Federal Contact Centers: Mechanism for Sharing Metrics and	 
Oversight Practices along with Improved Data Needed (08-FEB-06,  
GAO-06-270).							 
                                                                 
Federal agencies have increasingly relied on contact		 
centers--centers handling inquiries via multiple channels such as
telephone, Web page, e-mail, and postal mail--as a key means of  
communicating with the public. Many of these centers are	 
contractor-operated. Concerns exist about the accuracy of	 
responses provided through contractor-operated centers. This	 
report examines (1) the extent to which the contract terms and	 
oversight practices for contact centers at selected agencies	 
emphasize the importance of providing accurate information to the
public, and (2) whether guidance for the operation of contact	 
centers and basic information needed to provide general oversight
exist. GAO reviewed one contractor-operated contact center at	 
each of six agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and	 
Prevention (CDC), General Services Administration (GSA), U.S.	 
Postal Service (USPS), and the Departments of Defense, Labor, and
Education (DOD, DOL, and Education).				 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-270 					        
    ACCNO:   A46498						        
  TITLE:     Federal Contact Centers: Mechanism for Sharing Metrics   
and Oversight Practices along with Improved Data Needed 	 
     DATE:   02/08/2006 
  SUBJECT:   Contract oversight 				 
	     Contract terms					 
	     Data integrity					 
	     Federal procurement				 
	     Government information dissemination		 
	     Information centers				 
	     Public relations					 
	     Standards						 
	     Quality assurance					 
	     Policy evaluation					 
	     GSA Federal Procurement Data System		 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-06-270

     

     * Results in Brief
     * Background
     * Emphasis on Providing Accurate Information to the Public Var
          * Most Agencies' Contract Metrics Include Accuracy, but Some D
          * Agencies' Contractor Oversight Practices Vary
               * Oversight Practice 1: Regular Knowledge Database Review
               * Oversight Practice 2: Regular Agency Contact Monitoring
               * Oversight Practice 3: Postcontact Customer Satisfa
               * Oversight Practice 4: Validation of Contractor Reports
     * Governmentwide Guidance and Information on Contact Centers D
          * Limited Federal Guidance for Operating and Overseeing Contra
          * Governmentwide Data on Contact Centers Do Not Exist
     * Conclusions
     * Recommendations for Executive Action
     * Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
     * GAO Contact
     * Acknowledgments
     * GAO's Mission
     * Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony
          * Order by Mail or Phone
     * To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
     * Congressional Relations
     * Public Affairs

                 United States Government Accountability Office

Report to Congressional Requesters

GAO

February 2006

FEDERAL CONTACT CENTERS

 Mechanism for Sharing Metrics and Oversight Practices along with Improved Data
                                     Needed

GAO-06-270

FEDERAL CONTACT CENTERS

Mechanism for Sharing Metrics and Oversight Practices along with Improved
Data Needed

  What GAO Found

The contracts and oversight practices for the contact centers of the six
agencies reviewed, which handle millions of inquiries annually, varied
significantly regarding the emphasis they placed on providing accurate
information to the public. Although federal policy for disseminating
information to the public specifically emphasizes accuracy, only four of
the six agencies include accuracy as a performance metric in their
contracts. With respect to oversight, only two of the six agencies used
all four of the accuracy-related oversight practices we identified-regular
knowledge database reviews, regular contact monitoring, postcontact
customer satisfaction surveys, and validation of contractor reports.
Although each agency used some form of oversight to assess the accuracy of
the information provided by its contact center, each agency differed
regarding how it implemented these practices.

There is no governmentwide guidance or standards for operating contact
centers-including guidance on specifying accuracy as a contract
performance metric or as a key focus for oversight. Some agencies
indicated that had federal guidance been available, it would have helped
them establish performance indicators and develop oversight policies and
practices. Recognizing the need for operational standards for contact
centers, an interagency working group recently proposed draft guidelines
to OMB and other federal agencies, but OMB has no plans to issue these
guidelines or any standards for use by agencies. Additionally, until
recently the federal government had not collected data on the universe of
federal contact centers. OMB and GSA attempted to collect data on the
number, types, and costs of federal contact centers in 2004, but the data
collected were incomplete. In addition, no governmentwide procurement
information was reported to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) in
fiscal years 2000 through 2004 using the reporting code for telephone call
centers, which OMB said is the appropriate code for contact centers. The
five agencies we reviewed that report data to FPDS used a variety of
different codes, some because they believe that the telephone call center
code is too narrow to cover the services of their multichannel contact
centers.

Agency Oversight Practices Used for Ensuring Accuracy of Information
                       Regular                   Postcontact   
                      knowledge       Regular      customer     Validation of 
                       database       contact    satisfaction      contractor 
Agency               review      monitoring      surveys           reports 
CDC                 planned         SQRT         planned        SQRT       
DOD-TMA North                                     SQRT      
DOL                  SQRT           SQRT                    
Education            SQRT           SQRT                    
GSA                  SQRT           SQRT          SQRT          SQRT       
USPS                 SQRT           SQRT          SQRT          SQRT       

United States Government Accountability Office

Contents

  Letter 1

Results in Brief 4 Background 5 Emphasis on Providing Accurate Information
to the Public Varies 7 Governmentwide Guidance and Information on Contact
Centers

Do Not Exist 12 Conclusions 17 Recommendations for Executive Action 17
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 18

Appendix I Scope and Methodology

Appendix II Contact Center Profiles for Six Agencies Reviewed

Appendix III Comments from the Department of Defense

        Appendix IV Comments from the General Services Administration 32

Appendix V Comments from the Department of Health & Human Services

Appendix VI GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

Appendix VII Related GAO Products

  Tables

Table 1: Agency Contact Centers Reviewed 3 Table 2: Summary of Key
Performance Metrics in Agency Contracts 8

    Page i GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

     Table 3: Description of Oversight Practices for Ensuring Accuracy  
     of Information                                                         9 
     Table 4: Agency Oversight Practices Used for Ensuring Accuracy of  
     Information                                                           10 
     Table 5: NAICS Codes Used for Contact Center Contracts             
     Reviewed                                                              16 
     Table 6: Contact Center Profiles for Agencies Reviewed                24 

Abbreviations

CDC                Centers for Disease Control and Prevention              
DOD                Department of Defense                                   
DOL                Department of Labor                                     
FPDS               Federal Procurement Data System                         
GSA                General Services Administration                         
NAICS                        North American Industry Classification System 
OFPP               Office of Federal Procurement Policy                    
OMB                Office of Management and Budget                         
TMA                TriCare Management Activity                             
USPS               U.S. Postal Service                                     

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

February 8, 2006

The Honorable Henry A. Waxman Ranking Member Committee on Government
Reform House of Representatives

The Honorable Edolphus Towns Ranking Member Subcommittee on Government
Management,

Finance, and Accountability Committee on Government Reform House of
Representatives

Each year millions of citizens contact the government for information
critical to their health, finances, or general well-being. In recent
years, federal agencies have increasingly relied on contact
centers-centers handling inquiries via multiple channels such as
telephone, Web page, email, and postal mail-as an important means of
communicating with the general public. This was demonstrated most recently
during the response to Hurricane Katrina. One of the principal ways the
federal government delivers results, according to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), is by providing timely and accurate information to
citizens. 1 Improving access to high-quality government information and
services is an important focus for OMB's current electronic government
initiative, which is an element of the President's Management Agenda.
Information provided to the public can be evaluated by various measures,
including accuracy, timeliness, completeness, courtesy, and overall
customer service satisfaction. OMB guidance specifies accuracy as one of
the basic elements of quality for information provided by agencies to the
public. 2 Incorrect information provided in a fast and courteous manner
may be satisfying initially, but in the long run, it may be of little use
or could be detrimental to the individual.

