GSA seeks all-purpose customer service support

Citizens must be able to easily contact the government, so to help them do that, the General Services Administration wants contractors to handle the different avenues of its customer services program.GSA issued a request for proposals in February for its USA Services e-government initiative. It wants to offer quality information service centers for agencies to better meet citizens’ immediate needs. The contract requires vendors to handle a wide range of services via multiple communications channels, such as telephone, e-mail and postal mail, according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice from February.GSA intends to offer the services for less than it would cost agencies to handle them themselves, the notice statesThe service centers handle questions from the public, congressional offices, academia, the business community and the media. They must respond to inquiries about federal programs, policies, information sources and agencies, the notice states.Contractors would have to provide facilities, employees and equipment. GSA also wants contractors to be able to analyze and design special support services as needed.Technical ability outweighs price as the basis for the contract's award, according to a GSA presentation in March. GSA will award as many as 10 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with one base year and four option years.The services are available to all agencies, and several are already waiting to order them. The Defense Department, however, is not participating, according to a question-and-answer report from a March conference.