By Ellen Muraskin

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded AT&T Government Solutions a four-year contract to help it modernize communications in support of improved collection, validation and processing of disaster claims.

The contract calls for IVR (interactive voice response) and contact-center services that scale to accommodate surging traffic volumes during disasters. AT&T teamed with contact center platform provider Interactive Intelligence as subcontractor.

FEMA awarded the contract to AT&T under the General Services Administration’s Networx Universal contracting program for telecommunications services. While details were not immediately available, Interactive Intelligence’s cloud-based contact center platform can rapidly add agents in disparate locations as the need arises, without large capital outlays.

Interactive Intelligence, based in Indianapolis, also has a long history of IVR design and deployment on its contact center platform. A voice-based front end to claims processing can help speed resolutions by routing calls to appropriate specialists, to Spanish or other foreign language-speaking agents, and to serve claimants who may have lost all Internet access as the result of a disaster.