How a fixed-fee, eight-week CX diagnostic sprint maps one high-volume federal service across every channel, costs its failure demand in the agency's own numbers, and hands over a measurement framework and a roadmap the budget office can fund.
Every high-volume federal service keeps a record of where it breaks. It is not in the issue tracker. It is in the contact center: the calls from people who could not finish online, the status inquiries nobody should have needed to make, the paper forms mailed in after a login failed. Each of those contacts is a defect report. Most agencies pay to answer them and never read them as one.
The reason is structural. A single customer journey routinely crosses several program offices, a contact center contractor and a legacy system, and nobody owns it end to end. Survey results arrive on a dashboard nobody is chartered to act on. Budgets fund systems, not journeys. When a modernization is finally funded, it often rebuilds the old process on new technology because nobody mapped the experience before writing the requirements.
This paper is for the program manager who owns a high-volume public or member-facing service and its budget, the CX lead or OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 owner who champions the work, the digital services director and contact center program manager who evaluate it, the CIO whose modernization needs grounded requirements, and the COR who buys it. It describes Avalon Technology Services' CX Strategy Development service, which starts with one engagement:
The illustration later in this paper works through the effort model. The base case is 372 hours over eight weeks at a blended $140 to $185 an hour, or $52,080 to $68,820, with a $60K planning fee, well under the $350,000 simplified acquisition threshold.
Avalon researches and recommends. The sprint certifies nothing and moves no score by itself. Every submission, determination and decision about what to fund remains the agency's.
Any two of these phrases in one meeting usually mean the service has an experience problem nobody has costed.
| What the program says | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| "Our call center is drowning." | A share of calls is failure demand: contacts caused by a broken step, not genuine need |
| "People call because the website doesn't work." | The digital channel fails at a specific point, and the phone line absorbs the cost |
| "We survey, but nobody does anything with it." | Measurement exists without an owner, a decision path or a backlog |
| "We don't know why people abandon the application." | Analytics, reason codes and complaints have never been read together |
| "We're about to modernize, and I don't trust the requirements." | The requirements describe the system, not the journey |
| "Every region does it differently." | The backstage process varies, so the front-stage experience does too |
Routing keeps this service distinct from its neighbors. A named screen or form that needs redesign is Avalon's UI/UX Design service. Evidence on how users handle an existing product is User Testing & Feedback Analysis. Findability on a website is Information Architecture. Section 508 conformance is Accessibility Modernization. Each of those fixes or tests one product. This sprint maps one service across every channel and costs where it breaks.
| Authority | What it says | What it means for this sprint |
|---|---|---|
| 21st Century IDEA Act (2018) | Agencies modernize websites and digital services to be user-centered, consistent and accessible, and digitize forms and services | The sprint supplies customer research, prioritization evidence and a measurement framework the agency can draw on |
| OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 | Agencies manage customer experience and service delivery, with standardized post-transaction feedback measures | The measurement framework aligns its KPI dictionary to those measures and the agency's existing instruments |
| Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. ch. 35; 5 CFR 1320) | OMB clearance for collecting information from 10 or more members of the public; agencies often use generic clearances | A dependency: the base sprint uses existing data; any public interviews need the agency's PRA clearance officer to confirm the pathway |
| Privacy Act | Governs records about individuals that the agency retrieves by name or identifier | Data pulls arrive de-identified where possible; the agency's privacy official reviews consent language and data handling |
| Section 508 (2017 refresh incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level AA) | Federal ICT must be accessible | Applies to the deliverables; the sprint flags accessibility barriers it sees but is not conformance testing |
The accurate statement is narrow: this engagement provides the customer research, prioritization evidence and measurement framework that support the agency's obligations under the 21st Century IDEA Act and OMB Circular A-11 Section 280. It does not fulfil a reporting obligation, it is not an audit of either, and it is not part of any assessment or authorization activity. Most sprints need no access to production systems beyond read-only analytics and data exports.
