Performance Work Statement DRAFT. 04.14.2025.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS) Digital Asset Basis Computation Support Chief Tax Compliance Officer, Office of Digital Asset Initiative (ODAI)

1. GENERAL: This is a non-personnel services contract to provide Digital Asset Basis Computation Support. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

1.1 Description of Services/Introduction: The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform Digital Asset Basis Computation Support as defined in this Performance Work Statement except for those items specified as government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.2 Background: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires consulting services to support examination activities involving digital assets. The consulting services will assist the IRS in calculating taxpayers’ taxable income, gains and/or deductible losses resulting from digital assets transactions.

In Notice 2014-21, the IRS applied general principles of tax law to determine digital assets (virtual currency) is property for federal tax purposes. The notice explained, in the form of 16 frequently asked questions (FAQs), the application of general tax principles to the most common transactions involving digital assets. Expanding on this 2014 guidance, the IRS issued additional detailed guidance, Revenue Ruling 2019-24, to help taxpayers better understand their reporting obligations for specific transactions involving digital assets. This Revenue Ruling addresses common questions by taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding the tax treatment of a cryptocurrency hard fork and airdrop. In addition, a set of FAQs address digital assets transactions for those who hold digital assets as a capital asset.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Public Law 117 - 58 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act - Content Details - (govinfo.gov) was signed into law on November 15, 2021, removing the term virtual currency, replacing and broadly defining digital assets. Digital assets are broadly defined as any digital representation of value which is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology as specified by the Secretary.

Section 80603 of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), in part, clarified and expanded the digital asset reporting rules for brokers under IRC sections 6045 and 6045A to improve IRS and taxpayer access to gross proceeds and adjusted basis information when taxpayers dispose of digital assets in transactions involving brokers. In addition, IIJA made several changes to the broker reporting provisions under section 6045 to clarify the rules regarding how certain digital asset transactions should be reported by brokers, and to expand the categories of assets for which basis reporting is required to include digital assets.

To comply with their income tax obligations, taxpayers must track their digital assets transactions. The transactions referenced in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) occur on various commercial digital asset exchanges or are reflected on public ledgers (such as a blockchain and other public distributed ledgers).

While every examination is unique, the examinations relevant to this PWS have common elements which include, a potential failure to report digital assets transactions in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code, large transaction data volume, valuation of digital assets, potential illegal or other fraudulent activity and basis tracking.

1.3 Agency Mission: The IRS mission is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all. To support the latter part of this mission, the IRS must ensure that our Revenue Agents, Specialists and Economists are trained to review and address issues on the largest and most complex tax returns. This includes calculating taxpayers’ taxable income, gains and/or deductible losses resulting from digital assets transactions.

1.4. Scope: The Contractor shall provide Digital Asset Basis Computation Support. The Contractor shall provide all resources necessary to accomplish the deliverables described in this PWS. This includes the specific case support as detailed on Section 3.0- Tasks below. The Contractor must always maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS.

1.5 Period of Performance:

The period of performance shall be for one (1) Base Year of 12 months and two (2) 12-month option years. The Period of Performance reads as follows:

1.6 Additional General Information:

1.6.1 Quality Control: The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is how he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the contract. The written quality control plan (QCP) shall be delivered within 30 days after contract award. If changes are made to the initial QCP, it shall be submitted to the Contraction Officer (CO) and Contracting Officers Representative within 5 working days when changes are made thereafter. After acceptance of the QCP, the Contractor shall receive the CO’s acceptance in writing.

1.6.2 Quality Assurance: The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

1.6.3 Recognized Holidays: The Contractor is not required to perform services on federal holidays.

Independence Day

1.6.5 Place of Performance: The work to be performed under this contract will be performed at the contractor’s facility.

1.6.6 Type of Contract: The government will award a Firm-Fixed Price contract.

1.6.7 Security Requirements: The contractor must comply with the requirements outlined in in IR1052.224-9001, Mandatory IRS Information Protection and Security Awareness Training Requirement (JUN 2020).

1.6.8 Special Qualifications:

See 1.6.11

1.6.9 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings: The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance. At these meetings the contracting officer will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

1.6.10 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The (COR) will be identified by separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract: perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance: maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract: issue written interpretations of technical requirements, including Government drawings, designs, specifications: monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially regarding changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

1.6.11 Key Personnel: The personnel listed below are considered essential to the work being performed under this contract. Before removing, replacing, or diverting any of the listed or specified personnel or facilities, the Contractor shall (1) notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance and (2) submit justification (including proposed substitutions) in sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the impact on this contract. The Contractor shall make no diversion without the Contracting Officer's prior written acknowledgement of qualifications.

The follow personnel are considered key personnel by the Government:

Project Manager – Minimum five years of experience managing large scale IT/technology programs. Including at least two years of the five focused on digital asset technology and five years associated tax, auditor, and accounting experience. This experience must include a deep understanding of blockchain; all digital assets as defined under IRC 6045 (g)(3)(D); knowledge of cryptography; distributed ledger systems; consensus algorithms; and smart contracts.

Data Analyst- Minimum two years of experience analyzing raw data to extract meaningful insights, identifying trends, and making informed decisions. This experience must include demonstrating a deep understanding of blockchain; all digital assets as defined under IRC 6045 (g)(3)(D); knowledge of cryptography; distributed ledger systems; consensus algorithms; and smart contracts.

