RMC No. 41-2010 — Publishes the full text of the Memorandum of Agreement among the BIR, Civil Service Commission and National Computer Center re: Call Center ng Bayan Project Digest | Full Text

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE May 26, 2010 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 41-2010 SUBJECT: Publishing the full text of the Memorandum of Agreement among the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Civil Service Commission and National Computer Center TO : All Internal Revenue Officers and Others Concerned For the information and guidance of all concerned, quoted hereunder is the full text of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Civil Service Commission (CSC) and National Computer Center (NCC) signed on May 26, 2010 at the BIR National Training Center Auditorium, BIR, National Office, Diliman, Quezon City. To improve efficiency in the delivery of government service to the public by reducing bureaucratic red tape and preventing graft and corruption, the Call Center ng Bayan intends to provide a virtual bridge between government and the people. It shall be a 24/7 contact center designated to address the concerns of the general public. It shall provide the means in the most accessible way through which the public can air their complaints and/or request for assistance. "MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT This Memorandum of Agreement entered into this 26th day of May, 2010, here in Quezon City, Philippines by and among: CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, a constitutional body, with office address at the CSC Building, Constitution Hills, Diliman, Quezon City, represented herein by its Chairman, Francisco T. Duque III, hereinafter referred to as "CSC"; BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE, a national government agency attached to the Department of Finance, with offices at the BIR National Office Building, Agham Road, Diliman, Quezon City represented herein by its Commissioner, Joel Tan- Torres, hereinafter referred to as "BIR"; NATIONAL COMPUTER CENTER, a government agency created by virtue of Executive Order No. 322 (s.1971) and restructured under PD1480 and attached to the Commission on Information and Communication Technology under the Office of the President, with offices at CP Garcia Avenue, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City, represented herein by its Director General, Angelo Timoteo M. Diaz De Rivera, hereinafter referred to as "NCC"; 1

WITNESSETH: That � WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 was enacted by Congress to improve efficiency in the delivery of government service to the public by reducing bureaucratic red tape and preventing graft and corruption; WHEREAS, Administrative Order No. 241 was issued to expedite the implementation of Republic Act No. 9485 by providing that all government agencies shall establish in their respective offices a public assistance and complaints desk and provide the public hotline number/s which should be purposely set-up to effectively receive feedback and monitor customer satisfaction not later than December 31, 2009. Furthermore, all government agencies shall develop a scheme within its office to ensure that the public assistance desk/complaints desk shall be attended to at all times. Hotline number/s shall be made accessible to the public. WHEREAS, all government agencies are mandated under Administrative Order no. 241 to interconnect their current and future public assistance systems with the government-wide citizen's helpline once the same is established. WHEREAS, pursuant to the said mandate to establish and interconnect government help lines, the parties hereto desire to pursue a pilot citizen's helpline (alternatively called Call Center ng Bayan or CCB) anchored on an existing and working technology for immediate implementation. WHEREAS, the BIR has an existing contact center infrastructure, which use can be extended by BIR to NCC for and in behalf of the participating agencies hereto for the pilot run. WHEREAS, the CSC, being the lead agency for the implementation and interconnection of the citizen's helplines with technical assistance from NCC, desires to utilize the contact center infrastructure of BIR for the pilot run of an interconnected citizen's helpline. WHEREAS, the NCC, being the technology arm of the government under the Office of the President (OP) has the capability to provide the other participating agencies in the Pilot implementation technical expertise and assistance in the requirements definition phase for the speedy implementation of this pilot project in the Executive Branch. WHEREAS, the NCC, after having evaluated the technology of the BIR contact center infrastructure and technology platform has determined that such technology is fit and can be used for the pilot run of the citizen's helpline. WHEREAS, NCC, as the Project Manager of the CCB Project has funds for a one-year subscription basis the network, software, hardware and technology of the BIR contact center infrastructure platform from BIR's systems integrator for and in behalf of the government agency participants in the pilot run of the citizen's helpline WHEREAS, the BIR, as one of the agencies identified by the CSC to be a participant in the pilot implementation is committed to establishing a connection to the Citizen's Helpline NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing premises and the mutual covenants contained herein, the parties agree as follows: 1. General Provisions 1.1. This project shall be known as the Citizen's Helpline; alternatively, it shall also be known as "Call Center ng Bayan or CCB". 1.2. The project shall undergo a pilot run for one (1) year, from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. 2

