24-IRA-020-OITA RFI QA document_4.2.2024.pdf

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

24-IRA-020-OITA RFI Q&A

4/2/2024 | 1

Questions and Answers

# Questions Answers

1 Will the Legacy system side of integrations to/from the prototype be built and provided by IRS?

Enterprise Architecture will provide guidance on legacy integrations. Depending on the state of the target legacy system, the vendor may be asked to contribute help enable access, 2 Description of service mentioned "minimal APIs" for some systems, will the prototype be focused on integration that already exist to legacy data or will it also include building new

API/integrations to systems that might not have existing interfaces?

Integrations may need to be built to both legacy data systems as well as to new systems without existing interfaces.

3 Can you please elaborate on the following comment and describe how it fits within a Taxpayer360 application- "The

Government has interest in and is seeking information regarding the capability of providing services pertaining to creating new specialized tax training courses, assessing existing Agency training courses, and strategic tax advisory services."

This is a typo and can be disregarded.

4 Does IRS envision the prototype to be a standalone application or integrated into the CSR desktop?

This prototype is meant to ultimately replace all legacy systems on the CSR desktop into a single pane of glass integrated interface.

5 Will there be a need for different views into the 360 prototype/data based on the CSR type/role/area of expertise?

Contextual 360 based on the type of inbound call/chat/interaction.

We are seeking a streamlined interface that is common across

CSRs, but the data that is accessible or utilized within that interface will differ by interaction and call type.

6 Is integration to CTI/Telephony part of the prototype? No, though we are seeking to integrate into the Finesse call control system.

7 How does IRS envision the prototype integrating with the call/chat/inbound channels?

Ultimately, the vision for TP360 is to integrate into an omnichannel interface, though initial rollouts may be limited to only calls.

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8 Can IRS list the technology ecosystem that would be part of the prototype requirement for "integrating into a broader IRS call center ecosystem"?

The ecosystem has not yet been fully documented.

9 Does IRS have existing AI/LLM tools that CSRs use? No

10 What are the current restrictions/guidance does IRS have around using AI/LLM that would impact the prototype?

This has not been thoroughly documented yet, though there are restrictions, especially related to security and privacy, that will need to be navigated.

11 In Description of Services - "The contractor should be capable of defining KPIs", what sort of KPIs are being referenced? End-user KPIs around productivity of using the 360 view, or non-functional KPIs around performance of the solution?

This is at the discretion of the contractor – we are seeking guidance in determining the correct KPIs.

12 Will the prototype be using actual IRS data or will there be synthetic/test data used for testing?

Actual IRS data.

13 We understand that the IRS wants the contractor to build integrations into different systems and provide relevant taxpayer data to the customer service employees, but is the

IRS planning for the TaxPayer 360 solution to replicate data into a new/existing single system of record (where it becomes a single data source for the Taxpayer 360 solution) instead of working directly with the existing disparate systems (through newly built integrations) within the IRS?

Yes, the ultimate goal is to replace legacy systems as the new system of record. However, in rollout we may consider an interim solution that connects through existing systems if that leads to faster initial development.

14 Is consolidation of these different systems and synchronization of data across various IRS systems part of the scope?

Consolidation of systems is within scope. Modernization of the underlying data will be managed by a separate project.

15 Will IRS be purchasing net new technology to meet any

Taxpayer 360 requirements or is there preference to use what is already owned and being operated at scale by the IRS?

If new technology is deemed necessary to meet the goals of

TP360, this can be pursued.

16 What are the anticipated security requirements or expected

FISMA level of the Taxpayer 360 solution given the various data sources and varying security accreditation levels?

This is not yet determined.

17 Does the IRS anticipate refactoring or replatforming to meet the 360 requirements?

This information isn’t known at this time.

18 Is there a preference to run the solution on premise or in the cloud? If cloud, what cloud security level is required, again, The IRS does not yet have a perspective.

4/2/2024 | 3 given the various FISMA levels of data that would be required to interface with the 360 solution?

19 What systems do the IRS anticipate leaving in place that would be required to integrate with Taxpayer 360?

We will look to the contractor to help the IRS determine which systems should be replaced versus maintained and integrated.

20 In addition to the source systems that are based in disparate technologies (both legacy mainframes that do not have APIs as well as the modernized case management applications that potentially offer APIs), does IRS anticipate the need for extracting and displaying data from digitized forms to build a comprehensive Taxpayer 360 data set? If yes, then will this data be pre-processed and made available in a unified database?

We are interested in incorporating digital forms and documents from the digital upload tool, but work has not yet been done to determine how this data will be processed and incorporated.

21 In addition to the ability for Contact Center agents to view the data in a “Single Pane of Glass” application as mentioned in the RFI, are there other swivel chair activities such as performing data entry into one or more systems, recording the details of the interaction for the purpose of audit and quality control, integrating with existing IRS functions (for ex: NTIN checks), manually figuring out next steps, and automating downstream actions?

Yes, the system should be able to not only read data but also update the underlying data with changes to the taxpayer’s account and recording interaction details.

