988 Contact Center Crisis Software System

The vendor required to provide 988 contact center crisis software system capable of tracking, managing, and analyzing 988 calls, chats, and texts, and to connect individuals with necessary crisis services.
- National overview of 988
•    The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is the national mental health, substance use, and suicide crisis line for the country. 
•    It serves as a universal line and entry point, striving to be a more responsive and specialized behavioral health crisis system.
•    988, individuals in crisis were expected to identify and call a variety of ten-digit hotlines and phone numbers without a centralized system.
•    This act federally reserved 9-8-8 as the new three-digit dial code for behavioral health crises nationwide.
•    The federal communications commission (FCC) followed shortly with a final ruling that required telecommunications providers to implement 988 routing by July 16, 2022.
•    This system aimed at being just as easy and straightforward as dialing 911 but offered services with specialized levels of mental health support.
•    The only entity authorized by administration to nationally administer the 988 suicide and crisis lifelines; the federal 988 lifeline administrator plays a unique role in the national crisis response system. 
•    All contacts made to 988, whether by phone, text, or chat, are routed through the federal 988 lifeline administrator infrastructure, which then guides them to state systems or backup centers.
- 988 crisis response system
•    988 contact centers are connected by the state’s telephony system, currently provided by agency.
•    All 988 contact centers also maintain a contractual relationship with the federal 988 lifeline administrator.
•    Hoosier calls 988, that call is sent to the national telephony system before being automatically forwarded to the state’s telephony system based on the caller’s area code.
•    By October 2026, all phone carriers must transition to utilizing geo-routing to direct 988 calls to the closest local contact centers based on the geographic area associated with the origin of a 988 call rather than by area code and exchange, while protecting the privacy needs of the caller.
•    This differs from geo-location, utilized by 911, which directly pinpoints a caller’s location for dispatch. 
•    This is not in use by the 988 lifelines. 
•    In the future, calls to 988 may be routed to a state based on the geo-location of the caller, similar to calls made to 911.
•    State-based 988 chats and texts are not currently routed to state 988’s telephony platform. 
•    These interactions are handled within the federal 988 lifeline administrator’s telephony platform. 
•    The federal 988 lifeline administrator routes the interaction to the appropriate 988 contact center according to the visitor’s catchment area. 
•    The federal 988 lifeline administrator identifies the catchment area based on the visitor’s IP address for chats and geo-routing for texts. 
•    If the 988-contact center is unable to answer the text or chat in the allotted timeframe, the federal 988 lifeline administrator sends it to a backup center to be answered.

- Contract Period/Term: 6 years
- Pre-Proposal Conference Date: January 7, 2026
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: January 8, 2026