NOI to Sole Source DEEP COGNITION.docx

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE DEEP COGNITION, INC. – Custom AI Tools and Development

The Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to award a sole source contract to Deep Cognition, Inc. (Custom AI Tools and Development), under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b).

The contractor shall provide custom AI development and consultation, analytical services, support, training, the Deep Learning Studio platform, and specialized hardware for a period of one base year. The AI tools and services needed are trademarked and proprietary to Deep Cognition, Inc., with exclusive features that no other vendor can offer.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, interested parties may identify their interests and/or capabilities statement to this requirement by contacting the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer via email at Elizabeth.Y.Hicks@irs.gov and JW.R.Terry@irs.gov, no later than 12:00 PM (eastern) 19 September 2024. Only emailed responses will be considered. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is at the discretion of the Government.

Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. The Government shall not reimburse interested sources for any information provided. No requests for capability briefings will be honored as a result of this notice and any information provided will not be used as part of any subsequent solicitation requirement.

Performance Work Statement below

1. OBJECTIVE

IRS CI is seeking a one (1) year contract with Deep Cognition to provide custom AI development and consultation, analytical services, support, and training, the Deep Learning Studio platform, and specialized hardware to assist their Cyber Crimes agents in carrying out its mission as it relates to artificial intelligence and using the Deep Learning Studio platform.

2. SCOPE

The Contractor will supply at least one (1) staff member and a total of 2,650 hours to provide custom AI development, analysis, training, support, hardware, and software maintenance as described below.

Steps required to do this include:

· Artificial intelligence model construction, analysis, testing, and documentation.

· Collecting, processing, and analyzing case-related, commercial, and open-source data.

· Case targeting, lead identification, and evidence processing & analysis using artificial intelligence.

· Tagging data for artificial intelligence training and testing.

· Development of additional features for artificial intelligence products.

· Automating data ingestion and analysis where possible to process large volumes of data.

· Collaborating with agents and analysts at IRS-CI and partner law enforcement agencies on shared data, systems, services, and tools; and

· Training-Contractor will provide training to IRS-CI personnel on use of artificial intelligence and the Deep Learning Studio and related products.

· Data Capture for Bank Statements, Check Images, Deposit Slips, Bank Accounts, Cashier Checks, and 3rd Party Checks to include all fields (e.g., Memo, check number, item payee, payer, etc.).

· Data output in Excel with associated PDF files; as well as all processing files & packages for each account.

· Within the Excel file, the transaction file name and page number should reflect the image that was used to create the final transaction. (i.e., an associated check should show the check file name and page number)

· Complete account monthly balances for all Bank Statements and associated transactions to include items reconciled to the deposit ticket.

· Assure returned data is error-free prior to creation of finished product (excel spreadsheet). If errors are found, corrective measures are utilized to produce an error-free.

*Artificial intelligence work will not include any facial recognition.

*Each subscription license is for up to 5 users.

4. DELIVERABLES

Deliverables shall be provided in accordance with guidelines specified by the Project Manager or COR. The Contractor shall submit all deliverables specified within this PWS.

The Contractor shall ingest and process data from unstructured, semi-structured and/or structured formats into government specified ontology.

Contractor shall assure all repeatable text fields are normalized.

Contractor shall assure all identified currency fields are verified as 100% accurate and reconciled to related bank statements when available.

The Contractor shall assure that returned data, with easy audit trail, reference is 95%+ accurate prior to creation of finished product (excel spreadsheet). If errors are found, corrective measures are utilized to produce a 95%+ accurate product before returning to the

DPC.

The Contractor shall write documentation in clear, concise language that is verifiable. The Contractor shall produce final documents without typographic and grammatical errors and shall be formatted according to standards provided by the Government.

The Contractor shall send all electronic deliverables to the Government Program Manager.

DELIVERY SCHEDULE

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5. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Final inspection and acceptance of all work products, reports and other deliverables will be performed at the time of delivery. No deliverable is final until accepted and approved by COR and related Project Manager.

1. Completeness – Initial requirements, as identified, are satisfied in all sections of the deliverable.

2. Accuracy – Documents shall be accurate in presentation, technical content, and adherence to accepted elements of style.

3. Clarity—Documents shall be clear and concise; project management and terms shall be used, as appropriate. All diagrams shall be easy to understand and be relevant to the supporting narrative.

4. Specification Validity—all deliverables must satisfy the requirements of the U.S. Government as specified.

5. File Editing—All text and diagrammatic files shall be provided in Microsoft Office, or other mutually agreed upon format, so that they can be edited by the U.S. Government.

6. Format—Documents shall be submitted electronically. whenever possible. The document’s format may change from task to task with prior explanation.

7. Timeliness—Deliverables shall be submitted on or before the agreed upon due date specified in the Schedule of Deliverables Section of this SOW or submitted in accordance with a later scheduled date determined solely by the Government.

