UI CALL CENTER SERVICES 43-1389-26

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 43-1389-26
Contract Name: DES UI Call Center Services
Department of Commerce
Division of Employment Security
Bid Opening Date: August 26, 2026
Issue Date: June 16, 2026
Refer ALL inquiries regarding this RFP to:
Name : Casey C.Jones Commodity Code: 811617
Email : casey.c.jones@commerce.nc.gov
Purchasing Agency: Division of Employment Security
Requisition No.: 12997289
OFFER
The Purchasing Agency solicits offers for Services and/or goods described in this solicitation. All offers and
responses received shall be treated as Offers to contract as defined in 9 NCAC 06A.0102(12).
EXECUTION
In compliance with this Request for Proposal (RFP), and subject to all the conditions herein, the undersigned
offers and agrees to furnish any or all Services or goods upon which prices are offered, at the price(s) offered
herein, within the time specified herein.
Failure to execute/sign offer prior to submittal shall render offer invalid. Late offers are not acceptable.
OFFEROR:
STREET ADDRESS: P.O. BOX: ZIP:
CITY, STATE & ZIP: TELEPHONE NUMBER: TOLL FREE TEL. NO
NAME & TITLE OF PERSON SIGNING: FAX NUMBER:
AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE: DATE: E-MAIL:
Offer valid for one hundred twenty (120) days from date of offer opening unless otherwise stated here: ____
days
ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER
If any or all parts of this offer are accepted, an authorized representative of DOC shall affix its signature hereto and
any subsequent Request for Best and Final Offer, if issued. Acceptance shall create a contract having an order of
precedence as follows: Best and Final Offers, if any, Special terms and conditions specific to this RFP,
Specifications of the RFP, the Department of Information Technology Terms and Conditions, and the agreed portion
of the awarded Vendor's Offer. A copy of this acceptance will be forwarded to the awarded Vendor(s).
FOR PURCHASING AGENCY USE ONLY
Offer accepted and contract awarded this date , as indicated on attached certification,
by (Authorized representative of DOC ).
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Table of Contents
1.0 ANTICIPATED Procurement Schedule .................................................................................... 3
2.0 Purpose of RFP ......................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Agency Background ................................................................................................................ 3
2.3 SUMMARY OF PROBLEM Statement .................................................................................... 3
2.4 Contract Term ......................................................................................................................... 4
2.5 Innovation ............................................................................................................................... 4
2.6 Effective Date ......................................................................................................................... 4
2.7 Contract Type ......................................................................................................................... 5
3.0 RFP requirements and Specifications ..................................................................................... 5
3.1 General requirements and Specifications ............................................................................... 5
3.2 Security Specifications ............................................................................................................ 6
3.3 Enterprise Specifications ........................................................................................................ 7
3.3.1 Architecture Diagrams ............................................................................................................ 7
3.3.2 Identity And Access Management .......................................................................................... 8
3.3.3 Solution Roadmap .................................................................................................................. 8
3.3.4 Integration Approach .............................................................................................................. 8
3.3.5 Disaster Recovery And Business Continuity .......................................................................... 8
3.3.6 Data Migration ........................................................................................................................ 8
3.3.7 Application Management ........................................................................................................ 8
3.3.8 Accessibility ............................................................................................................................ 9
3.4 Requirements and specifications ............................................................................................ 9
4.0 Cost of Vendor's Offer ............................................................................................................ 12
4.1 Offer Costs ........................................................................................................................... 12
4.2 Payment Schedule ................................................................................................................ 12
5.0 Evaluation ................................................................................................................................ 13
5.1 Source Selection................................................................................................................... 13
5.2 Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................................................ 13
5.3 Best and Final Offers (BAFO) ............................................................................................... 14
5.4 Possession And Review ....................................................................................................... 14
6.0 Vendor Information and Instructions .................................................................................... 14
6.1 General Conditions of Offer .................................................................................................. 14
6.2 General Instructions for Vendor ............................................................................................ 16
6.3 Instructions for Offer Submission .......................................................................................... 18
7.0 Other Requirements and Special Terms ............................................................................... 21
7.1 Vendor Utilization Of Workers Outside of U.S. ..................................................................... 21
7.2 Financial Statements ............................................................................................................ 21
7.3 Financial Resources Assessment, Quality Assurance, Performance and Reliability ............ 21
