Telephone/Switchboard Operator

Work Schedule:

• Shift work providing 24-hour coverage, seven days a week, including weekends and Federal holidays.
• Schedules may include day, evening, overnight, relief, and emergency coverage.
• Place of Performance Services will be performed on-site at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 3801 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304.

Period of Performance Base Year:

• October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027..
• Summary The Telephone/Switchboard Operator will answer, process, and route calls for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
• The operator will use Cisco Finesse telephones, landlines, digital paging, radios, overhead paging, pocket paging, and emergency code-paging systems.
• The position requires the professional handling of routine and emergency communications, including medical codes, alarms, bomb threats, fires, and disasters.
• Calls must be answered promptly and routed accurately while protecting patient and employee information.

Staffing Requirement:

• The solicitation calls for thirteen qualified telephone operators.
• Additional relief or backup personnel may be necessary to maintain uninterrupted 24-hour coverage.
• Requirements Must be able to work on-site in Palo Alto, California.
• Must be dependable and available for rotating shifts, weekends, Federal holidays, and emergency coverage.
• Must communicate politely, clearly, efficiently, and professionally.
• Must be able to learn and operate telephone, paging, radio, and computer systems.
• Must be able to answer incoming calls within three rings and support an average answer time of less than 10 seconds.
• Must support an operator-line call abandonment rate below 5%.
• Must be able to follow medical-code, emergency, fire, disaster, and bomb-threat procedures.
• Must maintain accurate call, incident, complaint, and equipment-malfunction records.
• Must comply with the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, VA privacy rules, and information-security requirements.
• Must complete required VA orientation, privacy, cybersecurity, and role-specific training before beginning work.
• Must satisfy applicable background-investigation, personnel-vetting, identification-badge, and credentialing requirements.
• Must be included on the approved personnel roster before working at the VA facility.
• Must maintain automobile liability insurance when driving or parking at the VA facility.
• Duties Answer and process incoming internal and external calls in priority order.
• Route callers to the correct VA department, employee, or service.
• Assist VA employees and patients with authorized outgoing calls.
• Operate Cisco Finesse telephones, landlines, radios, and digital, overhead, pocket, and emergency code-paging systems.
• Respond immediately and professionally to emergency alarms, medical codes, bomb threats, fires, and disasters.
• Receive and transmit communications using two-way radios.
• Follow established bomb-threat and emergency-reporting procedures.
• Prevent unauthorized long-distance calls and unauthorized collect calls.
• Use an authorized computer terminal to locate patient or employee information.
• Maintain logs of telephone equipment malfunctions and service complaints.
• Verify reported telephone problems and notify the VA Office of Information and Technology.
• Prepare incident reports and other required operational reports.
• Keep telephone directories, manuals, policies, and communication procedures current.
• Maintain uninterrupted telephone service during heavy workloads, employee absences, inclement weather, and workload surges.
• Follow all applicable VA safety, fire-prevention, privacy, security, and facility procedures.
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