9/19/2024 - Amendment #1 - The updated Q&A Document with answers has been posted, titled "RFI 24-69-A-PMO-OITA - QA Document_9.19.2024"
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Information Returns Modernization (IR Mod) IRIS/UI Application Development
Request for Information (RFI)
Introduction
This is a Request for Information (RFI) -- hereinafter Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, request for bids or quotations, nor a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. The purpose of this RFI is for the Government to obtain knowledge and information for project planning purposes only.
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in responses to this Notice, unless otherwise appropriately marked by the Respondent. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information received in response to this Notice in any resultant solicitation(s). Do Not Submit any Proposals / Offers / Quotes in response to this Notice.
At a summary level, the Government has interest in and is seeking information regarding the capability of firms who can provide services pertaining to the Information Returns Intake Systems (IRIS) application(s) and the Taxpayer-facing and Employee-facing User Interface (UI) portal, collectively referred to as IRIS/UI. This application is currently in its second year of operation. The contractor will take responsibility for Development, Maintenance and Enhancement (DME) and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) as part of a transition from the incumbent development contractor. Services will be managed using Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) practices and agile methodologies.
Request for Information Number: 24-69-A-PMO-OITA
Project Title / Short Description: IRIS/UI Application Development / DME and O&M support using DevSecOps and agile methodologies.
PSC or FSC Code: DA01 IT AND TELECOM - BUSINESS APPLICATION/APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SERVICES (LABOR)
NAICS Codes: 541512 Computer Systems Design Services
Release Date: 09/12/2024
Questions Due: 09/17/2024 by 5:00PM EDT (Please email Tanya.E.Outland@irs.gov)
Response Date: 09/26/2024 by 5:00PM EDT (Please email Tanya.E.Outland@irs.gov)
Primary Point of Contact and Contact Information:
Name: Tanya Outland
Title: A-PMO Government Facilitator
Email: Tanya.E.Outland@irs.gov
Project Title
IRIS/UI Application Development
In January 2023 the IRS completed Release 1 (R1) of the Information Return (IR) Mod strategy which addressed the 1099 family of IRs in compliance with the Taxpayer First Act (TFA), Provision 2102 by introducing a new IR platform via which IR issuers and transmitters can prepare forms online and submit them electronically to the IRS. To support this new functionality, R1 delivered a modernized intake system that receives, and checks IRs submitted electronically and stores the forms as received. Validation, posting, and certification processes are performed prior to distributing IR data for downstream compliance and information sharing. In FY24 IR Mod Release 2.1 added User Interface intake of 13 additional information forms currently processed by File Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) and the 8809 Automatic Extensions to enable taxpayers and businesses to file and distribute additional forms. In FY25, IR Mod Release 3 will add Application-to-Application (A2A) and Service Center Recognition/Image Processing Center (SCRIPS) intake and processing of these same forms.
For the purposes of this RFI, it is assumed that additional requirements will be identified for continued Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) and associated Operations and Maintenance (O&M) into FY2030. The UI/IRIS application architecture is described in Appendix D of the PWS. Some high-level indicators of the scope and breadth of the end-state application are as follows:
- Intake and processing of nearly 100 different types of information returns
- Processing of approximately 7-10 billion information returns annually
- Application resides in AWS GovCloud hosted by a Managed Service Provider designated by IRS and must exchange data with applications in separate AWS GovCloud accounts, IRS systems residing on-prem, and with other state and federal government systems
- System is in operation 24x7 and requires fast response to triage and resolution of outages to ensure information return filing requirements can be met by third parties and other reporting entities
- Number of agile development teams: 5
- Delivery cadence for major/minor releases: 3-4 scheduled releases per year
Description of Contemplated Services
The IRIS/UI Application Development work scope covers project management, development, and operations and maintenance (O&M) activities over multiple releases for IRIS/UI. The following are the tasks in this task order:
- Project Management
- Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME)
- Operations & Maintenance (O&M)
- Transition Services
For the work scope, the contractor is strongly encouraged to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled code development, testing, delivery, and deployment. The contractor should provide strategic leadership in determining how best to use and incorporate AI technology into IRIS/UI. The contractor will be expected to support any AI associated governance and assurance activities. Operationally, the contractor shall use AI capabilities to improve business reporting and analysis. The contractor should promote the integration of AI-based tools in delivering current and future IRIS/UI services.