7.4 Vendor's License or Support Agreements ............................................................................ 21
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7.5 Resellers - reserved .............................................................................................................. 22
7.6 Disclosure Of Litigation - Reserved ...................................................................................... 22
7.7 Criminal Conviction - Reserved ............................................................................................ 22
7.8 Security and Background Checks ......................................................................................... 22
7.9 Assurances ........................................................................................................................... 22
7.10 Confidentiality of offers ............................................................................................................ 22
7.11 Project Management ............................................................................................................... 23
7.12 Meetings .................................................................................................................................. 23
7.13 Recycling and Source Reduction ............................................................................................ 23
7.14 Special Terms and Conditions-RESERVED ............................................................................ 23
7.15 AGENCY Terms and Conditions-RESERVED ........................................................................ 23
Attachment A: Definitions ................................................................................................................ 24
Attachment B: Department of Information Technology Terms and Conditions .......................... 26
Attachment C: Description of Offeror ............................................................................................. 47
Attachment D: Cost Form - reserved. all costs are to be completed in the excel sheet
referenced earlier in the RFP. .......................................................................................................... 49
Attachment E: Vendor Certification Form ....................................................................................... 50
Attachment F: Location of Workers Utilized by Vendor - Disclosure Statement ........................ 51
Attachment G: References ............................................................................................................... 53
Attachment H: Financial Review Form ............................................................................................ 54
Attachment J: Firm's Tax Identification Information ..................................................................... 56
Attachment K: Confidentiality Agreement ............................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Attachment L: Requirements and functional Specifications ........................................................ 57
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1.0 ANTICIPATED PROCUREMENT SCHEDULE
The Agency Procurement Agent will make every effort to adhere to the following schedule:
Action Responsibility Date
RFP Issued Agency 06/16/2026
Written Questions Deadline Potential Vendors 07/01/2026 by
2:00 p.m. ET
Agency's Response to Written Questions/ Agency 07/22/2026 by
RFP Addendum Issued 5:00 p.m.ET
Offer Opening Deadline Vendor(s) 08/26/2026 by
2:00 p.m. ET
Offer Evaluation Agency 10/29/2026
Vendor Demonstrations (Optional) Selected Vendors 11/13/2026
Selection of Finalists Agency 12/07/2026
Negotiations with Finalists Agency designees and 01/04/2027
selected Vendor(s)
Best and Final Offers Deadline from Finalists Selected Vendors 01/19/2027
Contract Award Agency 02/16/2027
Protest Deadline Responding Vendors 15 days after
award
2.0 PURPOSE OF RFP
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this RFP is to solicit Offers for Unemployment Insurance Call Center services for the North
Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security. Services will be provided in
accordance to the terms and conditions of this RFP
2.2 AGENCY BACKGROUND
The Division of Employment Security (DES)is responsible for the administration of the Unemployment
Insurance (UI) program in the State of North Carolina. This program is a federal-state partnership and is
funded by federal and state unemployment taxes employers pay on employee wages. Benefits are paid to
eligible workers who lose their job through no fault of their own and are able, available and actively seeking
work.
2.3 SUMMARY OF PROBLEM STATEMENT
DES is seeking to procure a modern, flexible Contact Center solution to support the delivery of
Unemployment Insurance (UI) services statewide. Through this RFP, DES aims to partner with a vendor that
can provide a responsive, claimant focused solution that aligns with the agency's future operational and
technology needs.
DES is seeking a solution that:
Enhances the overall claimant experience through accessible, efficient customer support.
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Provides the ability to scale rapidly in response to fluctuations in UI claim volumes.
Integrates securely and effectively with DES systems to support accurate and timely service delivery.
Incorporates modern capabilities-such as intelligent automation, AI supported IVR, and improved
communication tools-to streamline interactions and improve operational efficiency.
Supports DES's broader modernization goals and aligns with evolving technology standards.
Meets all applicable state and federal UI program requirements, including security, privacy, and
performance expectations.
Overall Goal:
Through this competitive solicitation, DES intends to establish a partnership with a vendor that can deliver a
forward looking, service oriented call center solution that advances the agency's mission to provide timely
and accurate unemployment services to the people of North Carolina.

2.4 CONTRACT TERM
A contract awarded pursuant to this RFP shall have an effective date as provided in the Notice of Award.
The term shall be one (1) year term with four (4) optional one (1) year renewals and will expire upon the
anniversary date of the effective date unless otherwise stated in the Notice of Award, or unless terminated
earlier.
2.5 INNOVATION
The North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security (DES) encourages Vendors
to propose innovative approaches, technologies, and service delivery models that enhance efficiency,
scalability, and customer experience for the UI Call Center Services Solution.
Vendors are encouraged to leverage best practices and emerging technologies-such as AI-driven virtual
agents, intelligent routing, analytics, and multilingual capabilities-to improve service outcomes, increase
digital self-service, and reduce cost-to-serve.