1

Office of Management and Budget, Expanding E-Government: Partnering for a
Results-Oriented Government, (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 2004).

2

Office of Management and Budget, Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing
the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information
Disseminated by Federal Agencies, Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 36 (Feb.
22, 2002).

    Page 1 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

Many agencies have contracted with private sector firms to operate contact
centers. Recent GAO reports identified high error rates in the accuracy of
policy-oriented responses given to the public through one
contractor-operated contact center. 3 In this context, you asked us to
review how agencies are overseeing their contractor-operated contact
centers to ensure that they provide accurate information to the public.
Specifically, we (1) identified the extent to which the contract terms and
oversight practices for selected agencies' contractor-operated contact
centers emphasize the importance of providing accurate information to the
public, and (2) determined whether guidance for the operation of contact
centers and basic information needed to provide general oversight exist.

To identify contract terms and oversight practices for contact centers, we
selected one contact center at each of six agencies. We selected centers
that handle over 1 million inquiries annually and provide information to
citizens that could significantly affect their finances, health, or
safety. 4 Table 1 lists the contact centers we selected for our review and
the main public inquiry issues they handle.

3

GAO, Medicare: Accuracy of Responses from the 1-800-MEDICARE Help Line
Should Be Improved, GAO-05-130 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 8, 2004); GAO,
Medicare: Call Centers Need to Improve Responses to Policy-Oriented
Questions from Providers , GAO-04-669 (Washington, D.C.: Jul. 16, 2004).

4

One agency we selected for our review-the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention-is in its first year of a 4-year consolidation of workloads.
The contact center is projected to receive an estimated 2.7 million
inquiries annually when it is fully operational.

Table 1: Agency Contact Centers Reviewed
Agency                     Contact center          Public inquiry issues   
                                                      handled                 
Department of Defense      Healthnet's contact             Medical benefit 
(DOD) TriCare              center                   coverage, enrollments, 
                                                                          and 
Management Activity (TMA)                          claims processing       
North region a                                     
Department of Education    Federal Student Aid     Aid application status  
(Education)                Information             and loan issues         
                              Center                  
Department of Health and   CDC INFO contact center     Disease prevention, 
Human Services'                                    detection, and outbreak 
Centers for Disease                                control information     
Control and Prevention                             
(CDC)                                              
Department of Labor (DOL)  National Contact Center   Job issues, workplace 
                                                          safety, pension and 
                                                      health benefits         
General Services           National Contact Center General information and 
Administration (GSA)                               referrals for any       
                                                          government program; 
                                                        orders for government 
                                                      publications            
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) National Contact Center Mail delivery and       
                                                      shipping issues         

Source: GAO.

a

DOD TMA is divided into three separate contract service regions-North,
South, and West.

For each of these centers, we interviewed agency officials and reviewed
the contract terms and performance measures, as well as the policies,
procedures, reports, and tools used to oversee and evaluate the
contractors' operation of the contact centers. In addition, we visited
four contractor-operated centers to observe their operations and quality
control procedures. We did not independently assess the operations of the
contact centers or evaluate the effectiveness of the contractors' quality
control processes. We identified industry practices for ensuring the
accuracy of information provided by contact centers and interviewed
representatives from two major contact center industry groups.

To determine the guidance provided to agencies and the information
gathered by the federal government about contact centers, we interviewed
OMB and GSA officials and reviewed OMB guidance, the results of OMB's
request for information from federal agencies about their centers, GSA's
baseline survey of a sample of agencies' centers, and data from the
Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). We also reviewed the report of the
GSA-sponsored interagency working group-the Citizen Service Levels
Interagency Committee-that developed potential standards for federal
contact centers. Appendix I includes a more detailed discussion of our
scope and methodology, and appendix II contains additional details on the
six contact centers we reviewed. Our work was conducted from February
through November 2005 in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards.

  Results in Brief

The contracts and oversight practices six agencies used for their
contractor-operated contact centers varied significantly regarding the
emphasis they placed on providing accurate information to the public.
Although federal policy for disseminating information to the public
specifically emphasizes accuracy, only four of the six agencies' contracts
explicitly include accuracy as a performance metric. Each agency we
reviewed used some form of oversight to assess the accuracy of the
information provided by its contact center, but only two of the six
agencies used all four of the accuracy-related oversight practices we
identified, such as contact monitoring and independent review of
contractor performance reports. Each agency differed regarding how it
implemented the various practices. For example, some agencies monitor
calls only on an ad hoc basis, whereas others use a more structured system
of monitoring to ensure accuracy. This variance was due to a number of
factors, such as differences among the agencies in staffing levels,
funding, and the use of guidance specific to the agency.

There is no governmentwide guidance or standards for operating contact
centers-including guidance on including accuracy as a contract performance
metric or as a focus for oversight. Some agencies indicated that had
federal guidance been available, it would have helped them establish
performance indicators for service quality, identify the most effective
contract types and provisions, and develop oversight policies and
practices. Recognizing the need for operational standards, an interagency
working group recently proposed draft guidelines to federal agencies and
OMB. Officials at OMB have reviewed the proposed guidelines but do not
plan to issue any governmentwide guidance at this time; they believe
agencies can refer to the proposed guidelines for guidance. Additionally,
until recently the federal government has not collected data on the
universe of federal contact centers that could be used in oversight of
their operations. In 2004, OMB and GSA attempted to collect data on the
number, types, and costs of federal contact centers. The data collected
are incomplete, however, because OMB did not follow up with nonresponding
agencies and the survey GSA used to collect the data had methodological
flaws. In addition, each of the agencies we reviewed that reported
information to FPDS chose a different reporting code for its contact
center. None of the agencies used the code that OMB says covers contact
center services because at least some of the agencies believe the code is
limited to telephone services. OMB is considering issuing a clarification
to the description of the code to explain that the code includes not just
telephones, but also Web sites, e-mails, facsimiles, and so forth, in its
next update to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
manual.

