone operators clear advantage? Answer Per 52.212-1, if you do not presently have any telephone operators, please include narrative explaining how you will find employees to staff this requirement. This factor will be evaluated accordingly and the incumbent does not have an advantage because the intent of this factor is to see how vendors will handle staffing.

Given this is a DOL SCA covered contract will the government please provide the correct DOL Labor code associated with the Telephone Operators? Answer NAICS is 561421

Is there a matrix available of how many operators are on each shift during what times?

Fresno

M-F 0800-1630 Â - 3 agents including supervisor (Supervisor is physically in Fresno, covers all 3 areas)

7 days a week 0700-1530 1 agent

7 Days a week - 1500-2330 1 agent

7 Days a week - 2300-0730 1 agent

San Francisco

M-F 0800-1630 3 agents

M-F 0600-1430 1 agent

Sa-Su 0600-1400 1 agent

7 days a week 1400-2200 1 agent

7 days a week 2200-0600 1 agent

Palo Alto

M-F 0800-1630 3 Agents

M-F 0700-1530 3 agents

Sa-Su 0700-1530 1 agent

M,W,F 1000-1530 1 agent

7 days a week 1500-2330 1 agent

Tu,Thu 1500 2330 1 agent

7 days a week 2300-0730 2 agents

If this is a follow-on contract, does the Government intend to invoke Executive Order 14055, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts, signed by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on November 18, 2021? Answer Dept of Labor has not put this order in place yet. If yes, can the Government provide bidders with the dates of hire for all incumbent personnel that will transition over to the new Contractor workforce on October 1, 2023, such that their benefits costs under the Service Contract Act, which increase with worker tenure, may be calculated accurately in the price schedule? Answer The best that the government can offer is the names and phone numbers of all the current workers upon contract award. Award notification is planned to be made by 1 September.

Section 5.7 says 5.7 All incoming calls both internal and external shall be answered within three (3) rings. Does the CISCO and paging equipment in use automatically record the number of rings for every inbound call and page, plus generate reports that are given to the Contractor about the number of rings, so that Contractor managers can access these reports and examine employee performance on a team, site, and individual basis?

Answer - There is no way to track rings in CISCO. Answer speed is determined to be 20 seconds or less in the current contract. Cisco does give answer speed for the Telephone Operator group. CISCO does allow for individual metrics to be viewed including abandon rate, handle time, calls presented, calls handled, etc. These reports can be accessed by site managers and the Contract Program Manager

Section 5.10.C refers to alarm systems that the Contractor must maintain. Can you please specify the names and types of alarm systems in use and how maintenance on these alarms is performed by the Contractor versus the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)? Will OEM technical manuals be available for reference to enable this maintenance work? Will Contractor personnel need additional technical capabilities like Information Technology and telephony system technical skills for maintenance and repair?

Answer - On the current contract, the telephone operators do not monitor alarm systems nor provide maintenance. This is performed by local VA BIOMED, PD and or IT.

Section 5.10.C says the Contractor should provide liaison between this facility and the Telephone Company. Does this mean the Contractor will be privy to the option and price lists, contact information for the telephone company s Account Representatives, account numbers, and affiliated pass codes, to be able to communicate with the Telephone company directly about the Government s phone lines and phone accounts? If not, what duties are entailed by the responsibility to provide liaison between this facility and the Telephone Company ?

Answer - On the current contract the Telephone Operators do not liaison with the telephone company. This is handled by local VA Telecom.

5.10.D refers to contingency plans in case of employee absences or employee inability to commute into the place of work due to inclement weather or emergencies. To enable contingency response from remote locations, do the Government s phone and paging systems allow for all inbound calls and/or pages to be routed to employee personal phones, or, or is this technically or legally impossible? The Government s response about what is possible legally and technically will impact the contingency plans.

Answer - Regular 0 queue calls can be answered and transferred with a VA issued laptop. There is no way to divert emergency code calls in a manner that allows for rapid response.