A new framework service contract to provide crisis management authorities with a contact centre for public information, which can be activated in the event of an emergency.

This contract concerns a Contact Center for the population in case of emergency situations.

During an emergency, it is mainly via the media (and social media) that the population is informed of (the evolution of) the situation, any recommendations to follow and the actions taken by the authorities. However, given the range of specific situations of each individual, a citizen will not necessarily find answers to his questions in the information widely disseminated by the authorities. He then often contacts the various authorities (from the communal level to the national level) and intervention services (112, police, firefighters) to obtain information. This can lead to overloading of communication lines, the dissemination of contradictory or dated information, which in some cases can undermine the management of the emergency situation.

In addition, victims of an emergency and their relatives are a target audience that should also be informed and supported in a special way (more targeted information).

In order to respond to these requests for information, it is necessary for the authorities to have an adequate (infra)structure allowing citizens to make individual contact.

In Belgium, emergency situations are managed at municipal, provincial or federal level.

Some of these authorities have call center infrastructures, but in most cases these are subject to technical and human limitations when faced with a large number of calls.

The FPS Home Affairs implements a centralised Contact Centre infrastructure for the whole country. Federal, provincial and communal authorities may, if they deem it necessary, call on this infrastructure for emergency situations managed at their level.

This infrastructure, standby, non-crisis, must be able to be activated quickly, deal with a large number of calls (or possible other types of requests) and provide adequate detailed and correct information (validated by the authorities) to a citizen confronted with an emergency situation. This requires extensive organization and preparation at the material level, at the personnel level and at the level of the flow of information.

This public contract follows an existing contract. At present, the FPS Public Health, the 11 Governors and 260 Mayors have signed an agreement and include the possible use of the Contact Center in their emergency plans.