25-08 ITPE and TAMI Support_RFI_12_19_24.docx

Core Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services

Request for Information

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES

Request for Information – THIS Request for Information (RFI) Notice IS RELEASED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10, MARKET RESEARCH.

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as either a solicitation or the obligation on the part of Government. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts or quotations.

This notice is for Market Research Purposes Only.

NO AWARD WILL BE MADE FROM THIS NOTICE. This is being released for informational purposes to assist the IRS and is subject to change.

No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests.

Respondents will NOT be notified of the results of the analysis. All data received in response to this RFI that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary information will be fully protected from release outside the Government. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with all applicable Government regulations. All documentation shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned.

This RFI will be solicited under North America Industry Code Standard 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services, or 541512 Computer Systems Design Services, PSC DA01 IT and Telecom- Business Application/Application Development (AD) Services (Labor). The purpose of this RFI is to determine if this requirement is suitable for award to small business. The anticipated release date for the solicitation is March 2025 to April 2025 and the anticipated award date is on or before August 2025.

Interested parties are responsible for monitoring this site to ensure that they have the most up-to-date information about this acquisition.

This Notice is published to gain knowledge of potential vendors capable of providing services for the Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) titled “Core Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services” (Draft PWS) dated 11/19/2024.

The information obtained through this market research will assist the IRS in determining the appropriate acquisition procedures for obtaining the Core Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services described in the attached Draft PWS. This market research will help IRS plan their acquisition strategy and aid in its determination.

Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database located at https://www.sam.gov/SAM/ prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this Notice. Contractors may obtain information on SAM registration by visiting https://www.acquisition.gov.

The Draft PWS is tentatively planned as a single procurement award. Responses are sought from small and large businesses who can provide the services described in the Draft PWS.

The IRS does not anticipate conducting one-on-one meetings with interested industry partners. IRS is expecting answers for all the questions. Any responses with partial answers will be rejected.

Please see the attached Draft Performance Work Statement for a more thorough description of the overview, objectives, and scope of work. No decision has yet been made regarding the small business strategy for this acquisition. The Government is interested in determining whether the requirements of FAR 19.502-2 and FAR 19.203(b) can be met by small businesses. The IRS will assess for capability all complete responses to this RFI to include those from Small Businesses and Other than Small Businesses.

Potential vendors with the skills and capabilities necessary to perform the various requirements described in the attached Draft PWS are invited to provide a written response to this Notice per the requirements listed below.

1. Purpose and Objectives

The IRS seeks to identify potential vendors with the skills and technical capabilities necessary to perform the requirements outlined in the attached Draft PWS (see Attachment 1).

The IRS is looking to identify:

· Small Businesses (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small, disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, and woman-owned small business) that can perform the requirements outlined in the Draft PWS.

· Large Business that can perform the requirements outlined in the Draft PWS, including large businesses that are able to incorporate a small business participation plan.

2. Scope and Background

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Information Technology (IT) Modernization program is undertaking one of its most high-profile and enduring initiatives: replacing the IRS’s oldest tax system, known as the Individual Master File (IMF), with a more modern tax processing system. This modernization effort has been structured into two transition stages.

Transition State- I focused on rewriting and converting two highly complex components of the IMF system, Run 12 (financial settlement) and Run 15 (post-settlement analysis), comprising approximately 200,000 lines of Assembly Language Code (ALC), into Java, a more maintainable programming language. This phase has been successfully completed.

Transition State - II (TAM-I) of the IMF Modernization, also known as the CADE 2 Individual Tax Processing Engine (ITPE) Project, aims to modernize the core IMF components responsible for posting, settlement, and analysis of taxpayer accounts—where most tax laws are embedded. This phase will also modernize the legacy systems that generate reports, extracts, and perform analytical functions by using Common Services and enabling self-service reporting. Additionally, the Tax Account Management – Individual (TAM-I) Project will update data distribution mechanisms to allow faster and easier data access for downstream users and consumers.

A central component of the IMF Modernization effort is the Enterprise Data Platform, which will serve as a centralized hub, providing easier access to individual account data and offering tools and technology for reporting.

The IMF Modernization Program is designed to drive consistent yet flexible program delivery and integration efforts. It has defined target-state objectives and solutions to address the IRS's pressing tax processing issues, bringing IRS capabilities in line with industry standards. With contractor support under this PWS, the IRS aims to implement a single integrated environment for managing individual taxpayer accounts that will:

· Operate and verify Run 12 (financial settlement) and Run 15 (post-settlement analysis) in parallel.

· Maintain and operate CADE 2 Individual Tax Processing Engine (ITPE) Phase 1 core IMF components.

· Develop a modern Data Platform and update the IMF.

