DE01--Enterprise Service Desk Managed Contact Center Infrastructure (CCI)

Request for Information Enterprise Service Desk Managed Contact Center Infrastructure TAC RFI Number: 36C10B26Q0368 1. Introduction The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Enterprise Command Operations (ECO) is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) in support of a planned future solicitation for its Enterprise Service Desk Managed Contact Center Infrastructure (CCI) solution. ECO is seeking feedback and engagement from interested parties. See Section 3 for CCI Solution capabilities and anticipated future capabilities. This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. In accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.101(c), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain market information on capable sources of supply, industry practices, and input specific to the information provided. The Government is not responsible for any cost incurred by industry in furnishing this information. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future Request for Proposals, if any is issued. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Any proprietary/sensitive information must be clearly marked by the vendor. 2. Disclaimer The Government will not reimburse any costs incurred in responding to this market research request. Participation is voluntary, and non-response will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. The Government may use the information received to refine requirements, acquisition strategy, and solicitation structure 3. CCI Solution Capabilities The current CCI solution utilizes the NICE CXOne platform. Additional features and enhancements leverage Medallia and fill integration with VA s IT Service Management (ITSM) tool, currently ServiceNow. 3.1 Current Capabilities The VA operates in a multi vendor environment in which contractors must work collaboratively, using non proprietary materials and coordinated processes to ensure seamless, consistent service delivery. The CCI Contractor must fully cooperate with all stakeholders, participate in required joint activities, align with VA governance, share deliverables, and support coordinated handoffs and continuous service improvements across vendors. The CCI Contractor will provide and maintain a fully integrated up to date CCI solution that interoperates with VA systems, supports multi channel contact handling, delivers intelligent routing, real time reporting, and secure access for both onsite and remote agents. They are responsible for designing and updating call flows and automated messages, ensuring compatibility with VA firewalls and change management processes, addressing security vulnerabilities, and staying current with OEM releases. The solution must include complete call management capabilities, service observation, required Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), and support for operational disruptions, while also supplying all associated documentation and reports. The Contractor must deliver comprehensive performance analysis and reporting across the CCI solution, ITSM, and ESD vendor operations, using automated monitoring tools, defined metrics, surveys, and trend analyses to assess service quality, Service Level Agreement (SLA)adherence, and customer satisfaction. The Contractor must also maintain robust data management practices, provide dashboards and reporting interfaces, support quality assurance reviews, and ensure continuity through coordinated disaster recovery, contingency, and escalation plans aligned with VA standards. The CCI Solution has the following core capabilities: Intelligent Routing & Queuing Intelligent, skills based routing across modalities (voice, chat, web) Universal queue; dynamic prioritization; overflow and default routing Multi vendor routing and support for Moves, Adds, Changes, and Deletes (MACD) on queues and routing configs Real time, rules driven routing (skills, availability, SLA, language, presence) Warm/cold transfers; conferencing; multi channel transfer capability Ability to use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) captured data for routing; omni channel context passing Simulation/testing tools for routing; emergency routing controls Expansion of ports and routing resiliency Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Visual IVR and speech/Natural Language Understanding (NLU) driven automated interactions Elastic IVR ports for surges; configurable greetings and announcements Database integration for data retrieval, verification, and self service Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF)/speech capture; transcription and reporting in English & Spanish Natural speech recognition (English & Spanish) with high accuracy Survey capability; accessibility support (Teletypewriter (TTY)/ American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)) Comprehensive reporting, real time caller activity visibility Ability to update messages rapidly; integrate with backend databases Caller authentication; self service transactions; multi language support Quality Management Real time monitoring of interactions, queues, agents 100% or selective voice/screen recording; remote playback Quality Management forms, scorecards, evaluators; multiple scoring systems Call search, tagging, flagging; trend analysis across channels Speech analytics; archive retrieval; Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliant encryption Supervisor monitoring, targeted recording, and evaluation tools Integration of metadata, attachments, transcripts (including Spanish translation) Recording & Monitoring Full multimedia recording (voice, chat) with metadata capture Archive, playback, selective or random recording FIPS compliant encryption; configurable business rule recording Synchronization of audio + chat transcript; search across metadata Export and movement of archived data; masking of sensitive information Ability to pause/stop live recording; apply speech analytics Storage Requirements Capacity for 100% call recording + 20% screen capture National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) compliant retention: 6 months online, 18 month archive Elastic storage; ability to move data between archive and online Agent Features Softphone/desk phone support with full call controls Screen pops with customer/IVR data; toll free/local dialing Real time visibility into blocked calls Agent state management (ready/not ready, reason codes) Local/global phone books; voicemail; customizable buttons Free seating with preserved metrics Remote & End User Training Train the trainer model; comprehensive system training Government approved curriculum; reusable