AC TRANSIT DISTRICT GM Memo No.

10-205
Board of Directors
Meeting Date: August 18, 2010
Committees:
Operations Committee Planning Committee
External Affairs Committee Finance and Audit Committee
Board of Directors Financing Corporation

SUBJECT: Consider Contract Award to American Customer Care for Services Related
to the District’s Call Center

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Briefing Item Recommended Motion

Consider Approving the Contract for Call Center Services with American Customer
Care

Budgetary/Fiscal Impact:
If approved, this contract will reduce annual costs for the District’s Telephone Call Center by
approximately $1,000,000.

Estimate Annual Costs (2010/2011):

Projected cost per year with internal staff: $1,286,293
Projected cost for proposed
contract services (successful bidder): $ 282,385
_________
Projected full-year savings using contract services: $1,003,908

The budget for the Telephone Information Center for 2010 / 2011 was approved for
$500,000. It was anticipated that a contract for call center services would be in place by July
1, 2010. Since the contract did not start July 1, 2010, a blended cost for internal staff and
contract services in year one is projected to be $639,000. This amount is $139,000 over the
current budget.

Background/Discussion:
The evaluation of the Call Center Service Request for Proposal (RFP) has been completed.
The RFP was sent to more than 20 potential candidates, 4 responded.

The contract work is to replace the current in-house Information Center staff and supervisor.
The RFP requested pricing to replicate the current hours of operation and also to propose a
cost for 24 / 7 operations.

Rev. 8/10
GM Memo No. 10-205
Meeting Date: August 18, 2010
Page 2 of 2

Below is the overall score for each RFP respondent:

EVALUATION OF RFP CRITERIA FOR 2010-1121 -- Telephone Information Center

American
Customer
EMS Inc. Care Verizon Veolia
Cost:
Three year base $1,614,240 $798,295 $811,908 $2,407,673

RESULTS:
Combine Technical/Past
Performance Scores/% 72.03 108.27 71.71 70.24
Cost Scores 38.97 80.00 77.23 25.71
Combined Score 111.00 188.27 148.94 95.95

Staff recommends award of the contract to American Customer Care for call center services
to take customer questions and feedback. Staff recommends to start with services for the
current hours of operation (7 to 7 M-F and 9 to 5 SS) and expand service to include
weekends at the beginning of the next fiscal year.

The proposed transition will take approximately 60 days, with a projected transition start date
of September 1, 2010 and completion by October 31, 2010.

Prior Relevant Board Actions/Policies:

None

Attachments:
1. Information Center Outsourcing Presentation (prepared April 15, 2010)
2. Telephone Information Center Briefing Document (Prepared August 9, 2010)

Approved by: Mary V. King, Interim General Manager

Kathleen Kelly, Chief Operations Officer

Prepared by: Ken Rhodes, Customer Services Manager

Date Prepared: August 11, 2010

AC TRANSIT DISTRICT GM Memo No. 10-205 (Revised)
Board of Directors
Meeting Date: August 18, 2010
Committees:
Operations Committee Planning Committee
External Affairs Committee Finance and Audit Committee
Board of Directors Financing Corporation

SUBJECT: Consider Contract Award to American Customer Care for Services Related
to the District’s Call Center. 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Briefing Item Recommended Motion

Consider Approving the Contract for Call Center Services with American Customer
Care.

Budgetary/Fiscal Impact:
If approved this contract will reduce annual costs for the districts telephone call center by
approximately $1,000,000

Estimate Annual Costs (2010/2011):

Projected cost per year with internal staff: $1,286,293
Projected cost for proposed
contract services (successful bidder): $ 267,000
_________
Projected full year savings using contract services: $1,019,293

The budget for the Telephone Information Center for 2010 / 2011 was approved for
$500,000. It was anticipated that a contract for call center services would be in place by
July 1, 2010. Since contract did not start July 1, 2010, a blended cost for internal staff and
contract services in year one is projected to be $624,776. This amount is $124,776 over
the current budget.

Background/Discussion:
The evaluation of the Call Center Service Request For Proposal (RFP) has been completed.
The RFP was sent to over 20 potential candidates, 4 responded.

The contract work is to replace the current in house Information Center staff and supervisor.
The RFP requested pricing to replicate the current hours of operation and also to propose a
cost for 24 / 7 operations.

Rev. 8/10
GM Memo No. 10-205
Meeting Date: August 18, 2010
Page 2 of 2

Below is the overall score for each RFP respondent:

EVALUATION OF RFP CRITERIA FOR 2010-1121 -- Call Center Services

American
Customer
EMS Inc. Care Verizon Veolia
Cost:
Three year base $1,614,240 $735,000 $811,908 $2,407,673

RESULTS:
Combine Technical/Past
Performance Scores/% 72.03 108.27 71.71 70.24
Cost Scores 37.11 80.00 73.53 24.48
Combined Score 109.14 188.27 145.25 94.72

Staff recommends award of the contract to American Customer Care for call center services
to take customer questions and feedback. Staff recommends to start with services for the
current hours of operation (7 to 7 M-F and 9 to 5 SS) and expand service to include 24 by 7
hours of operation at the beginning of the next fiscal year.

The proposed transition will take approximately 60 days with a projected transition start of
September 1, 2010 and complete by October 31, 2010

Prior Relevant Board Actions/Policies:

None

Attachments:
Information Center Outsourcing Presentation (prepared April 15, 2010)
Telephone Information Center Briefing Document (Prepared August 9, 2010)

Approved by: Mary King, Interim General Manager

Kathleen Kelly, Chief Operations Officer

Prepared by: Ken Rhodes, Customer Services Manager

Date Prepared: August 11, 2010