DES is particularly interested in solutions that:
Improve response times and first-call resolution
o
Enhance claimant and employer experience
o
Increase operational efficiency through automation
o
Support scalable operations during demand surges
o
Ensure equitable access through multilingual and accessible services
o
Vendors may propose value-added or alternative approaches beyond minimum specifications, provided they
demonstrate clear benefits, feasibility, and alignment with DES objectives.
All innovation proposals must include a brief description, expected outcomes, associated costs (if any), and
key assumptions. This is in additional to other required documents that the Vendor needs to include in their
offer to be responsive and then evaluated.
2.6 EFFECTIVE DATE
This solicitation, including any Exhibits, or any resulting contract or amendment shall not become effective
nor bind the State until the appropriate State purchasing authority/official or Agency official has signed the
document(s), contract or amendment; the effective award date has been completed on the document(s), by
the State purchasing official, and that date has arrived or passed. The State shall not be responsible for
reimbursing the Vendor for goods provided nor Services rendered prior to the appropriate signatures and the
arrival of the effective date of the Agreement. No contract shall be binding on the State until an encumbrance
of funds has been made for payment of the sums due under the Agreement.
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2.7 CONTRACT TYPE
Definite Quantity Contract - This request is for a close-ended contract between the awarded Vendor and the
State to furnish a pre-determined quantity of a good or service during a specified period of time.
The State reserves the right to make partial, progressive or multiple awards where it is advantageous to
award separately by items; where more than one supplier is needed to provide the contemplated
specifications as to quantity, quality, delivery, service, geographical areas; or where other factors are
deemed to be necessary or proper to the purchase in question.
3.0 RFP REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1.1 REQUIREMENTS
Requirement means, as used herein, a function, feature, or performance that the System must
provide. If the offer can not meet the requirements, they will not be evaluated.
Offers must address all requirements and specifications in Attachment L. Where the Vendor selects
"Yes," "Partial," "No," or "Roadmap," the Vendor shall provide the required explanation, limitations,
alternatives, and implementation timeline in the workbook. Blank or missing responses may be
deemed non compliant and not evaluated

3.1.2 SPECIFICATIONS
Specification means, as used herein, a detailed description that documents the function and
performance of a system or system component.
The apparent silence of the specifications as to any detail, or the apparent omission of detailed
description concerning any point, shall be regarded as meaning that only the best commercial practice
is to prevail and that only processes, configurations, materials and workmanship of the first quality
may be used. Upon any notice of noncompliance provided by the State, Vendor shall supply proof of
compliance with the specifications. Vendor must provide written notice of its intent to deliver alternate
or substitute Services, products, goods or other Deliverables. Alternate or substitute Services,
products, goods or Deliverables may be accepted or rejected in the sole discretion of the State; and
any such alternates or substitutes must be accompanied by Vendor's certification and evidence
satisfactory to the State that the function, characteristics, performance and endurance will be equal
or superior to the original Deliverables specified.
3.1.3 SITE AND SYSTEM PREPARATION
Vendors shall provide the Purchasing State Agency complete site requirement specifications for the
Deliverables, if any. These specifications shall ensure that the Deliverables to be installed or
implemented shall operate properly and efficiently within the site and system environment. Any
alterations or modification in site preparation, which are directly attributable to incomplete or
erroneous specifications provided by the Vendor and which would involve additional expenses to the
State, shall be made at the expense of the Vendor.
3.1.4 EQUIVALENT ITEMS
Whenever a material, article or piece of equipment is identified in the specification(s) by reference to
a manufacturer's or Vendor's name, trade name, catalog number or similar identifier, it is intended to
establish a standard for determining substantial conformity during evaluation, unless otherwise
specifically stated as a brand specific requirement (no substitute items will be allowed). Any material,
article or piece of equipment of other manufacturers or Vendors shall perform to the standard of the
item named. Equivalent offers must be accompanied by sufficient descriptive literature and/or
specifications to provide for detailed comparison.
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3.1.5 ENTERPRISE LICENSING
In offering the best value to the State, Vendors are encouraged to leverage the State's existing
resources and license agreements, which can be viewed here:
https://it.nc.gov/resources/statewide-it-procurement/statewide-it-contracts
a) Identify components or products that are needed for your solution that may not be available
with the State's existing license agreement.
b) Identify and explain any components that are missing from the State's existing license
agreement.
c) If the Vendor can provide a more cost effective licensing agreement, please explain in detail
the agreement and how it would benefit the State.
