Qualified offerors are encouraged to submit a proposal to: a) Provide crisis telephone support through a toll-free hotline and to provide information services for individuals experiencing a crisis with real-time access to a live person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This Regional Call Center shall participate in the federal National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988 expansion, also provide text and chat functional support, crisis communications and information. b) Provide immediate emergency interventions, crisis de-escalation, supportive listening services, and referral to ongoing or more intensive crisis support through the Region 5 Crisis Hub. c) Meet National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) operational guidelines regarding suicide risk assessment and engagement (Appendix I); Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care, Best Practice, Toolkit, national-guidelines-forbehavioral-health-crisis-care-02242020.pdf; and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services (DBHDS) guidelines for the Crisis Call Center, which are under development at this time. To ensure full compliance with these standards and achieve key performance indicators (KPIs), including response times, call abandonment rates, and effective crisis intervention outcomes, we will implement a structured monitoring process to track and measure performance. The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS), an average abandonment rate of 5% or less is considered acceptable for call centers. If the Call Center should fail to meet this metric fort the state 988 line or Region 5 line, the Call Center will submit a plan on how they will resume meeting the standard. Additionally, dedicated call-taking staff will be required to maintain appropriate service levels, ensuring that all crisis calls are answered promptly, assessed thoroughly, and appropriately engaged according to best practices. Staffing levels will be adjusted as needed based on call volume data and KPI performance metrics to optimize service delivery and crisis response effectiveness.