training materials (videos, docs) Virtual interactive training; semi annual updates Data analysis to identify training needs Supervisor Tools Real time team/agent status; silent monitoring; barge in/intercept Alerts on agent events; escalation handling; assistance tools Real time skill assignment changes; reason code management Custom dashboards; reporting across all channels Broadcast messaging; whisper coaching; filtering and alerts Extensive reporting, drill down, and permission based access Agent & Supervisor Desktop Tools Softphone with call control, agent state changes, reason codes Performance statistics; multi line appearance Manager views: team status, forced state changes, reassignments Web Chat Core Capabilities Secure chat integrated with ITSM; multi session handling Transcripts, history, attachments, pre defined responses Routing by business rules/skills; supervisor monitoring/coaching Surveys; chat bot escalation; KM integration Queueing, after hours messaging, browser compatibility Workforce Management (WFM) Forecasting (long/short term), scheduling, and what if modeling Real time and historical adherence monitoring Multi site, multi skill planning; scheduling templates Intra day management (reassign, overflow, call flow changes) Reporting on adherence, staffing, agent activities Virtual Call Queue Automatic callback with estimated wait times and retries Maintain queue place when caller opts for callback Configurable triggers (queue depth, wait time, time of day) Voicemail message capability; multi timezone support Reporting: successful/failed callbacks, usage, wait time accuracy Automated Call Survey Post call and delayed call back surveys (DTMF/voice) Recording of comments; scoring, weighting, configuration Reporting (15 minute segments to yearly); trend and statistics Linking results to interactions and agents; export tools Text (SMS) SMS chat with live agent; attachments; automated replies Routing by business rules, keywords, and phone number Ability to shift from automated to live agent without losing context Confirmation texts; integration with VA Knowledge Base Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Screen pops with caller and history data Integration with third party systems via standard APIs Support for intelligent routing, call control, reporting, blending Screen Capture Capture agent activity across multimedia interactions Secure, FIPS compliant capture, storage, search, playback, export, and archival of interactions with full metadata Configurable business rules controlling when and how interactions and screens are recorded Real time authorized monitoring of agent screens Enhanced Features Web Callback functionality with agent availability based routing and full VA operating hours integration AI driven features including AutoPilot (voice assistant), Agent Co Pilot, and Supervisor Co Pilot Full integration with ServiceNow, Medallia, reporting tools, and major incident IVR workflows Advanced authentication and security enhancements including one time passcodes (SMS/IVR) and voice biometrics 3.2 Future Capabilities The CCI solution requires integration, testing, and implementation of VA approved Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Speech/Sentiment Analytics or third-party applications into the CCI solution using industry standard APIs and repeatable, agile software and system engineering processes. In addition the CCI solution is anticipated to expand into the following future capabilities: Conversational AI (Voice & Chat) Natural language voice bots and chatbots Multilingual conversational AI Intent recognition with contextual memory Dynamic conversation flow generation Voice AI with natural prosody and interruption handling AI Intent-Based Routing Routes contacts based on detected intent, sentiment, customer value and/or agent expertise Predictive Routing Optimizes for CSAT, FCR and AHT Journey-Aware Routing Considers prior interactions, unresolved tickets, open incidents and channel switching Proactive and Predictive Service Proactive outreach notifying customers of outages, proactive service alerts and AI-triggered outreach when behavior indicates trouble Predictive issue resolution when detecting potential service failures and automatically opening tickets or contacting customers Workforce Engagement Management AI forecasting of contact volumes Automated scheduling Skill-based workforce planning Real-time adherence monitoring Agent coaching recommendations Hyper-Personalized Customer Experience Customer identity resolution Interaction history Behavioral signals Real-time personalization Intelligent Process Automation Auto ticket creation Backend task automation System integration workflows Automated service fulfillment Knowledge Intelligence AI-generated Knowledge Articles Knowledge GAP detection Auto-recommendation during calls (within IVR and for agents) Knowledge effectiveness scoring Automatic knowledge creation from resolved cases Real-Time Operational Intelligence Real-time service dashboards Anomaly detection Predictive workload forecasting Customer journey analytics Root cause identification Integrated Service Management Ticket creation from calls IVR context passed into tickets Automated updates between systems Incident correlation Service status awareness Simulation-Based Agent Training AI-generated training scenarios Simulated customer interactions Automated feedback Experience Orchestration Customer journey orchestration Cross-system workflow execution Real-time decision engines Adaptive service workflows 4.0 Submittal Instructions All responsible sources may submit a capability statement in accordance with the information below. Interested parties shall provide a maximum of five-pages briefly addressing their recommended solution and approach. All responses should at minimum provide: Recommended approach to maintaining, enhancing, and/or replacing ECO s current CCI solution and associated benefits/risks to this approach Flexible cost-effective Firm-Fixed-Price licensing models for the CCI solution to support fluctuating helpdesk agents and other users Strategic opportunities for future capabilities and enhancements Recommended contract vehicle, In addition, all responses should list your company business size and status. Responses are due no later than 10:00AM ET Monday, May 4, 2026 via email to Dan DiNocera, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]; Andrea Caltabilota, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]; and Evan Schlisserman, Contracting Officer, at [email protected]. Please submit all responses via email using the subject line ECO CCI Solution- Capability Statement and provide a Point of Contact, if needed.