22 What are the disparate data sources that need to be integrated in a solution to support the CSR?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

23 Is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) going to be important in this solution to gain access to legacy data?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

24 Prototype is mentioned, what is the scope for this prototype engagement?

We look to the contractor to help us shape the appropriate scope based on past experience with successful rollouts.

25 Is the IRS looking for a custom built solution or to leverage a

COTS product as much as possible?

We are open to a range of models, including ones that utilize COTS products.

26 What IRS systems are being identified as a part of this RFI that will need to be consolidated?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

27 What is the voice provider that the IRS has selected or is currently leveraging?

The IRS primarily uses Verizon.

28 Is it important to be able to deflect cases by providing the taxpayer self service to solve problems on their own and

This is a focus within the IRS but would not be relevant to

4/2/2024 | 4 allowing for agents to focus on the most important and complicated tasks?

Taxpayer 360, which is focused only on the desktop interface

CSRs use one a caller is already connected to an agent.

29 How is the IRS using self service mechanisms today and how will they be used for the proposed Taxpayer 360 solution as part of a web channel?

This is outside the scope of

TP360, which is focused only on the tools used once an agent is routed to a live agent.

30 How does data move from the front end CSR to middle and back office systems as requests are managed?

This varies by data system and will be shared with a selected vendor once work has begun.

31 What is the required response time for a CSR to be able to address and respond to a data requests?

CSRs target a 5-7 hold time today to pull data and respond to taxpayer queries.

32 How is CSR productivity measure today? Average Handle Time.

33 How many systems does a CSR have to navigate through to respond to a taxpayer request?

This varies by call, but can exceed a dozen systems.

34 How will CSR productivity be measured in a new solution? Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

35 Does the IRS intend to procure commercial technology that meets all the desired capabilities or procure services?

a) If both, can the IRS please share how large a role in the scope they see commercial tech vs. services?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

36 The government refers to several PWS task areas. Does the government have a draft PWS that it can share with industry to assess and provide comments/questions?

a) Does the government anticipate a phased approach to the PWS?

No.

37 How many years of tax return data will be incorporated into the T360 view?

All available tax return data should be available in the system.

38 How many years of tax return data will be incorporated into the T360 view?

All available tax return data should be available in the system.

39 How many years of tax return data will be incorporated into the T360 view?

All available tax return data should be available in the system.

40 How many incoming calls does the IRS average per day during peak filing season?

During peak filing season our calls answered average 1-2M a day.

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41 How many concurrent users does the IRS expect for the T360 tool?

For the call center use case, ~20,000 concurrent users

42 The RFI states: “The contractor should be capable of integrating into a broader IRS call center ecosystem that will require building linkages to existing platforms for call center operations.” Can the IRS provide additional detail on the call center ecosystem, such as existing tools and data to integrate?

This mapping has not yet been completed. Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

43 Does the government intend to hold one-on-ones or demonstrations with industry?

Yes.

44 Does the government intend to perform further market research on solution capabilities in the future?

Yes.

45 Does the government intend to conduct proofs of concept

(PoC) with viable respondents? Or other competitive acquisition activities such as a bake-off/down-select?

We are exploring potential competitive acquisition approaches, including a possible proof of concept.

46 Can the government provide the period of performance that it would like industry to base the price estimation on (i.e., one year, five years)? Will a proof of concept + one year be acceptable?

Yes – please clarify the time period being used and any other assumptions.

47 Does the integration to other systems include integration of images in addition to data? For example, integration with

Account Management System’s (AMS) Correspondence

Imaging System (CIS) of the As Received File of submitted tax forms in Submission Processing?

Yes.

48 Is it the Government's expectation that the IRS EDP will have to be integrated into the solution?

Eventually, yes.

49 Does the Government expect or require the solution to be deployed at the IRS IEP in the cloud, other cloud provider, or could it be deployed at ECP instead?

Not determined yet.

50 The proof of concept must provide capability for CSRs to update data held in IRS systems. Is the expectation that CSR inputs process in real time in the tool even if existing system restraints in the environment are still only capable of batch processing?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

51 How is the current Account Management System (AMS) capabilities available to CSRs to be considered in the proof of concept? Is the expectation that all functionality be adopted in the tool or is there no relationship at this time between

AMS and any envisioned toolset?

The new system should be able to offer all functionality of existing systems (including AMS), though it may achieve that functionality through different approaches.

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52 How many call center employees are expected to use the system during limited initial rollout and final production rollout of the proof of concept / prototype of the new "single pane of glass"?

Scale of initial roll out is part of what we will seek contractor input on. Final production will be for ~20,000 CSRs.

53 Does the Government expect or require the solution to be deployed on desktop and mobile devices? If it includes mobile devices, what are the platforms and versions that need to be supported? Does the solution have to be a native application on the mobile device, or can it be a responsive web app?

Desktop only at this time, though mobile functionality is a potential addition to scope to consider.

54 For any proof of concept, will IRS provide the required environments and the proof of concept will be developed in the IRS environment; or is the intent for the proof of concept to be developed outside of the current IRS environment and show the integration functionality with similar non-production systems?

Within the IRS environment with access to IRS data.

