Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component

Questions and Answers

Question 1 What is the volume of calls that the 1800 Advice Line currently receives (per day / week / month)?

a. Can you provide information on current call activity e.g. number of calls to the service, number of calls answered, number of abandoned calls?

b. Is there a detailed profile on the type of current calls e.g. length of call, type of call?

Answer In addition to that provided in Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component Additional Information, the following provides indicative monthly call activity information as pertains to the current service provider. Data Snapshot September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 Calls to the Advice Line 5909 5729 6330 Calls answered 5584 5293 5754 Information Officer Average Handle Time

601 seconds 609 seconds 628 seconds

Parenting Adviser Average Handle Time

1190 seconds 1224 seconds 1226 seconds

Note: • December 2011 data not currently available • Aggregate information about call type is included in the Family Relationship Advice Line –

Information and Advice Component Additional Information. The following daily call activity information is a snapshot of June 2011 data as pertains to the current provider:

By Hour (AEST) for Monday to Friday June 2011 (Note: advertised hours 8am - 8pm local time)

Date 8am - 9am

9am - 10am

10am - 11am

11am - 12pm

12pm - 1pm

1pm - 2pm

2pm - 3pm

3pm - 4pm

4pm - 5pm

5pm - 6pm

6pm - 7pm

7pm - 8pm

8pm - 9pm

9pm-10pm

1/06/2011 9 15 18 36 27 30 34 28 26 7 2 4 0 0 2/06/2011 7 31 17 24 24 21 29 34 22 6 10 2 3 0 3/06/2011 8 23 34 32 33 36 28 28 15 9 2 1 0 0 6/06/2011 6 30 40 37 23 38 37 20 18 10 2 3 0 0 7/06/2011 7 16 30 26 43 34 31 26 22 11 11 1 0 0 8/06/2011 17 21 38 33 31 23 28 26 17 7 8 5 0 0 9/06/2011 4 30 23 32 26 32 25 21 24 5 5 2 0 1 10/06/2011 5 25 31 20 30 27 26 22 17 6 3 3 1 3 13/06/2011 0 0 7 12 10 10 6 8 7 7 3 3 1 0 14/06/2011 12 38 33 34 22 39 33 36 33 18 8 5 0 0 15/06/2011 3 31 30 29 30 32 32 25 22 8 8 4 1 0 16/06/2011 8 16 35 27 28 43 30 27 24 13 2 5 0 0 17/06/2011 7 32 36 26 26 20 24 24 20 5 5 2 0 0 20/06/2011 0 0 7 12 10 10 6 8 7 7 8 3 0 0 21/06/2011 12 38 33 34 22 39 33 36 33 18 7 2 0 1 22/06/2011 3 31 30 29 30 32 32 25 22 8 9 3 1 0 23/06/2011 8 16 35 27 28 43 30 27 24 13 9 6 0 1 24/06/2011 7 32 36 26 26 20 24 24 20 5 3 1 0 0 27/06/2011 17 28 29 34 38 40 32 32 40 17 7 6 0 0 28/06/2011 10 20 28 34 32 37 33 26 32 13 6 3 1 0

29/06/2011 9 32 19 29 31 28 25 22 25 7 3 7 1 0 30/06/2011 10 27 19 32 27 23 32 25 14 11 8 6 0 0

By Hour (AEST) for Saturdays in June 2011 (Note: advertised hours 10am - 4pm local time)