· Replace the legacy IMF Account Data Structures with a modern alternative.

· Provide downstream consumers with an updated method for accessing taxpayer data.

· Create a repository to store multiple representations of individual taxpayer data for enhanced analytics.

· Enable downstream consumers to conduct self-service reporting and analytics.

· Develop reusable common services that perform account management functions.

· Produce the minimal mandatory outputs necessary to Close the Accounting Cycle

· Migrate Users to leverage new data formats and services.

· Retire legacy applications and data files.

The AD has drawn upon best industry practices in agile development to pilot the delivery process. However, the operating model is not limited to Agile but other frameworks to deliver faster and sooner. In principle it consists of a Governance and Investment cadence and a Development/Delivery cadence, utilizes industry best practices, and is tailored to meet the IRS governance and compliance needs.

The IRS is seeking to deliver IT solutions and Tax Account Management capabilities with improved reliability, using a common services approach to application development. The focus of the IRS model will be utilizing Test Driven Development (TDD) and Continuous Integration (CI) methodologies to deliver applications that are fully tested with release-ready products scheduled for implementation.

The IRS has chosen a strategy for application development that will maintain an IRS staff presence but outsources much of the work, which alleviates resource shortages in the IRS IT organization while maintaining IRS oversight and direction for product development.

Applications will be designed how the IRS handles transactions; processes account changes and closes the accounting cycle for individual taxpayer accounts and seamlessly integrated with the rest of the IRS offerings. Work products will be designed pursuant to an agile or iterative development process as a preferred methodology. As IRS applications are subject to accessibility and early security reviews, close coordination with review protocols and stakeholders is necessary to achieve short development cycle(s) and application deployment(s).

Please reference the draft Performance Work Statement for full details.

3. Capabilities and Experience

Responses to this Notice shall demonstrate the respondent’s capability to perform the services outlined in the Daft PWS. Potential small and large businesses demonstrate their knowledge, expertise, and experience with the PWS requirements in all the numbered points below, including:

A. General

1. What discriminators, i.e., evaluation criteria, would your company recommend the Government use to evaluate a proposal based on the requirements outlined in the Draft PWS?

2. Outline any other considerations for development of an acquisition strategy for the requirement outlined in the Draft PWS. What additional information would you require to accurately propose pricing, staffing and approaches to meet the requirements of the Draft PWS?

B. Technical

1. Describe your Program Management processes for modernizing large legacy applications using SAFE methodology to modernize Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services.

2. Describe your past experience/performance on developing custom tool(s) to decompose and map the IMF business rules and requirements imbedded in current ALC code, IMF PRPs.

3. Describe the capabilities of your company in providing support for IMF Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services.

4. Please provide three most complex corporate/government experiences with at least one experience as a prime/sub-contractor providing services in similar size, scope, and complexity to the enclosed Performance Work Statement. Experience shall include the contract number, funded dollar value(s), period of performance, and a brief relevant scope summary.

a. Does your organization have examples of previous engagements of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Full configuration implementations per scaledagileframework.com with a similar complexity (combined government and contractor teams)? Y|_| N|_| If “Yes” Summarize a maximum of two (2) examples.

b. Of the number of current information technology staff within your organization how strong is the organization’s experience with SAFe methodologies?

|_| Strong > 50% of IT staff |_| Average >35% of IT staff |_| Weak 20% or less of IT staff

|_| Strong > 50% of IT staff |_| Average >35% of IT staff |_| Weak 20% or less of IT staff

|_| Strong > 50% of IT staff |_| Average >35% of IT staff |_| Weak 20% or less of IT staff

|_| Strong > 50% of IT staff |_| Average >35% of IT staff |_| Weak 20% or less of IT staff

5. Provide experience on ALC to Java efforts for projects developing or delivering solutions to be used for the conversion of ALC code to an interim language or through to Java code.

6. Provide information on your experience in extracting logic from complex legacy Individual tax processing programs.

7. Provide information on your experience creating and maintaining Program Requirements Package (PRP) for an ALC Tax processing application.

8. Describe your software development and integrations processes for modernization. (These legacy applications have been written IBM Assembler Language (ALC) and deployed in production on IBM mainframe for 50+ years.)

