RFP823 - Secret Shopper/Mystery Shopping Evaluation of the Aging and Disability Resource Connection

Atlanta Regional Commission is soliciting proposals under RFP823 for a mystery-shopping and customer-experience evaluation of its Aging and Disability Resource Connection, with questions due November 13, 2026 and proposals due December 29, 2026. Proposers must complete site registration and application approval on the ARC procurement website before submitting. No specific set-asides are designated, and eligible applicants include for-profit and nonprofit entities.

Qualifying firms must demonstrate mystery-shopping, call-center assessment, accessibility-testing, or customer-experience evaluation experience within the past five years, along with an understanding of the needs of older adults, adults with disabilities, and caregivers and knowledge of multilingual and equitable service delivery. The contractor must comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and HIPAA requirements, and must execute ARC's Business Associate Agreement.

The scope covers testing ARC's Platform 28 (P28) telephone system and designated email touchpoints, reviewing staff adherence to policies and procedures, and measuring compliance with Georgia Division of Aging Services Standards of Promptness. The evaluation requires a minimum of 15 telephone scenarios distributed across three ADRC teams: Information and Referral, Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program, and Home and Community-Based Services. These include multilingual scenarios in Spanish and at least one of Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, or Russian, plus disability-accessibility scenarios. Email testing requires a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 touchpoint tests.

The contract period runs January 25, 2027 through December 30, 2027, with an optional second-round evaluation authorized at ARC's discretion. Proposers must submit budgets in ARC's prescribed format, separating initial and optional phases and providing unit pricing for attempted and completed telephone shops, email evaluations, multilingual scenarios, accessibility testing, and other direct costs. The initial evaluation must be completed by April 15, 2027, with a final report and presentation due June 15, 2027, and initial invoicing due June 30, 2027.

Four criteria are weighted equally at 25 percent each: related experience, qualifications, references, and proposed personnel; technical approach and methodology; work plan, schedule, and staff availability; and proposed budget and overall value. The RFP was released October 14, 2026, official responses will be posted by November 23, 2026, and the anticipated notice of award is January 25, 2027. ARC reserves the right to interview a short list, negotiate any proposal aspect, award to one or more firms, or make no award.