3.2 SECURITY SPECIFICATIONS
3.2.1 SOLUTIONS HOSTED ON STATE INFRASTRUCTURE - RESERVED
3.2.2 SOLUTIONS NOT HOSTED ON STATE INFRASTRUCTURE
The Agency (named on page one (1)) has designated this solicitation to receive and securely manage
data that is classified as:
Restricted - Restricted data represents the highest risk to the State, State Agencies, and constituents
if it is disclosed or compromised. This information is likely to be regulated by State or Federal law,
and access to it is restricted to a limited audience (e.g., State and Federal Tax Information [FTI],
Payment Card data, Protected Health Information [PHI], Criminal Justice Information [CJI], Social
Security Administration provided information, etc.)
Refer to the North Carolina Statewide Data Classification and Handling policy for more information
regarding data classification. The policy is located at the following website:
https://it.nc.gov/document/statewide-data-classification-and-handling-policy.
To comply with the State's Security Standards and Policies, State agencies are required to perform
annual security/risk assessments on their information systems using NIST 800-53 controls.
This requirement additionally applies to all Vendor-provided, agency-managed Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions which will
handle data classified as Internal, Confidential, or Restricted.
(a) To comply with the State's Security Standards and Policies, cloud products
are required to comply with applicable FedRAMP and/or GovRAMP security requirements,
including but not limited to, continuous monitoring, incident response, and data classification
as outlined in GovRAMP documentation.
(b) To streamline and standardize this requirement the State has adopted GovRAMP which is
a Risk and Authorization Management Program that provides a standardized approach to
security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and
services. GovRAMP's security verification model is based on NIST 800-53 Rev. 5 (or
current).
(c) The required GovRAMP verified status will depend on the sensitivity of the data and
processes supported by the solution as defined in the Statewide Data Classification and
Handling Policy.
(d) For purposes of this solicitation, in accordance with the North Carolina Department of
Information Technology Statewide Information Security Manual, a GovRAMP verified status
of Ready, Authorized or Provisionally Authorized Status is required. At offer submission, if
the protected system does not currently hold a validated GovRAMP status, the Vendor will
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be required to provide their GovRAMP Security Snapshot Score and upon request, the
complete Snapshot Matrix. If awarded the contract, Vendor shall have an interim period from
the effective date of the contract to achieve the verified GovRAMP status outlined above.
The interim time periods for each data classification that requires a verified status are further
described below. The Vendor shall provision access to the State to
their continuous monitoring packages at a [standard] or [elevated] access level within
fourteen (14) days of contract award, and seven (7) days of any subsequent GovRAMP
status changes.
a. Restricted - For third-party cloud services where the highest category of information to
be processed is Restricted Data, the Vendor must either achieve a status of GovRAMP
Authorized, or agree to achieve GovRAMP Authorized status no later than twenty-one
(21) months from the effective date of the contract.
Upon contract award, Vendor's who submitted a GovRAMP Security Snapshot Score will be
required to enroll in the GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot program prior to any data being
transferred, stored or processed. The Vendor must complete their first Progressing
Snapshot within ninety (90) days of award, with the expectation that progress will be made
on a quarterly basis and access to progress reports must be provisioned to the State.
Products must maintain their participation in the Progressing Snapshot program and
continued access to progress reports must be provisioned to the State until such time that
they have achieved the minimum verified status outlined above. The State will review the
Vendor's progress on a quarterly basis and, in its sole discretion, may determine that the
Vendor is not making satisfactory progress in the Progressing Snapshot program.
Satisfactory progress shall be a material requirement of the contract.
(e) If the Vendor holds a FedRAMP Rev. 5 authorization at time of award, this authorization can
be accepted in lieu of a GovRAMP authorization. Authorizations obtained via the FedRAMP
20x Pilot Program will not be permitted.
If the Vendor's cloud product currently holds a FedRAMP Authorized designation, at the
time of award, the State may require the Vendor to initiate and actively pursue, within thirty
(30) days of award, the GovRAMP Fast Track Process, to achieve a GovRAMP Provisionally
Authorized or Authorized status in order to satisfy Statewide continuous monitoring
requirements.
(c) Additional Security Documentation. Prior to contract award, the State may in its discretion
require the Vendor to provide additional security documentation, including but not limited to,
vulnerability assessment reports and penetration test reports. The awarded Vendor shall provide
additional security documentation upon request by the State during the term of the contract.
Refer to: https://it.nc.gov/documents/statewide-glossary-information-technology-terms for
descriptions of the Application Criticality categories.
Refer to: http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/FIPS/NIST.FIPS.199.pdf for descriptions of NIST
system confidentiality, integrity, and availability categories.
