Prior Information Notice for the provision of a contact centre as a service

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to inform the market of the Department of Social Protection (‘DSP’) proposed upcoming procurement competition in respect of the “Services” i.e. the provision of a Contact Centre as a Service and affiliate functionality to allow DSP to modernise its contact centre offerings, supporting staff to improve customer experience.
The ‘Services‘ comprise:
The replacement of the existing on premise voice contact centre with a Cloud based solution to facilitate improved customer and staff experience by:
• Improving personalisation of service with a 360 customer contact view
• Providing information more efficiently to customer service agents to deliver best response
• Improving data insight on customer interactions to inform and improve service levels
• Providing additional channels for customer contact, including web chat, live agent chat and online enquiry forms integrated into the existing digital platform of DSP
• Extending the contact centre to staff in public offices dealing with customers face to face
• Using AI/Natural Language Models as appropriate to support and improve processes for quality customer service delivery

It is required that the design and implementation of this project adopt a collaborative approach involving staff and customer engagement. Implementation is expected to be undertaken on a phased basis.
DSP will issue a Request for Information in this regard and the intention is then to issue a Request for Tender.
This notice is not a call for competition, no tender documents are available and no proposals are being sought at this stage. DSP expects to publish the Contract Notice for the aforementioned Services in early 2025, following the publication of a Request for Information/ Preliminary Market Consultation by November 2024. The competitive process will be advertised in accordance with EU public procurement rules via the Irish Government’s procurement opportunities portal (www.etenders.gov.ie).