Elections Newfoundland and Labrador is seeking to outsource its public call centre operations to a call centre vendor with experience, expertise, and capacity to handle inbound call management for the next general election, statutorily set for October 14, 2025. While legislation statutorily sets elections for the above dates, a general election may be called at anytime and therefore the vendor must be available to begin providing services to Elections Newfoundland and Labrador with limited notice.
The leadership team of Elections Newfoundland and Labrador is based at its head office in St. John’s. During a general election the organization scales up to over 50 offices operating throughout the province’s 40 electoral districts. Elections Newfoundland and Labrador employs over 4,500 dedicated election officials to deliver election services to approximately 380,000 electors during a general election. This scale up generally happens over a period of 6-8 weeks depending on the election cycle.
Through previous election events, Elections Newfoundland and Labrador utilized an internal call centre for inbound and outbound calls. This call centre was staffed by approximately 7 individuals, however it operated on limited hours. There is not a quantified number of calls taken by those staff during previous election events for reference. Engaging an external Vendor to provide Public Call Centre services for the 51st General Election allows Elections Newfoundland and Labrador to better serve electors by:
• Providing the electorate with information on the election in a courteous, timely fashion;
• Increased availability of call centre representatives and available hours of support;
• Providing first call resolution to a high percentage of questions presented;
• Minimizing the risk associated with the disruption of services, in the event of a disaster (power outage, extreme weather); and
• Acquiring extensive reporting on telephone inquiries, in order to better serve the electorate in future elections.
