UI call center services 43-1389-26

The North Carolina Department of Employment Security is requesting proposals for comprehensive call center services supporting the Unemployment Insurance program under RFP 43-1389-26, with proposals due August 26, 2026. The contract spans three years with two optional one-year renewal periods.

Vendors must deliver multi-channel customer service across voice, chat, email, SMS, and social messaging, handling inbound calls, outbound communications, claims processing support, and technical assistance to UI claimants and employers. All personnel must be physically located within the United States with onshore-only service delivery. Vendors must demonstrate at least five years of organizational experience in large-scale, high-volume call center operations and provide three references from comparable government-sector or regulated public-service call center engagements.

The solicitation requires 148 total requirements across core requirements, additional requirements, and service level agreements, including FedRAMP or GovRAMP compliance for cloud-based platform delivery with AI-enabled conversational self-service capabilities and real-time operational dashboards. Vendors must commit to system availability of at least 99.9% monthly uptime, defined first-call resolution rates, employee attrition targets, and digital containment rates. Implementation must include transition planning with no more than four cumulative hours of downtime, proof-of-concept activities, comprehensive staffing plans with defined ratios, surge capacity for pandemic-level volume spikes, and 30 days of complimentary post-go-live support. Data retention defaults to seven years with secure export capabilities and 90-day post-termination access.

Pricing submissions require tiered pricing based on monthly interaction volumes ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 live interactions, with fully loaded pricing inclusive of staffing, quality assurance, reporting, workforce management, and technology costs. Vendors may propose optional performance-based pricing tied to metrics including digital containment rate, automation resolution rate, first contact resolution, average handle time, cost per interaction reduction, and customer satisfaction scores. Funding derives from the state's UI trust fund and federal UI program allocations.