1.3. The general features of the project are as follows: 1.3.1. Call Center ng Bayan (CCB)� The Citizens' Helpline to Government 1.3.1.1. The Call Center ng Bayan intends to provide a virtual bridge between government and the people. It shall be a 24/7 contact center designated to address the concerns of the general public. It shall provide the means in the most accessible way through which the public can air their complaints and/or request for assistance. Given the archipelagic and peninsular terrain of the country, distance should no longer hinder people from calling government's attention on a specific matter as the facility shall be readily available. The CCB shall be used by all the agencies identified by CSC and NCC, business and industry, the youth and the underprivileged. 1.3.1.2. Through the CCB, citizens can request for information and/or assistance and can file reports through calls or messages to a messaging agent. Callers' reports are acted upon in real time by the agent or their calls are directed to the appropriate frontline service agency, which then attends to the caller's request. Immediate response by the agent will be made possible through the aid of a Knowledge Base (KB) which is linked to the agencies where data is updated. 1.3.1.3. CCB shall keep a close tab on the number of calls directed to a particular government agency, the response times, the subject of the callers' reports and initiatives undertaken. Reports of messages received shall be generated and evaluated. These reports will then serve as inputs to the Evaluation Card of agency performance. Additionally, CCB has the capability to monitor its performance on a real-time basis, thus, enabling it to adjust resource deployment accordingly. In fact, the heads or qualified representatives of concerned agencies may be given access to monitor the performance of their respective groups. 1.3.1.4. At present, there is no existing device in monitoring the performance of government agencies in the delivery of their frontline services except their own. Considering that each agency has its own existing monitoring device, the CCB will work to fill the void and will allow frontline agencies to focus only on specific areas that only need improvement or re-engineering . 1.3.1.5. CCB will likewise serve as the medium for the public to report government personnel and/or agencies which take advantage of the bureaucracy to initiate or cause undue delays in transactions or projects. With increased public vigilance, government agencies will have to examine their systems and processes and make these cheaper and simpler but without sacrificing quality. 1.3.1.6. CCB will then spur institutional and individual efficiency as government offices are forced to check their responsiveness levels and factor in the capability of their personnel to perform their functions. 1.3.2. Facilitating Public Service Delivery Through the CCB 1.3.2.1. When a citizen communicates via voice call, SMS, fax, email or the internet, a generalist agent from the CCB, who is connected to the government's Knowledge Base, responds to the caller. Depending on the caller's concern, the agent processes the request. All conversations are recorded and kept in the database for reference. 3

1.3.2.1.1. SIMPLE MATTERS: If the simple request for information/assistance can be resolved through available tools (i.e. information/data from the Knowledge Base), then the request will be fulfilled immediately by the generalist. The transaction is considered closed and the Knowledge Base updated. 1.3.2.1.2. COMPLEX MATTERS: If the concern is more complex (i.e the citizen needs actual service on site or very specific information/processing from a certain agency), this will be escalated to the concerned frontline agency together with all the initial information gathered attached to the escalated call so that the receiving frontline specialist will immediately know the details of concern and identity of the caller. Then, the frontline specialist fulfills the request of the caller through their established business process and available resources. If there is a need to escalate this further, then the specialist can forward this request to the respective team that can make the actual fulfillment of the request. 1.3.2.1.3. CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS: If the concern is confidential or critical in nature, a special encrypted channel and exception-handling process will be activated automatically or manually by the agent. This concern will be handled by a special team of agents or directly by the designated authority in government, i.e CSC or the Office of the Ombudsman. 1.3.2.2. All of these transactions are kept track by a monitoring system which is activated when the generalist agent logs the call in the database where a ticket (service order) is created for every call that is received by the CCB. Alarms can be set depending on the fulfillment timeline parameters of respective agencies and on the nature of the request. When an alarm sets off, which means a request has been opened and not yet closed within the time limit that it should be fulfilled, the generalist follows up with the concerned agency or escalates the issue to the next level of authority who is responsible for the performance of such service. All of these transactions are reflected in the Knowledge Base which is being maintained by the NCC. 1.3.2.3. The NCC will take the lead in connecting, consolidating and maintaining all the respective database and websites (including basic information, directory and business processes) of all the concerned agencies to the Central Knowledge Base of the government to be available as a tool for the generalist agents. 1.3.2.4. From this Central Knowledge Base, the CSC, which is the lead implementing agency can monitor, conduct quality assurance, generate reports and extract data for analysis in a regular or ad hoc basis. These reports which specify areas of concerns based on the key performance parameters can be a form of feedback to the agencies about their service delivery performance. It can be used then as a basis for process improvement or re-engineering. It can also drill down to the performance of specific personnel in government in two ways. First, through reports/feedback from the people served and second, from the system-recorded accomplishments. The report can also include statistics which may be vital in determining how the government can conduct or improve its programs to support its citizen. CSC can also submit these reports to the Office of the President and Cabinet Secretaries as supporting information for their strategic plans for the future. 4

