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Ascension is seeking an experienced First Step Act Inquiry Resolution Center Manager to establish, manage, and continuously improve a centralized inquiry resolution operation supporting the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ administration of First Step Act Time Credits.

The ideal candidate combines federal program operations, customer/inquiry management, research and analysis, case management, stakeholder coordination, workload management, quality assurance, and team leadership capabilities. This individual must be comfortable managing sensitive, complex, and sometimes high-visibility inquiries involving matters that may affect inmate release determinations, prerelease custody, supervised release eligibility, litigation, congressional interest, and public confidence.

This is not a traditional commercial call-center management position. Ascension is seeking a professional who can manage an analytical case-resolution operation where responses must be researched, documented, coordinated, defensible, accurate, timely, and consistent with applicable statute, regulation, BOP policy, operational procedures, and approved business rules.

The successful candidate will be a highly organized, detail-oriented, service-focused leader who can manage fluctuating workloads, establish priorities, identify emerging issues, coordinate difficult cases with technical and policy specialists, and maintain consistent performance against established service-level goals.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The First Step Act Inquiry Resolution Center Manager will lead the day-to-day operation of the centralized capability responsible for receiving, categorizing, assigning, researching, tracking, escalating, and resolving inquiries concerning FSA Time Credits.

The Center may support inquiries originating from or referred by BOP staff and, when authorized by the Bureau, inquiries involving attorneys, family members, congressional offices, executive-level stakeholders, courts, and other external stakeholders.

The Manager will establish disciplined intake, case assignment, workload balancing, escalation, quality review, documentation, closure, reporting, and knowledge-management processes. The individual will ensure that inquiries are routed to the appropriate staff or subject matter experts and that complex cases receive the policy, sentence computation, legal, operational, or technical research necessary to support accurate responses.

The position will manage an environment in which workloads may exceed 100 inquiries per week and may increase significantly because of litigation, policy changes, congressional interest, media attention, court decisions, recalculation initiatives, or other FSA developments.

The Manager will work closely with the Federal Program Manager, First Step Act policy and sentence computation subject matter experts, BOP operational personnel, technical personnel, training staff, quality assurance personnel, and other designated stakeholders. The individual will also convert lessons learned from inquiry operations into actionable information for leadership, training, policy clarification, process improvement, knowledge management, and potential system enhancements.

Success in this role requires the ability to distinguish between routine inquiries and matters requiring extensive research or immediate escalation while maintaining accurate case records and ensuring responses satisfy established service-level expectations.

Position Responsibilities and Day-to-Day Activities

• MANAGE the centralized FSA Time Credit Inquiry Resolution Center during established federal business hours.
• ESTABLISH standardized procedures for inquiry intake, triage, categorization, assignment, research, escalation, quality review, response, closure, and retention.
• MONITOR incoming workload and balance assignments among available personnel to maintain timely and accurate case resolution.
• TRACK inquiry volume, age, response time, complexity, backlog, resolution status, escalation status, and recurring issues.
• PRIORITIZE congressional, executive-level, litigation-related, court-related, urgent, and other high-visibility matters in accordance with BOP direction and established escalation procedures.
• ENSURE routine inquiries receive initial acknowledgement within one business day and are targeted for resolution within five business days.
• ENSURE moderate-complexity inquiries are acknowledged within two business days and targeted for resolution within ten business days.
• ENSURE complex inquiries requiring extensive research are acknowledged within three business days and targeted for resolution within ten business days.
• ENSURE congressional and executive-level inquiries receive same-business-day acknowledgement and are targeted for resolution within five business days.
• ASSIGN complex matters to the appropriate FSA policy, sentence computation, operational, technical, or other subject matter expert.
• COORDINATE research and response development across BOP program offices and contractor functional teams.
• REVIEW case research, supporting documentation, proposed determinations, and draft responses for completeness, consistency, accuracy, professionalism, and appropriate escalation.
• MAINTAIN complete case records documenting the inquiry, research conducted, coordination performed, information reviewed, decisions made, approvals obtained, and final response.
• ESCALATE matters involving ambiguous policy, sentence computation concerns, potential systemic deficiencies, legal sensitivity, technical errors, recurring issues, or significant stakeholder risk.
• IDENTIFY trends and recurring inquiry patterns that may indicate policy ambiguity, training deficiencies, system issues, operational inconsistencies, or broader corrective-action requirements.
• ANALYZE inquiry data to identify root causes, geographic or institutional patterns, recurring questions, service bottlenecks, aging cases, and emerging workload drivers.
• DEVELOP and maintain Frequently Asked Questions, standardized response templates, knowledge articles, decision aids, escalation guidance, and other knowledge-management resources.
• RECOMMEND updates to training materials, procedures, business rules, knowledge resources, workflows, or technology based upon inquiry trends and lessons learned.
• MANAGE backlog-reduction strategies during workload surges caused by policy changes, litigation, court decisions, recalculation efforts, congressional activity, or other events.
• ESTABLISH workload-balancing and surge procedures to maintain service levels during periods of increased inquiry volume.
• IMPLEMENT quality-control checks to reduce inconsistent, incomplete, unsupported, or inaccurate responses.
• DEVELOP operational metrics and dashboards that provide leadership visibility into inquiry performance and emerging issues.
• PREPARE inputs for the Monthly Inquiry Management Report, including inquiry volume, response times, complexity, backlog, trends, systemic issues, and knowledge-base updates.
• CONTRIBUTE inquiry statistics, risks, trends, corrective actions, and operational observations to broader monthly program status and executive reporting.
• BRIEF Ascension and BOP leadership on inquiry operations, trends, performance risks, resource needs, unresolved cases, systemic issues, and recommended corrective actions.
• FACILITATE operational meetings, case reviews, escalation discussions, and coordination sessions involving appropriate stakeholders.
• DOCUMENT significant decisions, action items, ownership, escalation requirements, and follow-up activities.
• PROTECT sensitive BOP information and ensure inquiry-related communications and records comply with applicable security, privacy, records-management, and acceptable-use requirements.
• SUPPORT continuous process improvement initiatives designed to increase consistency, transparency, responsiveness, quality, and accountability across FSA Time Credit administration.