                                   Background

This report contains recommendations to OMB and GSA that are intended to
promote the sharing of metrics and oversight practices for contact center
operations and to ensure that governmentwide data gathered on contact
centers provide reliable information. OMB and three of the six agencies
whose centers we reviewed provided comments on a draft of this report.
OMB, CDC, and GSA concurred with our recommendations. DOD did not concur
with our draft report because it believed that we did not describe all the
efforts taken to ensure the accuracy of its contact center information. We
recognize that DOD takes steps, through its contractor and otherwise, to
ensure the accuracy of its contact center information. Nevertheless, we
found no specific performance metric in the contract itself regarding
accuracy, and we believe our report correctly depicts DOD's use of the
oversight practices we identified.

In 2001, the President announced his management agenda for making the
government more focused on citizens and results, which included expanding
Electronic Government (E-Government). The President's E-Government
Strategy identified several governmentwide initiatives with a goal of
eliminating redundant systems and significantly improving the government's
quality of customer service for citizens and businesses. The expected
results of the E-Government initiative include providing highquality
customer service regardless of whether a citizen contacts an agency by
phone, in person, or on the worldwide Web. The E-Government Act of 2002
codified the President's E-Government initiatives and expanded OMB's
leadership role by establishing the Office of E-Government and Information
Technology within OMB. 5 The act also requires that agencies comply with
OMB E-Guidance. One of the 24 presidential E-Government initiatives is
developing and deploying governmentwide citizen customer service using
industry best practices that will provide citizens with timely, consistent
responses about government information and services via e-mail, telephone,
Internet, and publications.

By congressional direction, OMB also is responsible for establishing and
issuing governmentwide guidelines to federal agencies for ensuring the
quality of the information disseminated to the public. 6 In response to
this

5

E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347, Section 101 (December 17,
2002). The U.S. Postal Service considers itself exempt from this act.

6

Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001, Public Law 106-554, Section 515
(December 21, 2000).

Page 5 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

direction, OMB issued guidance to agencies in February 2002 that defined
the quality of information to include accuracy as one of its fundamental
elements and directed agencies to develop procedures for reviewing and
substantiating the quality of their information before dissemination. 7

Contact centers are one method agencies use to disseminate information to
the public. In the past, public inquiries to the government were often
made by telephone and thus federal agencies began establishing call
centers. With evolving technology, citizen inquiries to the government now
come through various channels such as e-mails, Web-based forms,
facsimiles, Web chat rooms, and traditional postal mail. As a result,
agencies have established multichannel contact centers to handle these
inquiries. 8 Contact centers rely on automated and live telephone response
systems, Web site technologies, and trained customer service
representatives to provide information to the public. For
contractoroperated contact centers, the agency typically provides either
scripted responses or the content from which the contractor creates its
own scripted responses. The scripts are used for the prerecorded telephone
response systems, Web pages, and preformatted responses given by the
customer service representatives. Contact centers are staffed in tiers by
generalist or specialist representatives or a combination of both.
Usually, Tier 1 staff handle general information inquiries and direct more
complex or personal issues to specialized Tier 2 or Tier 3 staff or to the
agency's subject matter experts.

One method for obtaining information on the contact centers that are
operated by contractors on behalf of the government is to review data from
FPDS. FPDS is used to report individual procurement transactions, which
include the industrial classification of the goods and services procured
by the federal government. FPDS was implemented by OMB's Office of Federal
Procurement Policy (OFPP) in 1978 in response to the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy Act of 1974 requirement of establishing a system for
collecting and developing information about federal procurement contracts.
9 Since 1982, GSA has administered FPDS on OFPP's behalf. In 2003, the
system was revised and is now called FPDS

7

Federal Register, volume 67, number 36, pages 8452-8460, February 22,
2002.

8

See appendix IV for a list of GAO reports concerning call and contact
centers.

9

  Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act of 1974, Public Law 93-400 (August
                                   30,1974).

                   Page 6 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

  Emphasis on Providing Accurate Information to the Public Varies

Next Generation. 10 A wide range of users, including those with the
executive and legislative branches, rely on FPDS data for information on
agency contracting actions, governmentwide procurement trends, and
achievement of goals related to small business.

The six agencies we reviewed emphasized accuracy of contact center
information to varying degrees through the quality assurance mechanisms of
their contracts and various oversight practices. Four of the six included
a specific metric to measure contractor performance related to providing
accurate information to the public, but only one of the six used all four
of the oversight practices we identified-such as actively monitoring
contacts-to ensure that accurate information is provided to the public.

    Most Agencies' Contract Metrics Include Accuracy, but Some Did Not

Each of the six agencies we reviewed specified key performance metrics
that its contractor is required to meet. These performance metrics define
the minimum level of quality acceptable to the agency and provide the
basis against which the contractor is to be evaluated. We found that four
of the six agencies' contracts included accuracy of information in one or
more of the key performance metrics. The remaining two agencies did not
have specific metrics that addressed the need to provide accurate
information to the public. Table 2 summarizes the key performance metrics
specified in the contracts we reviewed and indicates through shading those
that specifically address providing accurate information.

10

GAO, Improvements Needed to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next
Generation, GAO-05-960R, (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 27, 2005).

Page 7 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

        Table 2: Summary of Key Performance Metrics in Agency Contracts

     o Customer satisfaction-point value based on monthly average of survey
       respondents providing favorable rating
     o Cost management-efficiency of operational costs
     o Business performance-ability to collaborate with other related
       contractors

  DOD-TMA  o  Busy signals-required percentage of calls received without busy
                                     signal

o  Hold time-limit to the number of seconds of hold time during the call

DOL

     o Staff occupancy-Minimum percentage of time that customer service
       representatives are actively handling inquiries
     o First contact resolution-required percentage of contacts resolved
       during first contact
     o Service level-percentage of calls answered within specified number of
       seconds
     o Average speed of answer-required percentage of calls answered within
       specific number of seconds
     o Abandonment rate-minimum percentage of calls that disconnect before
       being handled by the automated system or a customer service
       representative
     o All trunks busy-minimum percentage of time all telephone trunk lines
       are busy
     o Percentage of calls completed in Interactive Voice Response
       system-minimum percentage of calls handled by the automated response
       system
     o Customer satisfaction-percentage of survey respondents providing
       favorable rating
     o Hold time-limit to the number of seconds of hold time while waiting in
       call queue

Education

     o Customer satisfaction-percentage of survey respondents providing
       favorable rating
     o Average speed of answer-required percentage of calls answered within
       specific number of seconds while maintaining minimal abandonment rate
     o Customer satisfaction-percentage of survey respondents providing
       favorable rating on automated surveys at end of call, outbound call
       surveys, and e-mail surveys; required percentage increase in the
       number of survey respondents providing favorable ratings each quarter
     o Average speed of answer-required percentage of calls answered within
       specific number of seconds and e-mails/postal/faxes/orders responded
       to within specific number of business days
     o Service availability-required percentage of time that services are
       available to the public

USPS  o  First contact resolution-required percentage of inquiries
resolved during first contact (call/e-mail/postal/fax)

     o Service level-required percentage of calls answered within specific
       number of seconds
     o Customer satisfaction-percentage of survey respondents providing
       favorable rating on automated surveys at end of call, outbound call
       surveys, and e-mail surveys

Source: GAO analysis of agencies' contracts.