1.3.2.5. Designated authority may actually be given access to monitor in real-time or historical performance of the agencies. 1.3.2.6. Feedback will be provided to the caller through call back, email or SMS regarding the status of the concerns until such is finally addressed. 2. Responsibilities of the Participant Agency 2.1. The BIR shall provide NCC with the contact information for all its operating units, including key officials and employees, and the services provided by each. 2.2. The BIR shall provide the services of its subject specialists to act as messaging agents for the CCB who can answer queries from the public. 2.3. The BIR shall provide budgetary support for additional specialist licenses for seats over and above two which is provided for free by the Project. 2.4. The BIR shall make available its networking facilities for connection to the Project, including the necessary PCs for the specialist seats and Internet connection. 3. Responsibilities of the CSC 3.1. The CSC, as the lead government agency in the implementation of ARTA, shall receive request for assistance, complaints and suggestions from the public through the Call Center ng Bayan (CCB) to expedite delivery of government service including the poor and the disadvantaged sectors of society; 3.2. The CSC shall gather pertinent data and information from concerned government agencies as input to the Central Knowledge Base which shall be utilized by the CCB agents as a tool to respond to the concerns of citizens. These data and information shall be submitted to the NCC for processing into Central Knowledge Base. 3.3. The CSC shall, on the basis of the reports generated from the Citizen's Contact Center System shall issue performance reports of government agencies on their efficiency and effectiveness in responding to calls assistance from the public. 3.4. The CSC in coordination with NCC shall be the central authority to identify the agencies which will participate in the pilot implementation of the CCB. 4. Responsibilities of the NCC 4.1. The NCC, in coordination with the CSC shall require the identified participating agencies to submit their contact center application and connectivity requirements properly signed off in accordance with a specified documentation format to be agreed upon with BIR. 4.2. The NCC shall lead the efforts in putting together, operations and maintenance of a Central Knowledge Base to support the CCB operations. 4.3. The NCC shall, for the duration of the Project acquire on subscription basis from a contact center service provider CCB services under a service level agreement with the contact service provider for and in behalf of participating agencies, charged to CCB project funds. 4.4. The NCC shall be the Project Manager for the CCB Project and shall establish a Project Management Office within its premises during the entire project duration. 5

This Agreement shall be in full force and effect for a period of one (1) year commencing on July 1, 2010 (the "Commencement Date") and ending on June 30, 2011. If any party desires to terminate this Agreement for any cause whatsoever, prior to the specified date of expiration, a written notice to terminate the Agreement must be served upon the other parties at least thirty (30) days prior to the intended date of termination. The parties hereto agree that in case of any pre-termination of this Agreement, each Party shall give the other reasonable time to honor, comply and make contingencies for obligations any Party may have incurred in connection with this Agreement. All legal notices made pursuant to this Agreement shall be in writing and delivered personally or sent by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the parties at the respective addresses set forth above. This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Republic of the Philippines. If any provision of this Agreement is held to be valid and unenforceable, all other provisions shall remain in effect provided that the same can stand alone. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have executed this Agreement on the date first written above. For the Civil Service Commission: For the Bureau of Internal Revenue: (Original Signed) (Original Signed) Francisco T. Duque III, MD, MSc Joel L. Tan-Torres Chairman Commissioner For the National Computer Center: (Original Signed) (Original Signed) Maria Luisa S. Agamata Angelo Timoteo M. Diaz de Rivera Director-General Signed in the presence of: (Original Signed)" Lillia C. Guillermo All internal revenue officials and employees are hereby enjoined to give this Circular as wide a publicity as possible. (Original Signed) JOEL L. TAN-TORRES Commissioner of Internal Revenue A mag 6