The sprint covers one named journey, such as applying for a benefit and checking its status, across the channels people actually use. It works in the agency's own collaboration, storage and tracking tools.
| Workstream | Activities |
|---|---|
| Alignment and discovery | Sponsor kickoff, research plan, PRA pathway check, inventory of prior studies, survey instruments and service levels; up to 12 staff and stakeholder interviews |
| Frontline listening | Listening sessions with contact center agents and field or processing staff, who hear the failures first |
| Data synthesis | Section 280 survey results and comments, contact center volumes and reason codes, complaint and congressional-inquiry logs, web analytics (including Digital Analytics Program data), completion and abandonment, processing times |
| Journey map and service blueprint | The journey across channels, paired with the backstage systems, handoffs, policies and staff actions behind each moment; pain points ranked by frequency and severity |
| Cost-to-serve and failure demand | Per-transaction cost by channel from agency inputs, and the share of contacts caused by process defects rather than genuine need |
| Measurement framework | A KPI dictionary aligned to the Section 280 post-transaction measures (satisfaction, trust, ease, efficiency, effectiveness, employee interaction), a listening-post map and dashboard requirements |
| Backlog and roadmap | An impact-versus-effort backlog and an 18 to 36 month roadmap with owners, rough cost bands, quick wins inside the fiscal year and budget-calendar alignment |
Value demand is a contact the service exists to handle: a question only a person can answer. Failure demand is a contact caused by the service failing to do something, or do it right, the first time: "where is my application," "the site won't take my document," "I got a letter I don't understand." Reason codes, call notes and complaint categories usually show which is which, once someone reads them against the journey map. The model states what failure demand costs today. It claims no reduction.
| Deliverable | Format |
|---|---|
| Current-state experience assessment | Written report |
| Journey map and service blueprint | PDF plus editable source in the agency's tool |
| Channel cost-to-serve and failure-demand model | Spreadsheet with documented assumptions |
| CX measurement framework | KPI dictionary, listening-post map, dashboard requirements |
| Prioritized opportunity backlog | Spreadsheet, importable to the agency's tracker |
| CX strategy and roadmap | Narrative document plus briefing deck |
| Executive readout | Live briefing to the sponsor and leadership |
| Research materials | Interview guides, consent language, anonymization protocol |
Every recommendation is mapped to an implementation owner, a cost band and a metric. Every deliverable is produced to conform with Section 508, and every one belongs to the agency. The roadmap specifies needs and outcomes, not products or proprietary specifications, so any qualified firm can bid the work it identifies.
The sprint stops at the roadmap. It does not include product design or build, a usability study, Section 508 conformance work, website structure work such as a content inventory, card sort or tree test, survey platform setup or operation (Touchpoints, Qualtrics, Medallia or similar), contact center operations, staffing or scripting, communications campaigns, compliance audits, or license resale. Primary research with the public is not in the base sprint; up to nine public interviews are an optional add-on only where the agency's PRA clearance officer confirms the pathway.
| Phase | Timing | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0: Kickoff and plan | Weeks 1–2 | Sponsor kickoff, research plan, PRA pathway check, data request list dated in writing |
| 1: Discovery | Weeks 2–5 | Staff and stakeholder interviews, frontline listening sessions, data pulls and analysis, first working session |
| 2: Map and cost | Weeks 5–7 | Journey map, service blueprint, pain-point ranking, cost-to-serve and failure-demand model, mid-point session |
| 3: Strategy and readout | Weeks 7–8 | Measurement framework, backlog, roadmap, final working session, executive readout and handoff |
The delivery clock starts when the data request is answered, because contact center contractor exports routinely take weeks to arrive. A second journey, an added channel or an added customer segment is priced as a change order. The follow-on, when the agency wants primary research or more journeys, is the standard engagement described under pricing.