3.3 ENTERPRISE SPECIFICATIONS
3.3.1 ARCHITECTURE DIAGRAMS
The State utilizes architectural diagrams to better understand the design and technologies of a
proposed solution. The two diagrams are Network Architecture and Technology Stack. Details on
these diagrams can be found at the following link: https://it.nc.gov/resources/statewide-it-
procurement/vendor-engagement-resources#Tab-Architecture-1192
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The State prefers to receive the two required architectural diagrams with the offer submission. If they
are not provided at that time, the State may request them after submission; however, the Vendor
must deliver them within seven (7) calendar days or the offer will be deemed non-responsive and will
not be evaluated.
There may be additional architectural diagrams requested of the vendor after contract award. This
will be communicated to the vendor by the agency as needed during the project.
3.3.2 IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT
The proposed solution must externalize identity and access management. The protocols describing
the State's Identity and Access Management can be found at the following link:
https://it.nc.gov/services/vendor-engagement-resources#Tab-IdentityAccessManagement-1241
Describe how your solution supports the above protocols, as well as making them available for
application integration/consumption.
3.3.3 SOLUTION ROADMAP
A Solution Roadmap defines the vision and strategic elements of the solution. The Solution Roadmap
is a plan of action for how a Solution will evolve over time. The minimum content should include:
* Vision for the solution
* High-level functionality expected for each solution release into production environment
* High-level timeline
* Description of how customer feedback is collected and incorporated into solution
enhancements
Describe the solution roadmap for your product. Include content on release strategies for
functionality, roadmap for technical architecture, how scalability of solution is planned.
3.3.4 INTEGRATION APPROACH
Describe proposed solution capabilities to interoperate with other solutions. Identify the standards
supported, integrations platforms, adaptors, APIs, and the like.
3.3.5 DISASTER RECOVERY AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY
Describe the proposed solution capabilities related to the following areas:
Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) - describe how proposed solution supports Recovery Point Objectives
(RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) metrics.
System Backup - describe backup plan capabilities.
Disaster Recovery Testing - describe the frequency and test procedures for end-to-end disaster
recovery testing. Business Continuity Plan (BCP) - describe capabilities proposed solution can
provide in support of agency's continuity of operations and incident responses.
3.3.6 DATA MIGRATION
Describe approaches available for data conversion and/or data migration to load current data into
proposed solution.
3.3.7 APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
Describe how the proposed solution monitors and reports the metrics on system performance.
Describe how the proposed solution manages user administration.
Describe the audit capabilities of proposed solution related to management of the application.
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3.3.8 ACCESSIBILITY
Describe how the proposed solution complies with industry accessibility standards.
Provide product documentation that demonstrates how the proposed solution is digitally accessible
or if not fully accessible, provide the roadmap with timeline for remediation.
Standards include:
* State of North Carolina Digital Accessibility & Usability Standard
* W3C Web Accessibility Initiative - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1:
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
* Section 508: https://www.section508.gov/
* Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT(R)):
ENTERPRISE, SERVICES, AND STANDARDS
Vendors should refer to the Vendor Resources Page for information on North Carolina
Department of Information Technology regarding architecture, security, strategy, data,
digital, identity and access management and other general information on doing business
with state IT process.
The Vendor Resources Page found at the following link: https://it.nc.gov/vendor-
engagement-resources. This site provides vendors with statewide information and links
referenced throughout the RFP document. Agencies may request additional information.
3.4 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.4.1 REQUIREMENTS AND FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Requirements and Functional Specifications are included in Attachment L.
Vendor to complete tabs in the Excel Sheet in Attachment L, including:
* 01_Requirements
* 02_Key_Specifications
* 03_Additional Specs
* 04_SLA
Tab 04_SLA (SLA targets, measurement methodology, service credits, and escalation procedures
need to be submitted with your offer whether they are generic or created specific to the Vendor's RFP
response).
All pricing must be submitted only in the separate Attachment L, UI Call Center Pricing Workbook.
Pricing must NOT be included in any Requirements/Specifications tabs.
Vendor can contact Casey C. Jones at casey.c.jones@commerce.nc.gov for an editable version of
the spreadsheet. Vendor must respond by populating the spreadsheet. Any other format will be
deemed non-responsive and will not be evaluated by the committee.
3.4.2 SOLUTION SCOPE - CONTEXT DIAGRAM
This context diagram presents the Customer Call Center Solution as a single high-level process and
illustrates its interactions with external actors, including systems, organizational groups, and external
data sources. The associated table provides additional details describing these relationships.
Note or Important Disclaimer: The context diagram is provided for illustrative purposes only and
represents a high-level view of the DES Customer Call Center ecosystem. It may not reflect the current
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