55 Can IRS provide existing performance standards for systems supporting customer service representatives today that display data, and state if the IRS expects improved response times with any proof of concept?

No, we do not have these available at this time.

56 Does the Government allow the use of commercial (non Gov

Cloud) AI managed services and APIs, such as those provided by Microsoft, OpenAI, AWS, and Azure? Do they have to be

FedRAMP certified, and if so, at what level?

While it is possible that the IRS will consider new tools to support TP360 that would need to go through technical insertion, the initial assumption is that TP360 will be hosted on GovCloud and either be

Fedramp Moderate or High.

57 For any proof of concept, will SAT and FIT testing by IRS's EST organization be required?

The role of EST has not yet been determined in the TP360 project. However, a non-production proof of concept would not require

FIT.

58 The RFI states that many of the existing systems are not integrated, lack APIs, etc. Does the scope of the effort include migrating any of those systems to technologies more amenable to integration? If so, can you comment on the number and size (number of tables and records) of such systems?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

59 Should the proposed system be capable of modifying data that resides in any/all the existing systems?

Yes.

60 Should the proposed system be the system of record for any data, or does all data reside in existing systems?

This tool is meant to be an interface to access the underlying data.

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61 Can you provide details about the IRS call center ecosystem?

Is this built on top of commercial call center software, like

Five9?

Further details on the ecosystem will be provided after a contract is awarded.

62 The RFI refers to Customer Service employees as the primary users of the system. Do you envision other classes of users, either within or beyond the scope of the contract? Do you ever envision a Taxpayer Portal that provides self-service access to some of the information traditionally provided by the Customer Service employees?

Beyond the scope of the contract, the system could be expanded to other users within the IRS. The

Taxpayer side of the ecosystem is out of scope for this initial effort but may be considered in the future.

63 The RFI mentions 15k+ users. Please comment on the number of active users that you anticipate at peak usage.

~20,000 users.

64 The RFI mentions an enforcement workforce, but primarily focuses on supporting the Customer Service employees. Is there an enforcement/investigative component to this contract? Or would that come in a later, follow-on contract?

Later, follow-on contract.

65 How many years of tax return data will be incorporated into the T360 view?

All available taxpayer data in existing systems accessible to the

CSR should be available in the new system.

66 Is the government focused on individual taxpayer data to start? Or both individual and business entities?

Both.

67 In addition to tax return data, what other data sources should be incorporated (e.g., transactions data, payment data, contact data)? What is the size and scale of those data sources?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

68 The RFI states: “The contractor should be capable of integrating into a broader IRS call center ecosystem that will require building linkages to existing platforms for call center operations.” Can the IRS provide additional detail on the call center ecosystem, such as existing tools and data to integrate?

Further details on the ecosystem will be provided after a contract is awarded.

69 How many incoming calls does the IRS average per day during peak filing season?

During peak filing season our calls answered average 1-2M a day.

70 How many concurrent users does the IRS expect for the T360 tool?

~20,000 at peak.

71 Does the IRS intend to procure commercial technology that meets all the desired capabilities or procure services? If both, can the IRS please share how large a role in the scope they see commercial technology vs. services?

Determining this will be part of the scope of the effort.

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72 The government refers to several PWS task areas. Does the government have a draft PWS that it can share with industry to assess and provide comments/questions? Does the government anticipate a phased approach to the PWS?

No.

73 Does the government intend to hold one-on-ones or demonstrations with industry?

Yes.

74 Does the government intend to perform further market research for solution capabilities in the future?

Yes.

75 Does the government intend to conduct proofs of concept

(PoC) with viable respondents? Or other competitive acquisition activities such as a bake-off/down-select?

We are exploring potential competitive acquisition approaches, including a possible proof of concept.

76 Can the government provide the period of performance that it would like industry to base the price estimation on (i.e., one year, five years)? Will a proof of concept + one year be acceptable?

Yes – please clarify the time period being used and any other assumptions.

77 We are interested in responding to the subject RFI and found two separate notices with slightly different requirements. Would you please confirm that offerors may either bid via SAM.Gov using the excel template or via the eBuy RFI Portal and there is no need to submit via both avenues?

I am confirming that offerors may either bid via SAM.Gov using the excel template or via the eBuy RFI Portal and there is no need to submit via both avenues.

78 Page 4, Section Capability

Question 1, on the “Capability” tab states: “Please provide any additional insights that would help us craft the requirement(s) to best meet our need to provide our future and existing enforcement workforce with technical tax expertise in these high-priority areas of taxation.”

Please clarify how the bolded text relates to this requirement.

This is a typo and can be disregarded.

79 We are interested in responding to the subject RFI. We wondered if there was a draft PWS or SOO that would provide us more information regarding the needs and environment. The only documents posted on sam.gov were the RFI instructions and template.

There is no draft PWS or SOO.

80 I would like to confirm if the project mentioned above is considered as a potential new requirement or is there an incumbent contract currently performing these services? If there are incumbent vendor(s), would you be able to provide the contract details (such as: Vendor Name, Contract

Number, Award and end dates, total contract value)?

New requirement.

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Lastly, is an estimated value available for this potential requirement?