| Included | Separate work |
|---|---|
| One journey, up to three channels | Added journeys, channels or segments, priced as change orders |
| Existing data and staff research | Public interviews beyond the optional add-on |
| Measurement framework and dashboard requirements | Building dashboards or operating a survey platform |
| Roadmap with owners and cost bands | Designing or building the fixes |
| Unclassified services | Classified or cleared environments |
Avalon takes one engagement at a time, works business hours, and works on unclassified services only. Avalon's founder leads the engagement, builds the cost-to-serve model and manages the project. A named senior UX researcher and service designer, under agreement before the proposal and listed in it with a résumé, runs interviews and listening sessions and builds the journey map and blueprint. Avalon has no past federal engagements under this service. FAR 15.305 says an offeror without a record of past performance may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on that factor; what protects the program is a named team, a fixed price, a single journey and deliverables the agency can inspect at each phase.
| Requirement | How it is handled |
|---|---|
| Researcher and service designer | Named personnel whose experience and investigation level match the agency's requirements, listed in the proposal |
| Access to agency data | Public Trust investigation at the tier the agency requires, as a condition of the engagement; de-identified exports preferred |
| Tools | The agency's approved collaboration, storage and tracking tools; no licenses are needed or resold |
| Insurance and contract vehicles | Any coverage the solicitation requires is a condition of award; Avalon does not hold a GSA Schedule or a governmentwide contract today |
Key personnel substitution requires CO approval. The proposal carries an organizational conflict of interest statement covering any later work the roadmap identifies.
| Engagement | Market-norm range | Avalon |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint: one journey, existing data only, core deliverables, 6–10 weeks | $45K–$95K | Firm fixed price; illustrative $60K |
| Standard: one or two journeys, primary customer research, full deliverable set, 12–20 weeks | $120K–$300K | The follow-on, not the entry offer |
| Enterprise: multiple services and segments, 5–9 months | $350K and up | Not offered by Avalon today |
The sprint sits under the $350,000 simplified acquisition threshold and can be bought as an open-market purchase, optionally milestone-gated at the end of each phase. CX work inside a larger digital services order can be subcontracted to Avalon by a prime. Avalon does not hold a GSA Schedule or a governmentwide contract today, and it does not resell software or licenses. Pricing is firm fixed price, not contingent on any outcome.
A diagnostic of a fielded service is usually funded from operations and maintenance money. October through December, when new-year plans are drafted, and August through September, when year-end funds are placed, are the natural windows. Prices are fixed against one named journey, capped channels, interviews and workshops, and a dated dependency schedule.
The figures below are a planning illustration for one representative unclassified service: a high-volume benefit application and status inquiry service reached online, by phone and on paper. They are not a quote and not a result from any engagement.
Kickoff, the research plan and the PRA check take 8 lead and 12 researcher hours. Each of 12 staff interviews takes 1 lead and 2.5 researcher hours. Each of five data sources takes 8 lead hours, and coding existing verbatims takes 16 researcher hours. Listening sessions take 4 and 8. The journey map and blueprint take 8 and 56. The cost model takes 12 lead hours plus 6 per channel. The measurement framework takes 12 and 12, the backlog and roadmap 32 and 12, three workshops 6 hours each per role, and the readout 12 and 8. Project management is 3 lead hours a week.
| Role | Rate band | Base hours | Loading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement lead (strategy, cost analysis, PM) | $140–$185/hr | 200 | about 0.6 FTE |
| Senior UX researcher and service designer | $140–$185/hr | 172 | about 0.5 FTE |
| Total | 372 |
| Scope | Hours | Rate-band range | Planning fee | Inside $45K–$95K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base: one journey, 3 channels, 8 weeks | 372 | $52.1K–$68.8K | $60K | Yes |
| A: plus 9 public interviews, 10 weeks | 427.5 | $59.9K–$79.1K | $69K | Yes |
| B: 5 channels, 8 data sources, poor reason codes, 9 weeks | 435 | $60.9K–$80.5K | $71K | Yes |
The base case is 372 hours, or $52,080 to $68,820, with a $60K planning fee at the midpoint. Adding nine public interviews where the PRA pathway allows takes the sprint to ten weeks and $59,850 to $79,088. Five channels, eight data sources and contact center data with unusable reason codes take it to nine weeks and $60,900 to $80,475. A slip in agency data pulls does not change the price; it moves the clock.