10am - 11am

11am - 12pm

12pm - 1pm

1pm - 2pm

2pm - 3pm

3pm - 4pm

4pm - 5pm

5pm - 6pm

4/06/2011 6 2 3 1 3 3 1 0

11/06/2011 8 2 8 2 3 7 5 1

18/06/2011 2 6 5 2 3 3 0 1

25/06/2011 10 4 6 6 1 5 2 0

Question 2 As well as managing the website, does FaHCSIA currently manage the 1800 Advice Line? Answer The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (the Department) manages the Funding Agreements for the Information and Advice Component, and the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Component, of the Family Relationship Advice Line. In addition, the Department also has responsibility for maintaining Family Relationships Online. Question 3 Is FaHCSIA open to partnership bids? I.e. can we partner with another organisation to jointly provide the services requested? Answer The Family Support Program Documentation Part B : Information for Applicants states in Section 2.3 that the Department will enter into a Funding Agreement with a Partnership. If a consortium arrangement, the Department will enter into a Funding Agreement with the nominated lead organisation only. Question 4 Does the model have to be in the form of a consortium or can one organisation in one location apply? Answer The Department requires that the preferred provider deliver a national telephone service for the stated hours of Advice Line operation. The Department is not prescriptive about whether the funded service is delivered from one site or from more than one site, however, this information should be provided as part of the response to the Selection Criteria. Where the successful applicant is a single organisation, the Department will enter into a Funding Agreement with that organisation. Where the successful applicant is a consortium, the Department will enter into a Funding Agreement with the nominated lead organisation only.

Question 5 Are you looking for an Advice Line in each state?

Answer As indicated above in Question 4, the Department requires the preferred provider to deliver a national telephone service. There is no prescription about the number of sites for the service delivery. Question 6 The Family Support Program Documentation Part A: Family Support Program Guidelines and Part C: Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component. When you click on both of these they go to the same documents (Program Guidelines and Related Information). Should this occur? Answer When clicking on the hyperlinks for Part A and Part C, you will be taken to the same page containing information on the Family Support Program, including Parts A, B and C. Question 7 We are an auspice organisation and auspice several programs funded by Department of Communities – Housing and Homelessness Service. Are we eligible to apply for funding for the Advice Line? Answer Page 7 of Part B of the Family Support Program Guidelines lists the types of entities with whom the Department will enter into Funding Agreements. Question 8 We provide a number of community support services and are not sure of the size of the organisation you want to provide the services. If we are successful for the funding, we may need to have your orientation and ongoing support from the Government. Answer The Department is not prescriptive about the size of the organisation as long as it can deliver the outputs described in the selection documentation. The Department will consider applications for partnership/consortium arrangements which will result in the delivery of the complete services (see Question 3 above). However, a Funding Application to provide only part of the Information and Advice Component of the Family Relationship Advice Line, or to a limited audience, would not fully meet the requirements of this selection process. Question 9 In relation to the budget are you able to advise in relation to the following; Breakdown of eligible establishment costs (is this just for call centre fit out, building rental, call centre/IT infrastructure etc or can it include initial wages and other costs incurred before reaching operational mode?)

Answer Establishment costs of up to $500,000 are available for the selected provider to establish the service in readiness for the commencement of the funded activity. All examples above could be covered by establishment funds. Question 10 In relation to the budget are you able to advise in relation to the following: Will there be a set budget for the $7 million operational funding, or will this be at the discretion of the successful applicant to propose and negotiate with the department? Answer Funding of $7m (GST exclusive) has been allocated for the Information and Advice component of the Advice Line for the period 1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014. There are no additional operational funds. Question 11 Is it expected that the marketing and promotion of the Advice Line is the responsibility of the successful applicant (and therefore will need to form part of any proposed budget) or is this handled by FaHCSIA? Answer The marketing and promotion of the Advice Line is the responsibility of the successful applicant. Promotion and marketing strategies would need to be developed in consultation with the providers of the Legal Advice Service and the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service and approved by the Department in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Department. Question 12 Currently the website does not publicise details of the organisations operating the Advice Line. Is there scope for the successful applicant to incorporate a logo on the website and any other marketing material? Answer It is assumed that the website referred to in this question is the Family Relationships Online. The Advice Line does not have its own website. The Advice Line is badged as part of the national network of Family Relationship Centres and as such any branding for the Advice Line needs to comply with the Trade Mark Protocol for Family Relationship Centres (the Family Relationship Centre Branding Guidelines, August 2006) ie there is no co-badging. Question 13 Is there any other data base of referral services that is used to support callers other than the information supplied in the Family Relationship Online (FRO)? If so would it be available for use by the successful applicant?

