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 Daniel.dinocera@va.gov; Andrea Caltabilota, Contract Specialist, at Andrea.Caltabilota@va.gov; and Evan Schlisserman, Contracting Officer, at Evan.Schlisserman@va.gov. Please submit all responses via email using the subject line ECO CCI Solution- Capability Statement and provide a Point of Contact, if needed.
