Contact Center Operations

This is a LARGE AND SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified businesses (e.g. large, 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran owned small business, and women-owned small business) capable of providing 24x7 bilingual contact center operations, including facilities, personnel, and management in support of CMS’s customer inquiries.

The information from this market research will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The CCO contract handles over 40 million customer inquiries a year for CMS programs such as 1-800 MEDICARE and the Federally facilitated Marketplaces.

The CCO offers a range of services and quality assurance across multiple customer contact channels, such as telephone, mail, email, TDD/TYY, fax, and web chat, enabling multi-channel access and 24/7 customer service. Both 1-800 MEDICARE and the Health Insurance Marketplace provides unbiased responses to people with Medicare, general Marketplace inquiries from consumers, their families and caregivers, and other individuals and entities that support consumers.

These customer service channels are critical to providing information and assistance to people with Medicare and Marketplace consumers. Contact-center customer service and operations are central components of CMS’s mission. Due to the highly political and changing nature of CMS’s programs, flexibility and ability to facilitate rapid and complex change is imperative to CCO success.

CMS relies on CCO to provide accurate, timely, relevant, understandable, and easily accessible information to help individuals evaluate health plan options, select and enroll in plans, and make informed decisions on their health care needs. The CCO Customer Service Representatives (CSR) respond to inquiries using a variety of communication methods, including telephone; written letters and fax, and web chat. CMS continues to improve the omnichannel customer experience through agency-wide initiatives.

These initiatives are prioritized with limited input from the contact center contractor but require support and integration with call handling for the various topics, which creates a very dynamic and ever-changing landscape. The CCO provides 24/7 oral over the phone and written services.

CCO provides high-quality customer service, focusing on the accuracy of information provided, the completeness of information, overall knowledge of CMS programs and services, adherence to Privacy Act requirements, and overall professional customer service.