Call Center Staff Augmentation

The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, is seeking a call center staff augmentation vendor to provide emergency response services during catastrophic events through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP). The primary objective is to secure a contractor capable of rapidly deploying live call-taking services within 72 hours of notification, operating seven days a week from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET during peak demand periods. The successful vendor must provide bilingual (English/Spanish) call center staff with insurance industry experience, capable of handling high-volume inbound calls using the Five9 telephony system. Evaluation will be comprehensive, with 155 technical points and 75 pricing points, assessing the vendor's ability to meet performance metrics including call handling times under 9 minutes, hold times under 2 minutes, and abandonment rates under 8%. Key dates include a question submission deadline of February 18, 2025, proposal responses due March 17, 2025 at 3:30 PM ET, and an anticipated contract start date of April 28, 2025. The initial contract term is one year with up to three one-year renewal options.

The RFP does not specify explicit set-aside designations or restrictions on responding organizations. The previous emergency contract was held by Xceedance Consulting Limited, which handled approximately 11,700 calls during a 30-day period in 2024, with an average of 575 weekday calls and 49 weekend calls. The Department intends to award one contract but reserves the right to award multiple contracts by region or make no award. Pricing must be submitted using a specified attachment, with vendors required to provide either an hourly rate, per-call rate, or per-minute rate, including potential activation fees. While no specific minimum staffing levels are mandated, the contractor must maintain sufficient bilingual capabilities to serve Spanish-speaking callers. The Department will provide 4 hours of training to call center employees before they begin taking calls, and the contractor must be prepared to handle potential high-volume scenarios similar to those experienced during Hurricane Ian, with peak daily call volumes reaching 812 calls.