The contractor will be expected to employ program, project, and contract management in accordance with industry best-practices (e.g. PMBOK, Scaled Agile Framework). The contractor shall deliver and maintain a standard set of project management related deliverables.
The contractor will be expected to gather and decompose requirements, including Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) and store them in a central repository. The contractor will be expected to interpret crypto legislative environment to make recommendations to the program that ensure compliance with the law. The contractor will be expected to plan and conduct Planning Increment (PI) Sessions to identify the user stories that will be completed as a part of each Planning Increment (PI) and develop Roadmaps that depict what is to be accomplished in each PI. The contractor will be expected to conduct sprint and/or other planning and retrospective ceremonies as determined to be appropriate for project delivery.
The contractor will be expected to ensure that the applications being developed are compliant with IRS Agile/Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) methodologies. The contractor will be expected to maximize use of DevSecOps tools and services, including those available within IRS environments.
The contractor will be expected to provide a business analysis and reporting engine to support report and dashboard generation accessible for authorized users, including IRS users, and will be strongly encouraged to leverage AI technologies and capabilities for the creation of the business analysis and reporting engine.
The contractor will be expected to provide transition-in, and transition-out services required to develop, operate, and manage the Application Development programs with minimal disruption to services, internal and external stakeholders, and delivery partners.
RFI Instructions
Responses to this RFI are requested in two (2) parts and must be submitted using Attachment 3 RFI Response Template.
Part I Company Profile Information - IRS seeks company profile information about the firms that provide services positioned to address the requirements discussed above.
Part II Capability - IRS seeks Industry responses to specific questions. Do not include any support documentation for any company other than your own. This is an analysis of your company’s abilities.
Part I: Company Profile Information
Responders to this Notice must provide the following company information:
- Company Name and Address
- Company technical Point of Contact (POC) information to include name, title, telephone number, and email address.
- Applicable NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Code
- List active governmentwide contracts that your company has been awarded (GWACs, IDIQs, and BPAs – include applicable SIN)
- Business Classification / Socio-Economic Status (e.g., large, small, 8(a), women owned, hub-zone, SDB, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned)
- Subcontracting / partnering / teaming possibilities.
Part II: Capability
Responses to this Notice must include the following:
Capabilities
- Describe the scale of architecture, scope, and complexity of applications that your company has experience in implementing in GFE Cloud Environments. Provide up to 3 examples.
- Describe your company’s experience with earning AWS innovation credits and partnering with the government to use those credits to bring new, innovative solutions to the market faster?
- Describe an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution your company has designed, developed, and implemented for the government sector and the mission need that it addressed.
- Describe how your company has used AI to improve software development and testing.
- Do you have direct 24/7 access to MongoDB-provided expert employed resources in addition to any internal resources to troubleshoot and resolve issues during non-standard business hours?
- Does your company have the staff needed on Day 1 to transition into ongoing development and O&M support for an existing application of the scale and complexity described above?
- What risks would your company identify with completing a timely transition? How long would you recommend for transition and onboarding?
- Describe up to 3 examples where you have led teams to quickly resolve technical defects in production that required triage and root cause determination across multiple systems and infrastructure layers.
Pricing
- How would you structure the team members needed to successfully deliver on this potential requirement?
- What labor categories do you think are applicable to each task, and why?
- What is a ballpark estimated price to successfully deliver these requirements?
Experience / Expertise
- Does this request lend itself to a contractor that is a large business or small business? Does business size matter when it comes to meeting this requirement?
- What are the average years of experience of the team members your company would assign to this potential contract?
General
- Please provide any additional insights that would help us craft the requirement(s) contained in the PWS to best meet our needs to provide the contemplated services.
Terms and Conditions regarding this Notice
This Notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. All costs associated with responding to this Notice are solely at the responding party's expense. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Further, the Government may contact the vendor for additional information regarding the information submitted as part of this market research effort. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Government Point of Entry or other similar source (e.g., GSA E-buy). However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The Government will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this notice. Responses to the notice will not be returned. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future solicitation if one is issued.
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in responses to this Notice, unless otherwise appropriately marked by the Respondent. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information received in response to this Notice in any resultant solicitation(s).
Do Not Submit any Proposals/Offers in response to this Notice.
Thank you for your response to this Request for Information.