Answer Family Relationships Online (FRO) (www.familyrelationships.gov.au) is the data base used by the current provider of the Information and Advice component of the Advice Line for providing information and referrals to callers. FRO is maintained by the Department and all Family Support Program funded services are required to enter their details into this data base. It also contains details of other government funded services. For this reason, the Department requires its use by the new Advice Line provider as the initial source of information and referrals for callers. However, other reliable sources of information can also be used to assist the needs of callers. Question 14 Within the current flow chart model as depicted in “Additional Information” do you have the previous years’ of data to show the percentage of calls referred directly to the Legal Advisor (LA), the Telephone Dispute Resolution Service (TDRS) and the Parenting Advisor (PA)? Answer Within the current model, data snapshots for the period July 2011 – December 2011 indicate that approximately: 4% of calls were referred to the Legal Advice Service 7.5% of calls were referred to the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service 21% of calls were referred to Parenting Advisers It should be noted that the selected applicant has the flexibility to design how the information and advice services (ie the current Information Officer and Parenting Advice services) will be delivered to ensure quality services for callers and outcomes for families. Question 15 Please delete the previous table from the Advice Line Additional Information and replace with the updated table below.

Advice Line Call Data – Information and Parenting Advice Components Period Calls to the

Advice Line Calls Answered

Jul 2006 – Jun 2007 107,245 99,086 Jul 2007 – Jun 2008 97,959 91,444 Jul 2008 – Jun 2009 84,989 81,878 Jul 2009 – Jun 2010 83,572 79,745 Jul 2010 – Jun 2011 77,586 65,959 Jul 2011 – Dec 2011 35,487 32,567

Question 16 Will an annual Assessment of the Advice Line be conducted by FaHCSIA, or a contractor, as per the FRSP Guidelines? Or will the successful organisation just conduct its own evaluations? Answer Under the Family Support Program, FaHCSIA staff conduct annual service assessments on service providers between February and May each year. In addition, funded services are required to

annually self assess against the FSP Administrative Approval Requirements (available on the Department’s website) and report on their compliance as part of their Annual Service Report to the Department. The FSP Performance Framework Service Provider Help Guide (available on the Department’s website) describes the requirements of FSP providers to collect client outcome information. While it is good practice for organisations to have ongoing client feedback mechanisms in place to assist with continuous improvements, the funding requirement is for providers to report on their client data, collected over 20 continuous days, each funding year. Question 17 What is your expected uptake and usage of this service? Anticipated call volume either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? Answer The factsheet, Family Relationship Advice Line Additional Information, provides historical details of the call volumes to the Advice Line. No research has been undertaken regarding anticipated call volumes. Question 18 As the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, could you identify your client base please? Answer This is described in the FSP Program Guidelines Part C – Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component. Question 19 What are the guidelines for families eligible to utilise this service? Answer This is described in the FSP Program Guidelines Part C – Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component. Question 20 What are the expected outcomes that FaHCSIA has identified for the clients:

• By the provision of services through the advice line • All other services that are provided in referral process

Answer The expected outcomes for clients is described in the information in the FSP Program Guidelines and Related Information page available on the FaHCSIA website. Question 21 What are the performance metrics or benchmarks of this Contract?