Note: Shaded metrics are those that specifically address accuracy of
information.

    Agencies' Contractor Oversight Practices Vary

The Federal Acquisition Regulation requires agencies to perform and
document oversight of their contractors' performance to ensure the
government receives high-quality services as specified in the contract. 11
Agency oversight provides quality assurance independent of the
contractors' own quality control processes. Although each agency employed
some oversight practices, only two of the six agencies we reviewed used
all four of the oversight practices we identified for ensuring that
accurate information is provided to the public. Each agency emphasized
accuracy of information to varying degrees within its practices.

On the basis of our review of industry contact center practices and the
practices employed by the agencies considered leaders in government
contact centers, we identified four agency oversight practices related to
ensuring that accurate information is provided to the public via a
contractor-operated contact center. 12 Table 3 describes the four
accuracyrelated oversight practices.

Table 3: Description of Oversight Practices for Ensuring Accuracy of Information

                         Oversight practice Description

Regular knowledge database Regular review of the information used by
customer service representatives to respond to management inquiries, known
in the industry as the "knowledge database;" "regular" is defined as
occurring at least annually

Regular contact monitoring Regular reviews of the information provided in
calls or e-mails to evaluate how well the customer service representatives
handled the inquiry; the evaluation typically uses a score sheet that
allows the reviewer to rate the customer service representatives in
multiple areas, such as courtesy, accuracy of information provided,
timeliness, completeness, and so forth; "regular" is defined as occurring
at least on a weekly basis

Postcontact customer satisfaction Surveys asking if the individual was
satisfied with the service received from the contact center;

surveys survey questions ask about the individual's opinions, including,
to a limited extent, whether the information received was accurate;
"postcontact" surveys refer to those initiated by the agency subsequent to
the initial contact and do not include self-selected surveys available at
the end of a telephone conversation

Validation of contractor reports Validating the data provided in
contractor-prepared reports to ensure accuracy; these reports, which could
be provided daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, include operational
information such as the center's workload volumes, transaction handling
times, and results of the contractor's contact monitoring

Source: GAO analysis based on review of industry practices and discussions with
                    officials from the agencies we reviewed.

11

Federal Acquisition Regulation, at Sections 37.602-2 and 46.104 (July
2005).

12

Some of the agencies we reviewed indicated that training is also a key
part of ensuring accuracy. However, since training was provided as part of
the contractors' quality control processes, we did not consider it an
oversight practice.

Page 9 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

The first two practices, knowledge database management and agency contact
monitoring, provide direct oversight regarding accuracy of information,
because they focus on detecting inaccuracies in the source information
used to provide responses to the public and in the actual responses
provided by the customer service representatives. The remaining two
practices, customer satisfaction surveys and validation of
contractor-prepared reports, are more indirect methods of ensuring
accuracy in that they review customers' reactions to the information
provided and independent agency corroboration of the contractor's
reporting on its own quality procedures. The agencies we reviewed varied
with respect to how they implemented these practices. This variance was
due to a number of factors, such as differences among the agencies in
staffing levels, funding, and the use of guidance specific to the agency.
Table 4 shows the extent to which the six agencies we reviewed employ each
of the accuracy-related oversight practices.

Table 4: Agency Oversight Practices Used for Ensuring Accuracy of
Information 
                           Agency oversight practices
                  Regular    Regular contact Postcontact       Validation of  
                 knowledge                   customer         
Agency        database      monitoring      satisfaction        contractor 
                  review                         surveys              reports 
CDC                            SQRT                             SQRT       
                  Planned       Daily by         Planned      By third-party  
                               third-party                    
                               contractor                       contractor    
DOD-TMA                                                    
North                                          SQRT        

                                DOL  SQRT  SQRT

                            Continuous basis Weekly

Education        SQRT         SQRT                        
                  Annually       Weekly                      
GSA              SQRT         SQRT          SQRT                SQRT       
              Continuous basis   Weekly    On publication    
                                               orders        
USPS             SQRT         SQRT          SQRT               SQRT        
              Continuous basis   Weekly                      With third-party 
                                                        contractor assistance
                     Source: GAO        
                       analysis.        

Oversight Practice 1: Regular Knowledge Database Reviews

Oversight Practice 2:

Regular Agency Contact

Monitoring

Oversight Practice 3: Postcontact Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Most of the agencies we reviewed had a structured process for ensuring
accurate information is maintained in the knowledge database. DOL,
Education, GSA, and USPS approve contractor-developed information that is
created based on government-provided materials. These agencies then
perform periodic reviews of the information in the knowledge database. CDC
currently prepares all scripted responses and Web site information, which
the contractor is required to use, and plans to implement annual reviews
of the knowledge database, starting at the first anniversary of operation
in February 2006. TMA allows the contractor to develop information based
on material TMA provides, but does not review the information used by the
contractor to respond to public inquires. DOD said that TMA relies on the
expertise and skills of its contractor to provide the required services.

Almost all of the agencies we reviewed perform regular monitoring of the
contractor's responses to the public to help assess whether accurate
information is provided. CDC, DOL, Education, GSA, and USPS each monitor a
number of contacts on a regular basis, although accuracy of information is
addressed to varying degrees in the score sheets. For example, accuracy is
clearly weighted as an important aspect of the call in CDC's score sheet.
Therefore if an inaccurate answer is provided, the contractor "fails" for
that call and the customer service representative is counseled. On the
other hand, Education's score sheet does not clearly weight accuracy of
information. Education and its contractor staff could not explain how
providing inaccurate information on a call would be indicated on the
monitoring score sheet. In addition to giving different weights to
accuracy, the five agencies also vary in terms of the frequency with which
they monitor their contacts. Education and USPS each employ one full-time
staff to monitor a selection of the contact centers' contacts. CDC has a
third-party contractor monitor the contact center on a daily basis and
uses this assessment in the determination of the contractor's award fee.
GSA staff monitor a sample of calls on a weekly basis and started
performing quarterly audits of the contractor's monitoring efforts in
November 2005. The sixth center, TMA, only monitors calls on an ad hoc
basis when officials visit the contact center.

Three of the agencies we reviewed conduct customer satisfaction surveys
subsequent to the initial contact from an individual. GSA, TMA, and USPS
conduct customer satisfaction surveys, which ask, to limited degrees,
questions that address the accuracy of information provided. While
providing some level of insight regarding accuracy, customer surveys may
not always provide a valid basis for oversight of the accuracy of
information, since they usually ask the individual's opinion on the
service provided. If the survey is conducted too closely to the time of
the inquiry, the individual may not have had time to act upon the
information to know whether it is accurate or not. CDC plans to implement
three types of postcontact customer satisfaction surveys through a
third-party contractor beginning in June 2006. DOL does not conduct
postcontact surveys because it does not maintain personal information on
the individuals that contact the agency.