9. Provide your overall experience with enterprise Agile approach and the timeframe for providing SME support for ALC applications. Please reference the following matrix in your response:

Business Master File Legacy ALC Support Areas Matrix

IMF Mod Support Role

Requirements Development (for Legacy and Modernized Tax processing systems)

IMF SME support

IMF Modernization System Design

IMF ALC Logic Harvesting

Experience in Developing a modern Data Platform

Experience in creating a repository to store multiple representations of taxpayer data for enhanced analytics

Experience in Developing reusable common services that perform account management functions

Application Modernization Program management support

Test

a. Code acceptance testing

b. Load and performance testing

c. User acceptance testing

d. Integration testing

e. IRS 508 compliance testing

f. IV&V testing

Security Services

a. Security Testing

b. Penetration Testing

c. Security Architecture and Design

d. Security Engineering Services

e. Security Assessment and security documentation

Cloud Hosting and/or Storage

Development experience with Cloud based Database Platform and size of the effort

Business Certifications (e.g., CMMI, ISO)

Microservices development/support

10. Have you supported IRS legacy systems modernization with similar scope and complexity? If so, provide information that demonstrates your experience with supporting IRS systems?

11. Describe the necessary steps you would take to transition the current IMF O&M activities (e.g., legislative changes). What information would you require and what timeframe would you expect transition activities to occur? What is your project and development transition strategy?

12. Provide examples of previous projects where you designed and built resilient, high-performance transaction processing systems (e.g., in Java language) based on relational databases on mainframe) and modern reporting applications using Big Data technologies in a multi-Cloud environment.

13. Provide examples of previous projects using Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) products to modernize legacy applications.

a. What positions would your company recommend be key personnel? What types of experience and certifications/qualifications should be considered for IMF Key Personnel? Does your company employ said personnel or would you have to team to meet the technical requirements?

b. For the business unit of your company that may bid on this work, how many personnel possess relevant experience and/or relevant certifications in the following areas and could provide services for the requirements outlined in the draft PWS:

· Agile Development (e.g., Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Professional Scrum Developer (PSD), etc.)

· Project Management (e.g., Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), etc.)

· Information Security (e.g., Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) etc.)

· Cloud Services (e.g., Solutions Architect, Developer, etc.)

· Enterprise Architecture (e.g., Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA), The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), etc.)

14. Describe your company's best practices and solutions that could enable IMF Mod.

15. Describe contract types (e.g., firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials, cost reimbursement, etc.) that your company has experience with in providing Agile software development services. Identify contract types your firm feels worked well, and why. Also, please identify contract types that are not useful and why they are not effective. What contract type or combination of types would you recommend for this requirement?

Teaming Arrangements: Responses based upon anticipated teaming arrangements and Joint Ventures are acceptable. The capability of each team member (prime contractor and subcontractors) shall be demonstrated relative to the anticipated functions/roles to be performed by each. All teaming arrangements shall also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Specifically, the capability statement must address how much effort would be performed by any proposed team member.

RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE SHALL BE NO MORE THAN 10 PAGES:

The following information shall be included in this RFI responses:

1. Company Name and Unique Entity Identifier Number, CAGE

2. Company Address

3. Name, phone number and email address of company representative

4. Type of company under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services or 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services. (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman-owned, veteran-owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). Additional information on NAICS codes can be found at www.sba.gov.

5. Company socio-economic standing(s); i.e., large business, small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUB Zone small business, small-disadvantaged business, or women-owned small business.

6. Best in Class (BIC) - Relevant BIC GSA Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) or FSS Schedule Contract held by your company (e.g., 8(a) STARS II, Alliant 2, VETS, NITAAC).

7. Capability statement

8. Business Certifications (e.g., CMMI, ISO)

9. Relevant experience and past performance

10. Point of Contact, phone number and email addresses of at least two businesses who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses.

4. Submission Requirements:

All capability statements and responses to the questions shall be submitted via email to the point of contact listed below. The title of the email shall read “Response to Core Individual Tax Processing Modernization and Operations & Maintenance Support Services”.

Responses shall be limited to 10 single-sided pages, not including the required business information and cover page. Pages should be single-spaced, minimum 11-point Times New Roman font with a minimum of one- inch margins on all sides. Responses shall not contain any brochures, advertising or any other type of extraneous, graphic literature or documents that have not been requested and are not relevant or essential in demonstrating the company’s ability to provide the required services. Vendors may provide links to relevant websites, as appropriate.

The deadline for responses to this RFI is December 31, 2024, 1:00pm Eastern Standard Time. Responses should be sent electronically to proc.apmo.mr@irs.gov. In the subject line, please insert 25-08-A-PMO-OITA DASH TT19

IRS will not respond to any questions regarding this market research.

Disclaimer and Important Notes:

This Notice is for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation for bids, quotes, or proposals. This Notice does not obligate the Government to solicit for this requirement or award and does not obligate the Government to reimburse interested parties for any cost incurred to prepare or provide a response to this RFI.

The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. 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. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation.

** THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT RESPOND TO PHONE CALLS. **

Thank you for your interest.

Primary Point of Contact: Tametha Morrow, APMO Facilitator proc.apmo.mr@irs.gov