Answer There are no pre-determined performance metrics or benchmarks. The Service Standards, for inclusion in the Funding Agreement, will be negotiated with the successful applicant. Question 22 I understand that the successful applicant is responsible for marketing and promoting the service. Will marketing and promotional collateral be provided to the successful applicant or will the successful applicant be developing the collateral? Answer The successful applicant will be responsible for marketing and promoting the Advice Line service in consultation with the providers of the Legal Advice Service and the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service. The Department currently has some stock of Family Relationship Advice Line brochures, bookmarks and posters. These can be given to the selected applicant for interim distribution. At the same time, the Department will keep a limited stock of Advice Line brochures for direct requests. If the need for additional collateral is identified in the marketing and promotion strategy, the successful applicant will be responsible for its development. Question 23 How many of the incoming calls does the Information Officer transfer to a Parenting Adviser? Answer The answer to Question 14 provides information on transfer rates from Information Officers to Parenting Advisers within the current model. Question 24 We note that the volume of calls has been decreasing since the line commenced in 2006. What is the reason for this decline and are there any plans to promote the service in the future? Answer No research has been undertaken for decreasing call volumes to the Advice Line. The answer to Question 11 provides information about marketing and promotion. Question 25 If the service is to be promoted are you able to provide a timetable or indicative call volume forecasts? Answer The Department currently has no plans to develop an Advice Line marketing and promotion strategy and therefore does not have a timetable or indicative call volume forecasts. It will be the responsibility of the selected applicant to market the Advice Line, in consultation with the providers of the Legal Advice Service and Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service. The strategy will be further negotiated with the successful applicant as part of the funding agreement negotiations.

Question 26 Is it possible to get call arrival patterns so we can ascertain any seasonal patterns and also the time of day and day of week that calls arrive? Answer The data below provides a monthly breakdown of call volume to the Advice Line for the period July 2010 until December 2011. Within the limited time available for this selection, it is not possible to extract call data for times of day, days of week, etc. The answer to Question 1 provides a daily call activity information for the month of June 2011. Month

July 2010 - June 2011 July 2011 - Dec 2011 July 6,378 5707 August 6,803 6658 September 6,484 5998 October 6,134 5793 November 6,768 6379 December 5,495 4952 January 7,156 N/a February 7,083 N/a

March 7,412 N/a

April 5,266 N/a

May 6,585 N/a

June 6,022 N/a

Note: The data has been calculated by tallying the number of answered calls and the number of abandoned calls Question 27 Can the Department provide details of the required or recommended telephony requirements for the Information and Advice Component of the Family Relationship Advice? Answer The Department does not have required or recommended telephony requirements for the delivery of the Information and Advice component of the Family Relationship Advice Line Question 28 Can the Department advise if the Information and Advice Component is currently being delivered from multiple sites? Answer The current provider delivers the Information and Advice Component of the Family Relationship Advice Line from multiple sites. As per the Answer to Question 5 above, there is no prescription about the number of sites for the successful applicant to deliver this national telephone service. Question 29 Are applicants able to include attachments with their submission?

Answer Information about lodging applications is described in the FSP Program Guidelines Part C – Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component, and the Application Form for Funding Under the Family Support Program : Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component available on the Department’s website. Question 30 Please provide the budget allocation for on-going costs related to this program/annum? Answer As stated in the FSP Program Guidelines Part C – Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component funding of A$7.0m (GST Exclusive) has been allocated for the period 1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014. Question 31 The supplied terms and conditions (attached) has the following clause:

21 Insurance 21.1 You agree to have current and adequate insurance appropriate to the Activity funded. Any additional requirements are specified in Item G of the Schedule.

We cannot locate "Item G of the Schedule." Can you please direct us to / supply us with Item G of the Schedule and/or advise what constitutes "adequate insurance"? Answer Clause 21 of the Standard Funding Agreement Terms and Conditions sets out the obligations of the successful applicant to carry adequate insurance. Applicants are advised to refer to their insurance brokers for guidance as to what is appropriate insurance for the Information and Advice Component Advice Line activity. As part of the negotiations with the successful applicant, the Department may also specify additional requirements relating to insurance, and these additional requirements would be described in Item G of the Funding Agreement Schedule. Below is a draft Item G of a standard FaHCSIA Funding Agreement:

Item G INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS (see also Clause 21 of the Terms & Conditions)

You must have the following additional insurance:

[Specify additional insurance requirements if identified]

Question 32 Can the Department confirm if applicants are required to submit a budget detailing our proposed allocation of the A$7.0m funding (Jul 2012 - Jun 2014)?