Three of the six agencies we reviewed take steps to validate the
information in the contractor-prepared reports related to contact center
performance. These reports generally include some aspects related to
accuracy of information provided to the public, such as the contractor's
results of its monitoring of contacts. CDC and USPS validate to some
degree the reports provided by the contractor. GSA conducts quarterly
audits of its contractor's supporting data. Although DOL, Education, and
TMA review their contractor reports, they rely upon the reports without
validation. According to GAO's standards for internal control in the
federal government, good internal control practices require that agencies
validate the performance reports provided by the contractor to ensure the
information is valid. 13

Oversight Practice 4: Validation of Contractor Reports

  Governmentwide Guidance and Information on Contact Centers Do Not Exist

The federal government does not have comprehensive, centralized guidance
for operating a contact center or for overseeing a contractoroperated
center. Although operation and oversight of contact centers are the
responsibility of individual agencies, GSA, in consultation with OMB,
determined that governmentwide standards would be useful. GSA sponsored an
interagency committee that recently provided draft guidelines for
operating federal contact centers to OMB and other federal agencies.
However, OMB told us it does not plan to issue any governmentwide guidance
based on the committee's recommended guidelines at this time, because OMB
has not identified the operation of contact centers as an area of concern.
Furthermore, until recently, no governmentwide information specific to
contact centers has been collected. Initial attempts to gather
governmentwide information about the number and type of activities that
agencies use to provide public information proved to be inadequate for
providing a comprehensive

13

GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government,
GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999); Internal Control
Management and Evaluation Tool, GAO-01-1008G (Washington, D.C.: August
2001).

Page 12 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

    Limited Federal Guidance for Operating and Overseeing Contractor-Operated
    Contact Centers

governmentwide view of contact centers. In addition, officials from the
agencies we reviewed told us that no industry classification code in FPDS
currently covers the full range of services provided by a contact center.

In its 2004 report on the electronic government initiative, OMB
highlighted the importance of delivering timely and accurate information
to the public and stated that there are opportunities to apply existing
and emerging best practices to achieve increases in productivity and
delivery of services and information. 14 To date, however, OMB has
established only limited guidance on preferred practices at contact
centers. The only OMB guidance 15 we found that specifically related to
contact centers is focused on the use of performance-based contracting for
such services. 16 This guidance is dated and limited in its coverage and
does not provide guidance on performance metrics for contact centers or
oversight practices.

Because of the need for governmentwide standards for operating contact
centers, GSA in consultation with OMB, took the initiative to form an
interagency working group to propose guidelines to OMB and other federal
agencies. Formed in March 2005, the Citizen Service Levels Interagency
Committee is composed of 58 contact service representatives from 33
executive branch agencies. In addition to relying on their knowledge in
running contact centers, the committee also had a contractor perform two
studies to provide insight on citizens' expectations when contacting
government agencies for information and current industry metrics,
benchmarks, and best practices for operating contact centers. The
committee submitted a report with 37 proposed standards for operating
contact centers to OMB in September 2005, including four standards
specifically related to ensuring accuracy. The committee plans to continue
to work on additional contact center issues and to help agencies implement
any contact center standards that OMB might

14

Office of Management and Budget, Expanding E-Government: Partnering for a
Results-Oriented Government, (Washington, D.C.: December 2004).

15

Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Performance-Based Concepts for
Telephone Call Center Contracting, (Washington, D.C.: 1997).

16

Performance-based contracts specify the desired outcomes and allow the
contractors to determine how best to achieve those outcomes, rather than
prescribe the methods contractors should use. Performance-based contracts
can encourage contractors to be innovative and to find cost-effective ways
of delivering services.

endorse. In October 2005, OMB officials stated that they had reviewed the
committee's report but did not plan to issue any governmentwide guidance
based on the committee's recommended guidelines at this time, because OMB
has not identified the operation of contact centers as an area of concern.
OMB stated further that if agencies need additional guidance in developing
their standards, they can refer to the committee's report.

The agencies we reviewed each performed independent research to develop
their contracts and formulate a management strategy for operating their
contact centers. Performing independent research resulted in duplication
of efforts across agencies, using limited resources and taking valuable
time. For example, to develop guidance, the Department of Education
performed market research, worked with a contractor on customer services
and related standards, and studied industry best practices on a limited
basis. Similarly, CDC sent out a request for information to industry to
gain insight on the technology available for operating contact centers
before it developed its contract. CDC then performed market research,
reviewed industry practices, and visited other government contact centers,
such as that of the Social Security Administration and the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, to learn about the practices of
government- and contractor-operated centers.

In 2004, GSA created a multiple-award contract called FirstContact to
assist agencies in contracting for contact center services. Under this
multiple-award contract, agencies can issue a task order to any of five
preapproved contractors to operate a contact center. Using FirstContact
will minimize the time and effort required of agencies to locate a
contractor to manage their centers. To date, the Department of Homeland
Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency, GSA, and the Department of
Health and Human Services have placed six task orders against this
contract, and three other agencies are looking to place orders as well.
For example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently used this
contract vehicle to quickly provide contact center services for the influx
of calls and applications for government assistance in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. Although agencies now have this multiple-award contract
as a mechanism to assist them in contracting for contact center service,
they still must develop specific performance metrics and oversight
practices specific to their center.

Governmentwide Data on Given the lack of governmentwide information on the
activities that provide information to the public, OMB made an initial
attempt to collect Contact Centers Do Not Exist such data in 2004. For
this effort, OMB issued a data request to all

executive branch agencies to obtain basic data, such as the contact center

Page 14 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

name, volume of contacts, and whether performance and cost metrics are
collected, for every activity that provides information directly to the
public. OMB normally uses data requests as a census tool to acquire a
snapshot of the current budget environment of the government. Agencies
responded by self-identifying over 1,800 activities that currently provide
information to citizens using various communication channels such as
telephone, e-mail, and Internet Web sites. The individual activities
identified ranged in size from a couple of employees who answer telephone
calls as part of their duties to contact centers with staffs of several
hundred employees who handle millions of inquiries through several
channels. Of the 1,800 activities identified, over 500 categorized
themselves as contact centers. Since it was making a nonstandard data
request, OMB performed little follow-up on nonresponding agencies and did
not verify reported results. We noted that some large agencies, such as
DOD, did not report any activities that provide information to the public.