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) or Project Manager will issue acceptance for each deliverable upon the successful completion of work item. The acceptance date be the date identified in the Deliverables schedule table in each Task Order issued. If the contractor has not been notified of any discrepancies within ten (10) business days after submission of the deliverable or successful completion of the task, then the deliverable or task be considered accepted.

A. PERFORMANCE MONITORING/ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Services The Project Manager and/or COR will review the monthly progress report and consider the following performance metrics in addition to applicable metrics. The results will be inclusion in the overall review of the progress report.

1. Quality of Services

· Was the work performed and reflected in the report consistent with expectations?

· Were the deliverables listed in the report for your contract received and accepted?

2. Timeliness of Delivery

· Were the deliverables of contracts delivered on time?

· Were the informal deliverables delivered on time?

· Was the Contract performance in accordance with the proposed schedule?

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for this contract includes a twelve (12) month period and is anticipated as follows:

Period of Performance: September 30, 2024 – September 29, 2025

8. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

The Contracting Officer for this requirement is:

Office of Procurement

Email: JW.R.Terry@irs.gov

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) Point of Contact:

1111 Constitution Ave. NW Washington, DC 20224

The COR will represent the Contracting Officer in the administration of technical details within the scope of this task order. The COR is also responsible for the final inspection and acceptance of all reports and such other responsibilities as may be specified in the order. The COR is not otherwise authorized to make any representations or commitments of any kind on behalf of the Contracting Officer or the government. The COR does not have authority to alter the Contractor's obligations or to change the order specifications, price, terms, or conditions. If, and as a result of technical discussions, it is desirable to modify order obligations or the statement of work, changes will be issued in writing and signed by the Contracting Officer. The government, without prior notice, may change the COR assignment for this order at any time. The Contractor will be notified of the change.

9. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED PROPERTY

The Government will provide contractor access to Government computers and servers as are necessary to provide the required support.

Contractor Responsibility for Assigned Space, Equipment and Supplies

The Contractor shall be responsible for damage to any Government property, equipment, stock, or supplies, due to the fault or neglect of the Contractor, its agents, or employees, during the performance of the Task Order. The Government, at its option, may either require the Contractor to replace all property or to reimburse the Government for the full value of the lost or damaged property.

The Contractor is responsible for maintaining all assigned space(s) in a clean and orderly fashion during the contract.

All telephones and other office equipment (copiers scanners and fax machines) are for conducting official Government business only.

The Contractor will have access to existing IRS-CI artificial intelligence platforms and relevant data, computers with an office productivity suite to be used for communication and the development of case-related documentation, and computers for artificial intelligence case support and data analytics work.

9. SECURITY AND DISCLOSURE

Contractor Staff Security

Contractor employees must be in compliance with Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 10.23.2. This includes the requirement from Treasury Directive 71-10 that all contractors working on a Treasury (or IRS) contract must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Contractor shall not propose any employee who does not meet these criteria.

IRS will provide guidance for applying for background investigations. Contractor shall comply with direction provided by the IRS COR, as it pertains to the pre-screening and screening processes according to Federal standards, IRS Personnel Security (Onboarding) and National Background Investigative Center (NBIC).

a. After award and during the life of the contract, the Contractor shall provide the IRS a list of employees expected to be hired or assigned to the contract including positions, responsibilities, and types of information they need access to in order to perform the contracted work.

b. Within five (5) business days of IRS acceptance of the proposed resource, Contractor shall begin the High-Risk Background Investigation process with mandatory pre-screening. Guidance will be provided by the IRS CI COR.

The COR will provide the necessary electronic versions of the forms to the Contractor upon award.

· Department of the Treasury/IRS Form 13670 Application for Personal Identity Verification.

· Department of the Treasury/IRS Form 13340 Disclosure and Authorization pertaining to Consumer Reports; Pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

· Department of the Treasury/IRS Form 12333 Consent for Fingerprint Check.

· IRS Notice 1379 Tax Record Check Notice.

· Contract-specific non-Disclosure Agreement.

Each contractor employee shall also have his/her fingerprints taken by IRS. The IRS will schedule the fingerprint appointment after IRS receives the pre-screening information and completed forms.

Upon successful pre-screening by IRS, the Contractor employee will be contacted by IRS and provided a code and directed to enter background investigation information into the Federal Government’s Electronic-Questionnaire Investigation Processing (E-QIP) system. The background investigation will then be performed by the Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”), returning the result to the IRS.

c. For foreign-born contractor staff assigned to this Task Order: proof of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident status (Lawful Permanent Resident Card, Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Birth Abroad) shall be provided with investigation package and to the COR.

d. If a contractor employee possesses a current favorable IRS security investigation under another contract, the IRS will perform a revalidation to allow access for the work to be performed under this contract.

For a revalidation, Contractor must follow the current IRS revalidation process.

The IRS will perform necessary action for a contractor to be granted access to any electronic systems needed to perform the work.