Answer The Application Form for funding under the Family Support Program : Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component requires that applicants provide a project budget and timeline for the establishment of the Service. The Department will negotiate the details of the 2012 – 2014 budget with the successful applicant. Question 33 In order to readily integrate the Information and Advice component of the Advice Line, can the Department provide information on the technology used by the other Advice Line components? Answer The Department is unable to provide this information. Developing processes/systems for the integration of the Information and Advice Component of the Advice Line into the other Advice Line components is expected to occur during the Advice Line establishment phase. Question 34 For planning purposes, can the Department advise when applicants will be notified of the outcome of their submission (approximate date)? Answer It is intended that the assessment of the eligible applications for funding will occur during March 2012, following which approval to enter into funding negotiations will be sought from the relevant Minister. There is no approximate date for notification as there are many variables to take into account eg number of applications for assessment. However, the Department is aware of the necessity of establishment time for the new provider, and establishment timeframes will be negotiated with the preferred applicant. Question 35 In response to Question 1 in the previous round of Questions and Answers, a table of daily call activity was provided for June 2011. Can the Department confirm if the figures in this table relate to calls made to the Advice Line or calls answered by the Advice Line? Answer The telephone data provided in the Answer to Question 1 is for calls answered only. Question 36 Will the new provider be required to fund the costs of developing, printing and distributing Advice Line marketing and promotional materials? Answer The successful applicant will be required to develop a marketing and promotion strategy and meet the cost of its implementation. Question 37 Does the Advice Line currently promote its service through radio and/or television?

Answer The Department currently has no Advice Line marketing and promotion strategy in place, thus no current promotion through radio, newspapers and/or television. Question 38 If we already receive funding for FSP from FaHCSIA is this a conflict of interest? Will our application still be considered? Answer Organisations already receiving funding from the Department under the Family Support Program can apply for funding to deliver the Family Relationship Advice Line - Information and Advice Component. Question 39 Do we only need to submit a budget for the $500,000 establishment costs? Answer See Answer to Question 32. Question 40 What are abandoned calls? Are they hang ups? Answer Within the current provider’s telephony system, abandoned calls are counted as those entering the phone queue after the Interactive Voice Response, but which do not proceed to be answered by an operator. There has been no analysis of why calls are abandoned, but it is reasonable to assume callers hanging up would be the main contributor of the number of abandoned calls. Question 41 Can the referees be internal people or do they need to be external to the organisation? I.e. should we have a referee from our IT department to verify we have the infrastructure required? Answer The Application Form requires that applicants provide the contacts details of three referees, and does not specify who should be nominated. While not a requirement to include external referees, such referees can act as independent third parties who are able to validate the claims made against the selection criteria in the application. Question 42 The hours of operation – does this mean we need to be open for those hours across Australia and allow for the different time zones, daylight saving time?