In an effort to expand on the information collected through the OMB data
request, GSA surveyed 360 activities-approximately a quarter of those who
responded to the data request-to develop a baseline snapshot of
governmentwide activities providing information to the public. However,
GSA's survey methodology was flawed because the agency selected its sample
from an incomplete universe, had a low survey response rate, and did not
perform a nonresponder analysis. Thus, the survey results did not provide
a representative view of activities across the government. GSA plans to
conduct a follow-up survey of government activities in 2007.

While OMB and GSA information regarding the universe of federal contact
centers is incomplete, another potential source of information on those
contact centers that are contracted out by the government is the FPDS.
Since its inception in 1978, the FPDS has served as the governmentwide
system for collecting federal procurement data. Five of the six agencies
we reviewed, however, each used a different code to report their contact
center procurement actions to FPDS. 17 Officials from agencies we reviewed
told us that no current North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) code covers the full range of services provided by a

USPS does not report to FPDS.

contact center. 18 Table 5 lists the NAICS codes used by the five agencies
reporting data to FPDS.

        Table 5: NAICS Codes Used for Contact Center Contracts Reviewed

                       Agency NAICS code NAICS definition

           CDC 518210 Data processing, hosting, and related services

          DOD-TMA 524114 Direct health and medical insurance carriers

                   DOL 541519 Other computer-related services

               Education 541512 Computer systems design services

                   GSA 519190 All other information services

Source: GAO analysis.

The five agencies that reported to FPDS chose different NAICS codes for
different reasons. Officials from DOL and GSA stated that they chose
alternative NAICS codes because the definition provided for telephone call
center does not cover all of the activities handled in a contact center.
Education and DOD-TMA officials explained that they chose NAICS codes that
encompassed the main work of the contract, since the contact center is
only a portion of the work in a contract for a larger program. CDC chose
its NAICS code based upon the information technology services required for
creating its contact center.

No governmentwide procurement information was reported to FPDS using the
NAICS codes for telephone call centers in fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
This category of NAICS codes-56142-is defined as establishments primarily
engaged in answering telephone calls and relaying messages or in
telemarketing activities. Although officials from three of the agencies we
reviewed expressed the opinion that the definition for telephone call
centers is too narrow to encompass all the work performed by a contact
center, OMB told us that the telephone call center code is the correct
code to use. Specifically, OMB stated that the subcode of 561422-
telemarketing bureaus-was written with the intent to cover all the
functions of a contact center. OMB is considering issuing a clarification
to the description of the 56142 codes to explain that these codes include
more than telephones-such as Web sites, e-mails, facsimiles, and so
forth-in its next update to the NAICS manual in 2012.

The NAICS code is used to classify the industry type for the product or
service being purchased. It replaced the Standard Industrial Code.

Page 16 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

  Conclusions

Providing timely and accurate information is a key result area for the
federal government. Federal agencies that use contractor-operated contact
centers to meet the public's demand for information assume the burden of
assuring that the information provided by the contractors is accurate.
While the agencies we reviewed have taken a variety of steps to ensure
that their contractor-operated contact centers address accuracy, at some
agencies accuracy clearly does not have the same priority as other
objectives, such as timeliness. Although agencies need flexibility in
meeting the needs of the individuals that contact them, they also can
benefit from the experience gained by their peers operating other
government contact centers. Short of mandating specific guidance,
increased sharing among agencies of successful practices for managing
contact centers may help improve their abilities to write and oversee
contracts for these centers and may avoid needless duplication of effort.
The guidelines proposed by the Citizen Service Levels Interagency
Committee are a step in this direction. However, whether this effort will
result in information sharing across agencies is uncertain. Leveraging
knowledge gained by other agencies through the sharing of effective
practices could be enhanced by governmentwide leadership. OMB's leadership
of the electronic government initiative, its role in guiding agency
dissemination of public information, as well as its procurement policy
role, put it in an ideal position to facilitate the exchange of
information among agencies to ensure effective oversight of contractors in
meeting the public's need for timely and accurate information.

While OMB and GSA have taken initial steps to enhance the oversight of
federal contact centers by gathering some information on the universe of
these centers, it is not clear whether the data collected provide enough
information for governmentwide oversight of contact center operations or
whether GSA's planned data collection efforts will do so either. With
additional reliable information, OMB may be able to more quickly identify
and act on emerging problems and opportunities. In addition, FPDS can also
be more effective in identifying the number of contracts and dollars
obligated for contact centers across the government, but only if the
agencies consistently use the appropriate NAICS code for these services.

  Recommendations for Executive Action

To facilitate the sharing of sound oversight practices for the operation
of contact centers, to help ensure that providing accurate information to
the public by contact centers is a priority outcome, and to improve the
quality of information gathered about these centers, we recommend that the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget take the following
actions:

Page 17 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

                       Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

     o Building on efforts begun by the GSA-sponsored interagency committee,
       work with agencies to develop a mechanism for sharing performance
       metrics and oversight practices for contact centers. Continued efforts
       should stress that providing accurate information to the public needs
       to be a key factor in the oversight of federal contact centers.
          * Take steps to ensure consistent reporting on contact centers by
            developing an industry category or specific code definition in
            NAICS that encompasses all the services provided by contact
            centers or by providing further instruction to agencies regarding
            the appropriate NAICS code to use for contact centers.
          * To improve the quality of information about federal contact
            centers, we recommend that the Administrator of General Services
            take the following action:
     o Ensure that further efforts to develop governmentwide data on contact
       center operations-such as the survey planned for next year-employ
       sound methodologies to ensure that the resulting information is
       representative of the activities across the government.

We requested comments on a draft of this report from the Office of
Management and Budget and each of the six agencies we reviewed- Department
of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human
Services, Department of Labor, General Services Administration, and U.S.
Postal Service. The Office of Management and Budget provided oral comments
in which they concurred with our findings and recommendations. The
Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and the
General Services Administration provided written comments that are
reproduced in appendices III, IV, and V, respectively. OMB and most of the
agencies also provided technical comments, which we incorporated as
appropriate.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services
Administration also concurred with our findings and recommendations. The
Department of Defense did not concur with our draft report because it
believes the report does not fully reflect all the metrics and practices
DOD and its contractor use to ensure the accuracy of information provided
to TRICARE beneficiaries. In its comments, DOD emphasizes that its
approach to contracting for contact center operations relies on the
contractor to use industry standards for ensuring information accuracy.

DOD states that standards exist in its contract related to the accuracy of
information provided by telephone. DOD also cites additional metrics it
uses for monitoring contractor performance. In addition, DOD requires the
contractor to have a quality management program which must be validated by
a nationally recognized third-party organization. DOD points out that it
receives monthly briefings on the operation of the contractor's quality
management program and observes call center operations during site visits.
Finally, DOD explained that it monitors the expertise and skills of the
contractor staff that perform the knowledge management function.

