Call Center Modernization and Related Services

The Vendor is required to provide call center modernization and related services received from the agency not only meets customers’ needs but exceeds their expectations; while call centers manage inbound and outbound calls, a contact center offers multiple types of customer contact.
- World-class contact center services to our taxpayers.
- Call centers operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) on weekdays to support taxpayers and internal state Customers; current supported language is English, and some Spanish translators are available when needed
- Phase 1. Requirements:
- Automated Call Distribution (ACD):
•Provide skills-based, priority-based, conditional, and multi-channel routing;
•Provide incoming call whisper/Agent greeting;
•Provide automatic call back;
•Support internal and external calls (e.g., local, toll-free, long distance, international, etc.);
•Ability to change on-hold music for customers;
•Ability to support Agent remote and home arrangements;
•Support different multi-media queues and routing types (e.g., phone calls, callbacks, and SMS);
•Ability for Agents to have calls automatically answered;
•Ability for calls to be conditionally routed to group voicemail and retrieved by Agents; and
•Integration with agency existing phone system (Cisco) using a SIP Protocol.
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR):
(1) Determine and authenticate a caller’s identity based on their response to a series of questions (i.e., Texas Taxpayer ID number, web file number, ANI);
(2) Collect data (i.e., customer’s information from DTMF input) for use with self-service applications (see
Exhibit IV, Table 1).
(3) Support configurable call flows and/or IVR applications.
(4) Support user and division level auto-attendant options.
(5) Collect dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) input from callers (e.g., Web file number);
(6) Support speech recognition in English and Spanish;
(7) Ability to log all interactions in a detailed record to support reporting and tuning of the Solution, data needs to be retained for six (6) months;
(8) Ability to test call scripts (developed offline) and then employ into production after testing;
(9) Support multiple agency divisional pre-recorded prompts to be played following the welcome message;
(10)Support text-to-speech;
(11)Provide interfacing through APIs or other systems supported;
(12)Conduct post-call surveys to understand customer’s level of satisfaction;
(13)Support call routing to specific announcements and/or queues based on the following:
(A) area code/exchange code/ANI;
(B) dialed number;
(C) Time of day/day of week;
(D) user-defined schedules;
(E) Last Agent that handled the call,
(F) Result of customer’s last interaction;
(G) Data retrieved from proposed Solution that captures information from interactions with callers (e.g,
DTMF inputs); and
(h) Data-directed routing support based on data obtained in the IVR (e.g., delinquent accounts are automatically routed to agency Enforcement Division). (14)Provide estimated wait times to customers;
(15)Support virtual hold capability, allowing callers to hang up and still maintain their place in queue;
(16)Provide call back time choice within the specific division’s open and close times;
(17)Ability for IVR call flows/business rules to be developed and tested prior to production deployment;
(18)Ability to rollback development migrations (e.g., rollback plan) in the event of significant issues;
(19)Support unanswered calls being placed back in the queue and re-prioritized to the beginning of the queue;
(20)Provide Live Chat with agency IT Helpdesk;
(21)Integrate with agency legacy mainframe applications via current IVR and/or agency front-end systems (i.e., MESA, web file, and AWM);
(22)Implement Natural Language Processing (NLP) for voice response;
(23)Implement IVR connectivity to the telephony carriers for incoming and outbound calls via Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) or SIP trunks;
(24)Implement agency defined IVR scripts; and
(a) Agency will provide Successful Respondent current call-routing scripts (approximately 250 scripts generated from about ninety (90) toll free and one-hundred (100) DID numbers).
(25)Implement agency current self-service applications in the Successful Respondent’s Solution. agency will provide the APIs and assist Successful Respondent with the implementation of these applications within their Solution
- Capture Caller Interactions. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Allow Agents to capture interactions with callers;
(2) Record caller interactions into agency Work Manager (AWM) without dual entry in a separate
Solution;
(3) Provide data storage (i.e., call recordings) for caller interactions for at minimum sixty (60) days;
(4) Data for categorized calls (e.g., calls selected by agency are stored for at minimum ninety (90) days and a maximum of one (1) year.
(5) Provide call metadata (e.g., caller number, location, Taxpayer ID, claim number, preferred language, etc.);
(6) Provide screen recordings for calls, with a minimum duration of three (3) minutes and a maximum of twenty (20) minutes; and
(7) Provide audit tracking of customer history and/or touchpoint(s).
- Reporting and Analytics. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Provide standard reporting and analytics of Contact Center interactions;
(2) Provide standard and customer (ad-hoc) text and graphical reports;
(3) Provide real-time and historical reports using user-selected data and information;
(4) Provide wizard-driven report builder;
(5) Provide interactive charts and filters;
(6) Provide a drill down to detailed information (records) (e.g., navigate from a report or graphic representation of service request summary data to a more granular view of the detailed service request data);
(7) Provide trend analysis by time (i.e., month, quarter, and year) and date ranges;  (8) Support scheduled reports with delivery options (e.g., email, network drive storage, external webpage); and
(9) Ability to monitor and manage call volumes, agent responses, and performance (e.g., average speed to answer, average call handle time, hold times, calls in queue, etc.).
- Integrate with BI/Analytics Applications. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Ability to export data from the Solution to support analysis based on interactions with business applications (e.g., Outlook, Calabrio, agency self-service applications, etc.) used internally by agency
Agents; and
(2) Set up the ability to export data/report information to the agency Data Warehouse.
- Basic Quality Management System (QMS). Currently, agency uses Calabrio as its QMS on premise software solution. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Support all Agents who have call recording functionality with the following functions:
(a) Enable call recording and screen captures;
(b) Provide configurable scoresheets and reporting to assess Agent productivity; and
(c) Customizable quality assurance dashboards for monitoring of performance metrics.
(2) Provide a system set to record all Audio for the configured agents for both inbound and outbound calls;
(3) Ability to tag (select) any customer (i.e., taxpayer) calls with Agents;
(4) Automatic assignment of tagged calls (a minimum of four (4) calls per month) for evaluation (per evaluator);
(5) Provide questionnaires for Supervisors to complete as they monitor Agent(s) calls;
(6) Provide the ability to have Supervisors review issues with agents; and
(7) Provide a minimum data retention of one (1) year.
- Workforce Management (WFM). Currently, agency uses a cloud-based Calabrio WFM amongst seventy-five (75) Agents. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Integrate with agency existing WFM Application via voice channel to provide access to all interactions and handle times to assist with capacity planning and scheduling of Agent(s).
viii) Outbound Dialer. Currently, agency Outbound Dialer is integrated within Enterprise software. Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Provide a fully integrated Dialer;
(2) Support call-by-call blending of outbound and inbound calls to the same Agent(s);
(a) Support multiple outbound campaigns for various divisions/business units and allow each division/business unit to utilize different dialing modes (i.e., predictive (automatic), progressive
(automatic); and preview (manual)).
(3) Provide standardized customer service screen pops to for automated inbound and outbound calls;
(a) Solution screen pop must be integrated with agency system as the outbound call is connected to an Agent.
(4) Support manual or automatic scheduled list imports; and
(5) Comply with all federal (i.e., Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other Government Divisions and their directives) laws regarding the display of caller identification (ID).
ix) User Interface (UI). Successful Respondent’s Solution shall:
(1) Provide a soft phone;
(2) Ability for Agents to be assigned.


- Contract Period/Term: 2 years