Case Study

FSA USDS Contact Center

CRI established and currently manages a fully virtual, omnichannel contact center for FSA borrowers as one of five prime contractors on the Unified Servicing and Data Solution (USDS), a $16 billion IDIQ contract. Secure, omnichannel borrower support designed to scale through policy changes, repayment transitions, and demand surges.

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At a glance

Department of Education | Federal Student Aid | USDS

Agency

U.S. Department of Education / Federal Student Aid

CRI Role

Prime contractor (one of five on USDS)

Service Area

Contact Center Operations

Focus

Omnichannel borrower support

Prime

Contractor on FSA USDS

1.5M+

Calls fielded per month

6M

Borrowers supported

95%

Quality monitoring pass rate

FSA Contact Center Case Study

See how CRI supports millions of FSA borrowers across every channel.

Secure, omnichannel borrower support designed to scale through policy changes, repayment transitions, and demand surges.

Challenge

High-Volume, High-Scrutiny Borrower Support

The Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) program is one of the most scrutinized federal programs in the country. The program needed a contact center partner capable of handling millions of student loan borrower interactions across multiple channels and languages, complex repayment questions, and emotionally charged interactions, all while operating under strict federal security requirements and the constant pressure of public and congressional oversight.

CRI Solution

A Fully Virtual, Omnichannel Contact Center

CRI established and currently manages a fully virtual, omnichannel contact center for FSA borrowers as one of five prime contractors on the Unified Servicing and Data Solution (USDS), a $16 billion IDIQ contract. From the start, CRI worked closely with FSA during transition to prepare and staff the contact center, develop an implementation plan, build a knowledge base, establish scripts, and stand up a fully operational multichannel contact center capable of supporting millions of borrowers at go-live. The transition was executed through collaborative planning and workload management strategies to ensure continuity of borrower support operations.

Borrowers can reach FSA agents across phone, chat, email, SMS, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) through the NICE CXone FedRAMP-authorized platform, with 24/7 IVR availability and a self-service portal for common requests. English and Spanish-speaking agents are available Monday through Friday, trained specifically for the FSA program with onboarding, ongoing certification, and annual refresher training. When call volumes surge, during policy changes, forgiveness program announcements, or repayment restarts, CRI scales without dropping service levels. Borrower data is protected through role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, and secure handling practices to safeguard personal information.

Outcome

Consistent, Secure Support at Scale

FSA borrowers receive consistent, high-quality support across their preferred channel and language, backed by a secure, FedRAMP-authorized omnichannel environment that handles more than 1.5 million borrower calls each month while maintaining a 95% quality monitoring performance pass rate measured by FSA. CRI maintains ISO-certified quality and information security frameworks ensuring consistent performance and data protection across the program. Advanced DRM and ticketing systems with defined service level agreements, escalation protocols, and incident management keep operations running smoothly regardless of call volume. When repayment transitions, policy changes, or borrower outreach campaigns drive surges in demand, the contact center scales to meet them without dropping service levels.

1.5M+

Borrower calls each month

95%

Quality monitoring pass rate measured by FSA

Operational Impact

Four metrics of success.

CRI’s fully virtual contact center supports FSA borrowers by phone, chat, email, SMS, and IVR, in English and Spanish, on a FedRAMP-authorized platform.