FCC Seeks Contractor to Handle Surging Call Volume on DTV
The FCC issued at least two additional requests for quotations related to the switch to DTV, a review of recent RFQs found. One batch of such contracts, to outsource FCC call-center operations for inquiries on the transition, may be worth $7 million, Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday (CD Dec 31 p2). A second RFQ seeks “outreach support personnel” to organize functions on the switch in Houston, New York and 11 other markets. An agency spokeswoman declined to say when that contract might be awarded. Martin said this week that contracts related to a fall RFQ (CD Oct 9 p2) for community and other groups to run their own call centers and help consumers hook up digital converter boxes will be awarded soon.
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The FCC has awarded at least $3.2 million worth of other DTV-related contracts. They range from paying broadcast engineering consultant Hammett & Edison $87,000 for maps showing loss of network coverage to $1.48 million awarded to public relations firm Ketchum for consumer education “support services.” AARP got a $1.32 million order for ads on the transition in its monthly magazine and other publications (CD Oct 20 p7), while Yates Racing was slated to get $355,000 for the FCC’s sponsorship of a NASCAR race car featuring DTV slogans. The car crashed in two of three races.
An RFQ posted by the FCC Dec. 24 seeks a contractor to “maintain turnkey service” of English- and Spanish-speaking operators to answer “the caller’s request using canned scripts provided by the FCC.” The call center must be in the continental U.S. and the contractor will e-mail, fax and send by first-class U.S. mail “DTV packages to the general public,” the request said. Responses are due Jan. 9. “The contractor shall provide hourly, daily and weekly reports on task activities for inbound calls” including the number handled, average hold times and how many were answered within 5 minutes of being put on hold, it said. At least 80 percent of calls should be answered in that time, it said. Would-be contractors were asked to provide information on up to three similar engagements handled over the past three years. Martin said Tuesday that bidders must show they can handle anticipated call volume.
Calls to 888-CALL-FCC were up five-fold to 234,382 in October from the same month a year ago, the RFQ said. “This increase in call volume is due not only to the FCC’s DTV campaign but also to the efforts of broadcasters to conduct soft tests” in which they briefly simulate cutting off analog signals, it said. “Projections based on call volume from recent broadcaster soft tests as well as the advance cut-over to digital of Wilmington, N.C., show that call volume in February 2009 could reach into the millions.” Martin said Tuesday there could be 1 million calls Feb. 18, of which the FCC’s call center and its contractor could handle about 220,000. A commission spokeswoman had no immediate additional comment on the RFQs or on DTV.
The FCC estimates that 70 percent of calls to its toll- free number will require operator assistance, the RFQ said. The call center will initially field all inquiries to the number and offer “an interactive voice response service,” it said. The call centers will be open 24 hours a day Feb. 17- 19 and between 8 a.m. and midnight EST time other days, it said.