We recognize that DOD has decided to use what it calls the "audit the
auditor" approach to quality assurance. It was not our objective, however,
to assess the merits of any particular approach to ensuring quality, but
rather to determine the extent to which contract terms and agency
oversight practices emphasize the importance of providing accurate
information to the public. In this regard, while the contractor may use
specific standards for accuracy in its quality management program, we
found no specific metric related to accuracy in the TRICARE contact center
contract itself or in the additional metrics cited in DOD's comments. For
the most part, the additional quality control activities listed by the
Department are those of its contractor, not oversight activities performed
by the agency, which was the focus of our review. While independent
validation of the contractor's quality control program helps to ensure the
contractor has a quality process in place for monitoring its responses to
the public, this does not substitute for DOD oversight activities such as
validating the contractor's reports of its monitoring efforts. In
addition, while DOD performs site visits to oversee the contractor's
operations, it does so only on an ad hoc basis. Based on DOD's comments,
we added additional language to the report regarding DOD's approach to
knowledge management.

As arranged with your offices, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days
after the date of this report. We will then send copies of this report to
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Administrator of
General Services, the Postmaster General, and the Secretaries of the
Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Health and
Human Services, and Department of Labor. We will also make copies
available to others upon request. Contact points for our Office of
Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page
of this report. This report is available at no charge on GAO's Web site at
http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please call me
at (202) 512-4841. An additional GAO contact and staff who made
contributions to this report are listed in appendix VI.

William T. Woods Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management

                       Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To assess the guidance provided to federal agencies and the information
gathered by the federal government about contact centers, we conducted
interviews with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and General Services
Administration (GSA) officials, and reviewed related guidance and results
of their initial data collection efforts. We researched and discussed with
OMB the absence of guidance related to the operation and oversight of
contact centers. We also discussed the results of OMB's 2004 request for
information to federal agencies that asked for selfidentification of any
activities that provide information to the public. In addition, we
reviewed and discussed the results of GSA's survey of a sample of agency
activities that responded to OMB's request. We did not assess the validity
of the data gathered by OMB and GSA. However, a GAO methodologist reviewed
the GSA survey methodology and identified its weaknesses. In addition, we
monitored the progress of the GSA-sponsored working group-the Citizen
Service Levels Interagency Committee-as it developed and recommended
standards to OMB for federal contact centers. We did not assess the
committee's recommendations as a whole, but rather reviewed how accuracy
of information was addressed within its proposed standards. We reviewed
data from the Federal Procurement Data System for the past 5 fiscal years
to determine if any contract actions were reported using the code for
telephone call center services. 1

To describe federal agencies' efforts to ensure accurate information is
provided to the public by contractor-operated centers, we reviewed the
contract terms and oversight activities for one center at each of six
agencies. We selected centers that handle over 1 million inquiries
annually and provide information to citizens that could significantly
affect their finances, health, or safety. 2 The contact centers selected
for our review are

o  Department of Defense TriCare Management Activity (TMA) North
region-Healthnet's contact center: provides general and personalized
medical benefit and coverage information and processes enrollments and
claims for military families in the North region; 3

1

Despite the shortcomings of FPDS noted in previous GAO reports, using FPDS
did not adversely affect our work. GAO, Improvements Needed to the Federal
Procurement Data System-Next Generation, GAO-05-960R (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 27, 2005), and Reliability of Federal Procurement Data, GAO-04-295R
(Washington, D.C.: Dec. 30, 2003).

2

One agency we selected for our review-Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention-is in its first year of a 5-year consolidation of workloads.
The contact center is projected to receive an estimated 2.7 million
inquiries annually when it is fully operational.

3

DOD TMA is divided into three separate contract service areas-North,
South, and West.

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

     o Department of Education (Education)-Federal Student Aid Information
       Center: provides general information about applications and loan
       issues and personalized information on the status of applications and
       loans to the public and academic community;
     o Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control
       and Prevention (CDC)-CDC INFO contact center: provides information
       about health and safety issues-including prevention, detection, and
       outbreak control-to the public and medical professionals;
     o Department of Labor (DOL)-National Contact Center: provides general
       information and referrals regarding job issues, workplace safety, and
       pension and health benefits to the public and employers;
     o General Services Administration-National Contact Center: provides
       general information and referrals related to any agency or government
       program; and
     o U.S. Postal Service (USPS)-National Contact Center: provides general
       and individualized information on mail delivery and shipping issues to
       the public and businesses.

To complete our review, we interviewed management and staff responsible
for oversight of the contractor-operated contact center at each agency. We
reviewed the performance metrics specified in the agency's contract as
well as the related reports used to oversee and evaluate the contractors'
operation of the contact centers. In addition to conducting discussions
with the agencies, we visited four contractor-operated centers to observe
their operations and quality control procedures. Specifically, we visited
locations for the GSA center operated by ICT Group, CDC and Education
centers operated by Pearson Government Solutions, and the DOL center
operated by Datatrac Information Services. 4 At each center we interviewed
management and customer service representatives regarding the oversight
practices used to monitor the accuracy of information. We did not test the
contractors' internal control procedures or validate any data from their
sample reports.

We identified industry practices for ensuring the accuracy of information
provided by contact centers, interviewed representatives from two major
contact center industry groups-the Society of Consumer Affairs
Professionals and the Incoming Calls Management Institute-and attended the
2005 Government Customer Support Conference. In addition, we reviewed
prior GAO reports concerning contact centers. We also

 The contractors consider the locations of their call centers to be proprietary
                                  information.

                   Page 22 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

discussed contact center issues with other GAO teams that were currently
reviewing or had recently reviewed other federal contact centers. Our work
was conducted from February through November 2005 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

Appendix II: Contact Center Profiles for Six Agencies Reviewed

             Table 6: Contact Center Profiles for Agencies Reviewed

Department of Defense Centers for Disease TriCare Management Agency
Control and Prevention Activity-North

               Contact center CDC INFO Healthnet's contact center

Purpose of public Medical disease issues- Medical benefits and

inquiries including prevention, coverage issues, detection, and outbreak
enrollment, and claims control processing

Methods of contact Telephone, e-mail Telephone, e-mail handled

Main hours of operation Daily 24 hours/day Daily 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
(eastern time)

Languages supported Spanish Spanish (beyond English)

  Fiscal year 2005 call 314,749 5,236,793

volume from February to September 2005 (estimated at 2.7 million calls
when fully operational)c

  Fiscal year 2005 e-mail 834 56,160

volume from February to September 2005 (estimated at 18,000 e-mails when
fully operational)c

Contractor Pearson Government Healthnet Federal Services Solutions

               Date of award September 1, 2004 September 1, 2003

Period of performance 2-year base plus 5 1-year 7-month base plus 5 1-year
options options

  Total value of contract at $73.7 $2,298

award (in millions of (the contact center is only a dollars) portion of
this contract)d