The Government will review this information and the results of prescreening checks to determine if employees are eligible for immediate access approval, conversion, or other investigative adjustment. The Government will notify the Contractor about the results of the pre-screening review and upon completion of the investigation by the IRS National Background Investigation Center (“NBIC”) and OPM.

e. Escort access shall NOT be used for Contractor employees who have been denied final staff-like access approval (results of investigation performed by the Federal Government are not favorable for unescorted access to IRS electronic systems or physical spaces where contract work will be performed).

When necessity dictates that a Contractor or subcontractor employee begins work before the completion of a security screening, IRS will provide escort access.

Escort access will be used during the following situations:

(1) Prior to the granting of interim staff-like (access to IRS electronic systems and physical spaces necessary to perform contracted work without escort when the risk is deemed acceptable by IRS).

(2) during the time the final investigation is pending completion when interim staff-like access has been denied; and

(3) during any period that staff-like access has been suspended such as during the period of time after a proposal to deny staff-like access.

f. The Contractor shall maintain a list of employees that includes the approval and expiration date of their staff-like access. The Contractor shall submit the pertinent forms completed by the employee for reinvestigation at least 130 days prior to expiration of staff-like access. The Contractor (and subcontractor) employees must be re-investigated every five years from the completion date of the most recent security investigation or if they have a break in service of more than two years.

A denial of staff-like access decision will be made by the IRS Personnel Security Officer (“PSO”) or his/her designee in accordance with the adjudicative guidelines in the Treasury Department Security Manual. Access may be denied for any of the criteria in the manual as well as an undisclosed felony conviction, crime of violence or serious misdemeanor, patterns of criminal activity, and non-filing of Federal Income Taxes, or significant debt for Federal Income Taxes without a current payment agreement.

Removal from Contract

Contractor shall remove Contractor employees from the Task Order immediately upon receiving notification from the IRS of a final denial determination.

Contractor shall remove a Contractor employee on the same day upon request from the IRS Contracting Officer.

Contractor shall notify the COR no later than the end of the day of the termination for cause of an authorized Contractor employee's access. The Contractor shall notify the COR no later than ten days after an authorized employee no longer requires access for any other type of termination. Verbal notifications shall be confirmed in writing within 5 (five) business days.

All Government Furnished Equipment and Government Furnished Information shall be returned to the IRS by the Contractor.

Identification Badge

Contractor employees shall always wear an IRS-issued identification badge visible above the waist when in IRS spaces.

Disclosure

Each individual Contractor employee shall sign a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) before beginning of work on this contract.

In the performance of this contract, the Contractor agrees to comply and assume responsibility for non-disclosure of all sensitive but unclassified data / information as detailed in IRM 10.23.2.17, Non-disclosure Agreement, by its employees and officers.

All electronically stored data, programs and other files residing on electronic media (e.g., hard drives, diskettes, CDs) shall be treated as confidential and shall not be divulged, copied, or otherwise released or made known in any manner to any person, except as may be necessary in the performance of the contract.

Contractor may be required to provide a corporate level Non-Disclosure Agreement to safeguard all information provided by IRS to resolve problems within the IRS environments/architecture.

The Contractor shall conduct Disclosure Awareness training prior to giving his officers and employees access to IRS Sensitive-But-Unclassified (“SBU”) data and annually thereafter if the contract is renewed or extended. Each Contractor employee shall sign and date the training roster. The Contractor shall provide written certification to the COR that this training was completed by the Contractor employee.

Under FISMA, government employees and contractors are subject to Federal information security laws, regulations, and policies, including annual security awareness training. This training requirement is satisfied by the IRS Contractor IT Information Protection briefings, which covers computer security, disclosure, privacy, and Unauthorized Access (“UNAX”).

Mandatory IT Training Contractor employees shall complete the annual mandatory Contractor IT Security Training before accessing any IRS IT systems and shall complete the annual mandatory Contractor IT Security before the annual completion date. Contractor shall report dates of completion and provide proof of completion, as directed by the IRS COR.

10. RIGHTS TO DATA AND DISCLOSURE

Due to the nature of the IRS mission, all data, work products and deliverables used in its mission are the property of the IRS. Contractor shall not utilize or disclose any information pertaining to this award without the prior written consent of IRS Contracting Officer (CO). The vendor will retain rights under the FAR to any additional standalone commercial software that is supplied to the IRS by the vendor but will provide a nonexclusive royalty free license for IRS use for at least 12 months from date of delivery.

11. INTERNET PROTOCOL

This acquisition is not for a system, application and/or network device that is IPv6/IPv4 protocol dependent.

12. Section 508

Each electronic and information technology (EIT) product and/or product related service delivered under the terms of this contract, at a minimum, shall conform to the applicable accessibility standards indicated below.

IR1052.239-9000 Section 508 Information, Documentation and Support (DEC 2019)

IR1052.239-9001 Section 508 Conformance (NOV 2020)

IR1052.239.9002 Section 508 Services (JUN 2022)

IR1052.239-9003 Section 508 Accessibility of Information and Communication Technology (100% Compliance) (DEC 2019)