As a cross-check, loading the sprint at 0.5 to 0.75 of a lead and 0.5 to 1.0 of a researcher and designer for eight weeks gives 320 to 560 hours, or $44,800 to $103,600. The base case sits in the lower middle. Full loading at the top rate breaks the $95,000 ceiling, which is why the sprint holds to one journey and eight to nine weeks.
The model prices the sprint; it claims no saving. The cost of the status quo comes from the agency's own volumes and unit costs. The example inputs below are illustrative only.
| Channel | Monthly volume | Unit cost | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online | 40,000 | $2 | $960,000 |
| Phone | 12,000 | $12 | $1,728,000 |
| Paper | 3,000 | $20 | $720,000 |
| In person | 1,000 | $35 | $420,000 |
| Total | $3,828,000 |
If reason codes show 30 percent of phone contacts are failure demand, that is 43,200 calls a year costing $518,400. At 15 percent it is $259,200; at 45 percent and $16 a call, $1,036,800; at 30 percent and $8 a call, $345,600. A $60K sprint costs the same as about 5,000 failure-demand calls at $12. Those figures, not a vendor estimate, are what the program takes to the budget office.
| Pitfall | How to avoid it |
|---|---|
| Journey inflation | One journey by name in the SOW; added journeys by change order |
| Segment multiplication | No public segments in the base sprint; the add-on caps participants at nine |
| Sliding into design | The SOW states verbatim that the sprint does not include product design or build |
| Workshop proliferation | Three working sessions, fixed in the SOW |
| Late data | Contact center exports, PRA and privacy reviews dated as government-furnished items with a slip provision |
| Compliance overclaim | No claim that the sprint makes a service compliant, fulfils a reporting obligation or moves a score |
| Under-priced sprints | Primary research is standard-tier work, priced as such, never slipped into a sprint |
Most struggling services are not missing a new system. They are missing a map of where the journey breaks, a price on what those breaks cost, and an order in which to fix them that the budget office can fund.
The natural first step is the fixed-fee diagnostic sprint: one journey, about eight weeks, under the simplified acquisition threshold, ending in a journey map and blueprint, a failure-demand model in the agency's own numbers, a measurement framework and a roadmap with owners and cost bands. To discuss a service, contact Avalon Technology Services at contact@AvalonTechServices.com.
Customer journey
The sequence of steps a person takes to get something done with the agency, across every channel they use.
Service blueprint
A map that pairs each step of the journey with the backstage systems, handoffs, policies and staff actions behind it.
Failure demand
Contacts caused by the service failing to do something, or do it right, the first time.
Cost to serve
The cost of handling one transaction in a given channel, such as a call, a paper form or an online submission.
Listening post
Any source of customer signal: surveys, call reasons, complaints, analytics, frontline staff.
PRA
Paperwork Reduction Act: requires OMB clearance for information collections from 10 or more members of the public.
All values are planning assumptions for one representative unclassified service. None is drawn from a specific agency, a real service or a completed engagement.
| Assumption | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Service | One benefit application and status journey; online, phone, paper | Planning assumption |
| Scope caps | 1 journey, 3 channels, 5 data sources, 12 interviews, 3 workshops | Planning assumption |
| Effort | Lead 200 and researcher 172 hours over 8 weeks | KB delivery model; hours assumed |
| Rate | $140–$185 an hour blended; $162.50 planning midpoint | Category blended band |
| Channel inputs | Volumes and unit costs in the readout table | Example inputs; the agency supplies real ones |
| Exclusions | Travel, participant compensation, tool licenses | Not priced |
| Price check | Base fee $60K | Inside $45K–$95K; under the SAT |
