The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services within
the Department of Homeland Security needs to better manage
call center contracts, the Government Accountability
Office has said following a study in response to questions
raised about the agency’s ability to handle a recent
increase in call volume.
Call volume for toll-free assistance to immigrants, their
attorneys, and others seeking information about immigration
services and benefits increased from about 13 million
calls in fiscal 2002 to about 21 million calls in fiscal
2004, according to GAO-05-526.
It said USCIS developed seven performance measures to assess
performance and the quality of responses by representatives
at contractor-operated call centers, including call time
and accuracy.
The contract provided for financial incentive awards for
meeting average monthly performance standards at four call
centers, or deductions if the standards were not met —
but USCIS did not finalize the terms for how contractor
performance would be calculated or scored before awarding
the contract, said GAO.
“This limited USCIS’s ability to exercise performance
incentives because the parties could not reach agreement
on performance terms,” the report said.
It said the agency suspended the use of financial
incentives while the parties negotiated the issue, but
that agreement was not reached for 16 months, at which
time the agency reduced payments for performance shortfalls
during that time.
The contractor objected, given the status of the agreement
during that time and an increase in call volume, said GAO.
It said USCIS failed to meet contractual, regulatory and
GAO standards for documenting contractor performance —
especially regarding deficiencies.
As it now stands, the agency has extended the contract
through May 2006, to allow time to solicit and award new
call center contracts, and it said it would finalize
performance measurement terms in the new contracts,
according to GAO.
