Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS)- Request For Proposal For A Chatbot On CSCS Contact Centre Application

DEADLINE: 31ST AUGUST, 2022
CENTRAL SECURITIES CLEARING SYSTEM (CSCS) PLC
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR CHATBOT IMPLEMENTATION
REFERENCE NO: CSCS/CCC/08/2022

The return date for responses against this RFP is 30th August 2022 delivered in the requested manner and to the address advised. Late responses will not be considered. Note that proposals submitted but do not meet stipulated criteria shall be considered non-responsive.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR A CHATBOT ON CSCS CONTACT CENTRE APPLICATION
Central Securities Clearing System Plc [CSCS] is Nigeria’s premier Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI), and a Central Securities Depository (CSD) licensed to carry on depository, clearing and settlement of transactions in the Nigerian Capital Market. CSCS facilitates the delivery (transfer of securities from seller to buyer) and settlement (payment for securities) of securities transacted on the floors of the Nigerian Exchange Limited and other authorized/organized Securities Trading Platforms.

OBJECTIVE OF THE RFP
As part of our plan to improve our customer experience and enhance our Stakeholders’ engagement, CSCS intends to incorporate a chatbot for quick response to our Stakeholders/ Market Participants who continuously make enquiries on our web portal and across other channels of engagement. The need to stay available all the time is at the centre of our business and in line with our vision to be the globally respected and leading central securities depository in Africa. We want to engage customers round the clock and provide a positively memorable customer service experience at every touchpoint. We require a Chatbot to help manage customer requests with instant responses to boost satisfaction levels.

The value proposition is centered around quick response time to enquiries on Capital Market related issues. To educate potential Stakeholders as well as existing Participants who require a certain level of knowledge in the role of CSCS Plc. within our ecosystem. The chatbot will handle all frequently asked questions whilst expanding the knowledge base of Market Participants.

CSCS is desirous of engaging the services of a reputable and experienced Technology organization to deploy a chatbot application on the chat channel of our Contact Centre application. This application will provide an online, artificially intelligent chat system on our Contact Centre application. This software, though artificially intelligent, must be able to create a natural language chat experience that mirrors a chat experience with a live person. It needs to understand the semantics of asked questions by providing an immediate, meaningful answer while also being able to schedule appointments and/or direct people to other resources on an as-needed basis. If the software is not able to meet the immediate needs of our customer, it needs to have functionality that allows for the question or request to be escalated to a Customer Care Centre operative. The software also needs to be optimized to continue to learn new content areas as our operations continue to be updated as well as provide useful metrics for how users are interacting with the software

SCOPE OF WORK
The bidder should be capable of providing the services within the scope of work explained in this section. The said scope of work will also be included in the agreement to be executed by the provider and would broadly cover the following:

(1) Bot should be able to integrate with 3rd party applications, easy and flexible handshake capability.

(2) Quick transfer and alert features for swift communication flow from Bot to a live agent on a single customer engagement.

(3) 24/7 Availability – Customers need not wait for the next available operator when chatbots are part of the communication strategy on a round-the-clock basis.

(4) Instant Response – Chatbots should be able to handle the queries of thousands of customers instantly as well as simultaneously and improve the average response time.

(5) Consistency in Answers- The chatbot should maintain a great level of consistency in answers and improve customer experience with the brand.

(6) Omni-channel – the bot should function across omnichannel messaging support platforms which will help customers communicate with businesses through various channels such as websites, Web applications, Mobile Apps and social media platforms etc.

(7) Personalization – Bots can ensure a touch of personalization by engaging customers with one-on-one conversations, maintaining a naturalsounding tone, and being good at interactive communication.

(8) Manage all customer conversations easily from one powerful dashboard

(9) Automatically hand off the conversation to humans if the bot is unable to answer.

(10) Provide CSCS with a holistic view of overall team performance using a robust reporting dashboard.

(11) Provide a historical trail of all chat engagements.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS
Background and Experience
A statement of the background and relevant experience of the vendor should be presented. The vendor is advised to include a list of clients for whom it has rendered similar services. This requirement would be an added advantage in the assessment of the suitability of a vendor during the selection process.

Understanding of The Brief
The proposal should include a section that details the vendor’s understanding of CSCS’ needs as articulated in this RFP as well as the vendor’s accustomed approach to implementing this project.

Methodology/Description of Approach
In this section, the vendor will provide a comprehensive description of how it will provide the required services in line with the scope of the services. Information provided must be sufficient to convey to CSCS that the vendor has an adequate understanding of the task required to provide the requested services and that it has an approach, methodology and plan to overcome potential challenges. The vendor proposal should include, among others, the following:

(i) An outline of how the vendor intends to perform the services covered by this RFP, giving sufficient information to demonstrate its understanding of CSCS and its requirements; and its capability to successfully implement the activities in line with the scope of work.

(ii) Identify the vendor’s experience with respect to implementation and what makes the vendor uniquely qualified for this project.

Timeline to be observed for this RFP:

Estimated Fees
In this section, the vendor shall provide detailed cost estimates and expenses related to the scope of this engagement. The proposal must clearly state the following:

• All costs required to meet the objectives of the initiative.
• Cost for any other activity, which is not specified in the scope of work and deliverables of this RFP but is considered relevant for the project execution by the RFP proponent must be highlighted separately.
• VAT and other applicable taxes must be indicated separately.
• All costs must be in Naira.

The agreed cost quoted will be firm and fixed for the duration of the performance of the contract. At no point will any deviation from the quoted rate be entertained by CSCS. In addition, the Financial Bid shall not include any conditions attached to it; any such bid shall be rejected.

Criteria for Selection
In this section, the vendor shall provide evidence to confirm and establish assurance for meeting with the highlighted proposals in line with the scope of this engagement. The RFP proposal must detail the following:

• Regulatory Enforcement Actions- The shortlisted vendor should not have any history of regulatory infractions over the past 10 years.
• Operational Risk 
• Data protection policy for customer information and level of interference with private data.

Confidentiality
By accepting to take part in this proposal process, you agree to keep in confidence all information availed to you in relation to the proposal process, not to disclose it to third parties and not to use it for any other purpose than for the proposal. You will be required to execute CSCS’ standard Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Please note that your participation in the selection process does not create a binding agreement between you and CSCS. CSCS will enter into a binding agreement with the successful vendor. Should you require additional information or clarification as to this RFP, please contact the undersigned.

Ashiogwu Vivian
Head, Contact Centre
Central Securities Clearing Systems Plc
2/4 Customs Street,
Marina, Lagos Island, Lagos.

Submission of Proposals
Electronic copies of your proposals should be submitted on or before the close of business on 30 August, 2022 torfpsubmission@cscs.ng

Deadline:
30 August, 2022 5:00 p.m.