REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) - Tax Software Acquisition and Support

Statement of Work (SOW) / Performance Work Statement (PWS)

To ensure continuity of operations for LB&I and Appeals by maintaining compatibility between IRS systems and industry-standard tax software used by taxpayers. This enables efficient processing of complex tax computations and supports IRS compliance and enforcement activities.

• Acquisition, integration, maintenance, and support of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) tax software products.

• Provision of software licenses, maintenance, technical support, integration services, and training.

• Support for Corporate Tax Analyzer (CTA) and Income Tax Planner (ITP) products and associated middleware.

• Period of Performance (PoP): April 1, 2027 – March 31, 2032 (Base Year + 4 Option Years).

• Place of Performance: Government facilities, Contractor facilities, remote, or hybrid environments as approved by the COR.

• Hours of Operation: Standard IRS business hours (Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM local time), excluding Federal holidays, with provisions for critical incident support outside normal hours.

• Software and Licensing: Up to 3,500 licenses and associated technical support packages.

• Technical Support: Multi-tier support (Tier 1-4) with defined response and resolution times, including a centralized help desk.

• Integration Support: Maintenance and enhancement for IRS case management systems, including XML data import/export and testing.

• Training: Annual 40-hour sessions and quarterly virtual sessions for IRS personnel, covering software functionality, updates, and tax law changes.

• Software Maintenance: Updates, upgrades, and patches to incorporate tax law changes and regulatory updates.

• Deliverables: Includes Root Cause Analysis Reports, Integration Updates & Documentation, various status reports (Technical, Program Review, Staff Status, Risk Management, etc.), Quality Control Plans, and security compliance documentation.

• Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for response and resolution times, with defined compliance levels for different tiers (e.g., Tier 1 Critical: 1-hour response, 8-hour resolution, 95% compliance).

• Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) mapping requirements, performance standards, acceptable quality levels, and surveillance methods.

• Security: Compliance with all applicable IRS, Treasury, and Federal information security policies and regulations (e.g., FISMA, NIST). Requires background investigations and staff-like access for personnel.

• Government Furnished Property (GFP): Includes workstations and PIV cards. Contractor must comply with IRS policies regarding use, protection, and accountability of GFE.

• Data Rights: IRS-specific data and enhancements are Government property. Government has unlimited rights to source code if developed under the contract.

• Acceptance Criteria: Deliverables must be complete, accurate, and meet all requirements defined in the PWS.

Form / Attachment / Pricing Sheet

This document is a Vendor Comments and Feedback Matrix, likely intended for collecting feedback or questions from potential vendors regarding an opportunity. It appears to be an Excel spreadsheet with columns for tracking submissions, section/line item references, document details, proposed changes, comments, and government responses.

• Submission By
• Section/Page #
• Line Number
• Document
• Current Form
• Recommend Change
• Comment / Feedback
• Government Response

This matrix serves as a structured mechanism for bidders to submit questions, provide feedback, or suggest changes related to the solicitation documents. It helps ensure that all vendor input is captured systematically and can be addressed by the government, potentially leading to clarifications or amendments to the opportunity.

Questions & Answers / Clarifications

This document contains technical questions and requests for information (RFI) from the government to industry regarding a potential acquisition. It seeks to gather information to inform acquisition strategy, contract structure, and procurement approach.

• Technical Capabilities: Questions focus on the functionality of tax calculation solutions, including multi-year calculations, AMT, NOLs, credits, international tax provisions, audit support, data protection (PII, encryption, security standards), "what-if" scenario analysis, traceability, computation documentation, data validation, real-time tax law updates, logic updates, structured/unstructured data import, anomaly detection, and high-volume processing.
• Acquisition Strategy: Industry is asked to provide input on existing contract vehicles, small business status and experience, teaming and partnering approaches, recommended contract types, pricing structures (per-user, enterprise, subscription), rough order-of-magnitude (ROM) pricing for software, maintenance, integration, and training, and volume discounts.
• Period of Performance & Implementation: Vendors should recommend appropriate contract period structures and describe scalability. They also need to provide estimated timelines for deployment, integration, full operational capability, and their approach to transitioning from incumbent solutions, including data migration and user onboarding.
• Data Rights & Recommendations: The RFI requests information on any restrictions related to software licensing, data rights, or intellectual property, and asks for any additional recommendations to improve the acquisition strategy, contract structure, or evaluation approach.

This RFI is intended to gather information that will shape the future solicitation. Responses will help the government define requirements, contract terms, and the overall procurement strategy. Vendors should use this as an opportunity to provide input that could influence the final solicitation.