Social Security Administration awards Verizon contract for agency-wide infrastructure modernization

BALTIMORE – The Social Security Administration (SSA) has chosen Verizon to provide Unified Communication (UC) and Contact Center (CC) services to more than 62,000 SSA employees at 1,300 locations through The Next Generation Telephony Project (NGTP). This project focuses on converging three existing systems to provide an enterprise-wide CC and UC solution upgrade for the SSA.

Verizon will provide a customized UC/Customer Experience platform that will help the SSA transform customer service as part of its long-term IT modernization plans. The project includes complete operational support services including management, maintenance, training, help desk, network operations center, security, recording and analytics. It also enables the SSA to analyze operations more effectively, improve customer experience and better serve the public across channels, whether in-person, video, phone or online.

“Verizon has a long history of supporting the missions of the Social Security Administration, including helping to enable SSA’s digital transformation through citizen-friendly business systems,” said Andrés Irlando, senior vice president and president, Public Sector and Verizon Connect at Verizon. “We are proud to partner with the SSA to enable and serve the 65 million Americans who rely on its services.”

Verizon chose Avaya as its delivery partner for the core infrastructure for SSA’s UC and Contact Center requirements, providing a modernized, cost-effective infrastructure for SSA employees, allowing true collaboration with a single interface across the agency.

Verizon will also play an instrumental role in replacing SSA’s national 800 number teleservice platform, which supports over 10,000 agents and field office employees who respond to citizen inquiries regarding their SSA benefits.