Payment structure Cost plus award fee Firm fixed price plus award fee

Number of customer 50-100 600-650 service representatives

                            Number of locations 3 6

Appendix II: Contact Center Profiles for Six Agencies Reviewed

                                General Services
Department of      Department of      Administration     U.S. Postal       
Labor              Education                             Service           
National Contact   Federal Student    National Contact   National Contact  
Center             Aid Information    Center             Center            
                      Center                                
Job loss support,  Federal Student    Any citizen issues Mail delivery and 
wage               Aid application    for any            shipping          
information,       and loan issues    agency in the      information       
workplace safety,                     government;        
pension and health                    fulfillment orders 
benefits;                             for government     
fulfillment of                        publications       
orders for                                               
posters,                                                 
fact sheets, and                                         
handbooks                                                
                      Telephone, e-mail, Telephone, e-mail, Telephone,        
Telephone, e-mail  facsimile,         Web site           e-mail,           
                                                            facsimile,        
                      Web site, online                      Web sites         
                      live help                             
Monday-Friday 8:00 Monday-Friday 8:00 Monday-Friday 8:00 Monday-Friday     
a.m. to            a.m. to            a.m. to 8:00       8:00 a.m. to      
8:00 p.m. (eastern midnight; Saturday p.m. (eastern)a    8:30 p.m.;        
time)a             9:00 a.m. to                          Saturday 8:00     
                                                            a.m.              
                      6:00 p.m.                             to 6:00 p.m.      
                      (eastern)a                            (eastern time)    
Spanish and 140    Spanish            Spanishb           Spanish           
additional                                               
languages via                                            
translation                                              
service                                                  
1,347,476          5,780,158          1,700,000          64,001,962        

                        71,765 488,158 107,000 1,041,210

Datatrac            Pearson Government ICT Group        Convergys          
Information                  Solutions                  
Services                                                
September 30, 2001  February 1, 2005   November 28,      January 27, 2003  
                                          2004             
1-year base plus 4  1-year base plus 9 1-year base plus 4-year base plus 6 
1-year              1-year             4 1-year               1-year       
options             options            options          options            
$23                 $80.1              $29              $254.6 (for 4-year 
                                                                   base only) 
                       (the contact                        
                       center is only a                    
                       portion of this                     
                       contract)d                          
Time and materials  Firm fixed price   Firm fixed price   Firm fixed price 
                       plus award fee                          plus award fee 
50-100              400-450            50-100           1,200-1,300        
2                   3                  1                3                  
                          Source: GAO                      
                           analysis.                       

Appendix II: Contact Center Profiles for Six Agencies Reviewed

a

DOL provides service 24 hours a day for the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration toll-free number and provided service 24 hours a day during
hurricane relief efforts; Education extends its hours during student aid
application season; GSA provides service 24 hours a day under emergency
situations.

b

Although only Spanish is provided at this time, GSA's contract allows for
the provision of additional languages.

The CDC contact center is in its second year of operation and is
consolidating the work for 40 different toll-free numbers over a total
period of 4 years.

d

The contact center is a portion of a larger service contract. The value
shown here is for the entire contract, as the agency could not provide a
breakdown of the cost for the contact center alone.

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense

Appendix IV: Comments from the General Services Administration

Appendix IV: Comments from the General Services Administration

Appendix IV: Comments from the General Services Administration

Appendix IV: Comments from the General Services Administration

Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Health & Human Services

                   Page 37 GAO-06-270 Federal Contact Centers

Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

John K. Needham (202) 512-5274

  GAO Contact

In addition to the contact named above, Ruth Eli DeVan, William McPhail,

Jean Lee, David Schilling, Nyankor Matthews, Robert Swierczek, John Krump,
Monica Wolford, and Karen O'Conor made key contributions to this report.

                       Appendix VII: Related GAO Products

Improvements Needed to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next
Generation. GAO-05-960R. Washington, D.C.: September 27, 2005.

Social Security Administration: Additional Actions Needed in Ongoing
Efforts to Improve 800-Number Service. GAO-05-735. Washington, D.C.:
August 8, 2005.

Immigration Services: Better Contracting Practices Needed at Call Centers.
GAO-05-526. Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2005.

Federal Thrift Savings Plan: Customer Service Practices Adopted by Private
Sector Plan Managers Should be Considered. GAO-05-38. Washington, D.C.:
January 18, 2005.

Medicare: Accuracy of Responses from the 1-800-MEDICARE Help Line Should
Be Improved. GAO-05-130. Washington, D.C.: December 8, 2004.

Medicare: Call Centers Need to Improve Responses to Policy-Oriented
Questions from Providers. GAO-04-669. Washington, D.C.: July 16, 2004.

Reliability of Federal Procurement Data, GAO-04-295R. Washington, D.C.:
December 30, 2003.

Medicare: Communications with Physicians Can Be Improved. GAO-02-249.
Washington, D.C.: February 27, 2002.

IRS Telephone Assistance: Limited Progress and Missed Opportunities to
Analyze Performance in the 2001 Filing Season. GAO-02-212. Washington,
D.C.: December 7, 2001.

IRS Telephone Assistance: Quality of Service Mixed in the 2000 Filing
Season and below IRS' Long-Term Goal. GAO-01-189. Washington, D.C.: April
6, 2001.

IRS Telephone Assistance: Opportunities to Improve Human Capital
Management. GAO-01-144. Washington, D.C.: January 30, 2001.

Customer Service: Human Capital Management at Selected Public and Private
Call Centers. GAO/GGD-00-161. Washington, D.C.: August 22, 2000.

Social Security Administration: Information on Monitoring 800 Number
Telephone Calls. GAO/HEHS-98-56R. Washington, D.C.: December 8, 1997.

Appendix VII: Related GAO Products

Social Security Administration: More Cost-Effective Approaches Exist to
Further Improve 800-Number Service. GAO/HEHS-97-79. Washington, D.C.: June
11, 1997.

  (120407)

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.

  GAO's Mission

The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation and
investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its
constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and
accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO
examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies;
and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help
Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's
commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of
accountability, integrity, and reliability.

The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost
is through GAO's Web site ( www.gao.gov) . Each weekday, GAO posts GAO
Reports and newly released reports, testimony, and correspondence on its
Web site. To

have GAO e-mail you a list of newly posted products every afternoon, go to
www.gao.gov and select "Subscribe to Updates."

                             Order by Mail or Phone

The first copy of each printed report is free. Additional copies are $2
each. A check or money order should be made out to the Superintendent of
Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard. Orders for 100 or more
copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25 percent. Orders should
be sent to:

U.S. Government Accountability Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington,
D.C. 20548

To order by Phone: Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
512-6061

  To Report Fraud, Contact:

Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm

  E-mail: [email protected]

Federal Programs Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202)
512-7470

Gloria Jarmon, Managing Director, [email protected] (202) 512-4400 U.S.
Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125 Relations
Washington, D.C. 20548

Paul Anderson, Managing Director, [email protected] (202) 512-4800

  Public Affairs

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
Washington, D.C. 20548

    PRINTED ON

RECYCLED PAPER
*** End of document. ***