Answer The hours of operation are described in the FSP Program Guidelines Part C – Family Relationship Advice Line – Information and Advice Component as local times. This requires the successful applicant to be able to provide the Advice Line service across the whole of Australia taking into account different time zones and daylight saving time, so that the service is available to all callers between the hours of 8am – 8pm (local time) Monday to Friday, and 10am – 4pm (local time) on Saturdays. Question 43 Is it possible to get any data on the number of calls transferred from Information Officers to Parenting Advisers? Answer The answer to Question 14 provides information on transfer rates from Information Officers to Parenting Advisers within the current model. Question 44 The process for referring calls to TFDR or the Family Legal Advice? Answer Within the current model, calls to the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service and the Legal Advice Service are primarily ‘warm transferred’ (ie a live three way conversation in the presence of the caller) or a call back by the Telephone and Online Dispute Resolution Service and/or the Legal Advice Service is arranged. While the actual process for these referrals is via the current call management system, the process for the future referrals between the different Advice Line components will need to be considered as part of the establishment phase. Question 45 Will the successful Tender applicant become the "named owner" of the 1800 number and therefore assume full costs of operating the phone number? Answer Yes. The selected provider will become the Advice Line account administrator and assume the full costs of operating the Advice Line number as all calls to 1800 050 321 go to the Information and Advice Component. The provider will need to negotiate a call charge plan with a telephone carrier for the free call number. Question 46 Can you provide a breakdown of the postcodes (or other identifying locational data) from where the FRAL has received calls in the past 12 months period (or previous 3 years if possible)? Answer The data below provides a monthly breakdown of the percentage of calls to the Advice Line by state/territory for the period January 2011 – December 2011. A further breakdown by postcodes or other identifying data is not available at this time.

Month ACT % NSW % NT % QLD % SA % TAS % VIC % WA % Not Recorded %

January 2011

1.5 26.5 0.8 22.8 5.3 1.2 15.4 13.9 12.6

February 2011

1.5 25.9 0.6 23 5.3 1 15.6 15.5 11.6

March 2011

1.3 25.5 0.9 23.4 5.4 1 16.6 16.3 9.6

April 2011 1.5 24.8 0.9 22.1 4.6 1.2 17.1 13.7 14.2

May 2011 1.4 26.1 0.6 22.2 5.8 1.2 16.7 14.9 11.1

June 2011 1.5 24.8 0.8 23.4 4.9 1.2 17.4 14.5 11.5

July 2011 1.2 26.8 0.7 22.6 5.8 1.7 17.3 14.6 9.3

August 2011

1.2 25.7 0.7 23.1 4.7 1.5 16.9 14.3 11.9

September 2011

1.6 24.2 0.8 23.3 5.5 1.6 18.3 15.5 9.2

October 2011

1.4 25.1 0.7 23.7 5.4 1.5 16.8 15.2 10.2

November 2011

1.2 26.3 0.5 24.1 4.9 1.1 16.1 14.9 10.9

December 2011

1.2 24.9 0.5 22.7 6.4 1.5 17.9 15.7 9.2

Question 47 Can you provide what the cost amount has been, annually, over the past 3 years for the actual cost associated with the phone bill for the 1800 number? Answer This information is commercial in confidence for the current provider. Question 48 Do you have data on how many calls were made from landline or mobile phones to the FRAL over the 3 year period? Answer This information is not available. Question 49 Is funding available to undertake initiatives under the broader Family Support Program?

Answer The current selection process is only for the provision of the Advice Line under the Family Support Program. Question 50 Can the Department advise how the current provider routes calls? Answer Within the current call centre telephony system, staff on the Advice Line are skill tagged as primary or secondary operators for the Advice Line work (ie as Information Officers) and for other non-Advice Line business. Both primary and secondary skill tagged operators are fully trained to answer the Advice Line calls. The only difference is that secondary tagged operators perform other work (answer calls on other areas of their technical expertise) until their services are required on the Advice Line in the event there is an unpredicted number of callers ringing the Advice Line at the same time. Calls enter the Advice Line queue and the call will ‘search’ for an appropriately primary skill tagged Advice Line Information Officer for a pre-determined amount of time. If the call is not answered after this amount of time has passed, the call will ‘search’ for a secondary Advice Line skill tagged operator, whilst continuing to look for a primary Advice Line tagged operator. The actual parameters of the routing strategy employed (eg wait times, number of skilled tagged Advice Line operators) are reviewed and adjusted regularly to maintain an agreed service level. Question 44 provides information about the transfers between the different components of the Advice Line. Within the current model, Information Officers warm transfer callers to the Parenting Advisers or arrange for a callback, depending on the caller’s circumstances.