Senior/Lead Consultant- Minimum three years of experience managing large scale IT/technology programs. Including at least two years of the three focused on digital asset technology and three years associated tax, auditor, and accounting experience. This experience must include a deep understanding of blockchain; all digital assets as defined under IRC 6045 (g)(3)(D); knowledge of cryptography; distributed ledger systems; consensus algorithms; and smart contracts.

Subject Matter Expert- Minimum two years of experience demonstrating a deep understanding of blockchain; all digital assets as defined under IRC 6045 (g)(3)(D); knowledge of cryptography; distributed ledger systems; consensus algorithms; and smart contracts.

1.6.15 Data Rights: The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the source codes of any software, produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government. These documents and materials may not be used or sold by the contractor without written permission from the Contracting Officer. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

1.6.16 Organizational Conflict of Interest: Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract shall be required to sign non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

1.6.17 Phase In / Phase Out Period: To minimize any decreases in productivity and to prevent possible negative impacts on additional services, the Contractor shall have personnel on board, during the thirty (30) day phase in/ phase out periods. During the phase in period, the Contractor shall become familiar with performance requirements to commence full performance of services on the contract start date.

1.6.18 Government Furnished Equipment (GFE): No GFE will be provided under this contract.

2.0 DEFINITIONS / ACRONYM /REFERENCES /PUBLICATIONS / LINKS etc

3.0 TASKS

3.1 Task 1 – Program Management

The Contractor shall provide program management support under this TO. This includes the management and oversight of all activities performed by contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in this Performance Work Statement (PWS).

3.1.1 Subtask 1.1 – Coordinate a Project Kickoff Meeting

Within 10 (ten) days after the contract award, or other mutually agreed upon date, the Contractor shall schedule, coordinate, and host a Project Kick-Off Meeting at the time and location approved by the Government. The meeting shall provide an introduction between the Contractor personnel and Government personnel who will be involved with the PWS and to assure a common understanding of the project requirements and objectives. The meeting shall provide the opportunity to share and discuss scope, resources (including roles and responsibilities), key milestones and timeline, and technical, management, and security topics, as well as any travel authorization and reporting procedures. At a minimum, the attendees shall include the contractor’s Key Personnel, the Program Manager(s), other relevant Government personnel, the CO, and the COR.

At least three (3) days prior to the Project Kick-Off Meeting, the contractor shall provide a Project Kick-Off Meeting Agenda for review and approval by the COR and the PM prior to finalizing. The agenda shall include, at a minimum, the following topics/deliverables:

The Contractor shall provide a Project Kick-Off Meeting Minutes Report, within three (3) business days following the Kick-off Meeting, documenting the Project Kick-Off Meeting discussion and any action items and/or decisions.

3.1.2 Subtask 1.2 – Progress Reports

The Contractor shall provide an electronic weekly and monthly progress report to the COR and PM.

At a minimum, the weekly report shall include the following for each PWS objective:

At a minimum, the monthly progress report shall include the following for each PWS objective:

The monthly report shall be due no later than the 10th calendar day of the following month.

3.1.3 Subtask 1.3 – Prepare and Update a Project Management Plan For each PWS Objective, the Contractor shall document all support requirements in a PMP and provide it to the Government NLT 30 days after contract award.

The PMP shall:

The PMP is an evolutionary document that shall be updated as project changes occur or at a cadence mutually agreed upon with Government.

3.1.4 Subtask 1.4 – Provide Quality Management

The Contractor shall identify and implement its approach for providing and ensuring quality throughout its solution to meet the requirements of the PWS. The Contractor shall provide a QCP at Project Kick-off Meeting and maintain and update it as changes in the program processes are identified. The Contractor’s QCP shall describe the application of the appropriate methodology (i.e., quality control and/or quality assurance) for accomplishing PWS performance expectations and objectives. The QCP shall describe how the appropriate methodology integrates with the Government’s requirements.

The QCP shall contain a meeting cadence to discuss the development of each task area with the government. The contractor shall present all draft documents and next steps at each meeting for government approval.

3.1.5 Subtask 1.5- Meeting Participation, Outreach and Assistance The Contractor shall be available to support the IRS in advance of meetings with taxpayers or their representatives and during any administrative appeal proceeding or litigation. This support includes but is not limited to:

Meetings shall be held by teleconference or an internet-based meeting platform at the convenience of all participants.

The following performance standards will be met:

The Contractor shall meet monthly with the IRS Leadership or assigned designee to review the hours expended on and progress of each case. The Contractor will prepare monthly and/or custom reports to enable IRS Leadership to track the resources expended and progress of each case and the project overall.

Additionally, ad hoc meetings will be held with Business Operating Divisions (BOD) leadership when warranted. Contractor shall provide assistance on an approved (by IRS leadership) and as needed basis, up to 120 hours through each contract period of performance. These 120-hours will include periodic and scheduled “office hours” or related meetings and trainings to promote communication, engagement, and facilitate efficient case support to IRS case agents / SMEs.

3.1.6 Subtask 1.6 – Transition-Out

The contractor shall provide transition-out support when requested by the Government. The contractor shall deliver a transition-out plan and shall facilitate the accomplishment of a seamless transition from the incumbent to incoming contractor/Government personnel at the expiration or termination of the contract. The Government will work with the contractor to finalize the plan and at a minimum, shall be reviewed and updated quarterly during the final contract option year. In the transition-out plan, the contractor shall identify how it will coordinate with the incoming contractor and/or Government personnel to transfer knowledge regarding the following:

The contractor shall also establish and maintain effective communication with the incoming contractor/Government personnel for the period of the transition via weekly status meetings or as often as necessary to ensure a seamless transition-out. Additionally, the contractor shall cooperate fully with the Government and the succeeding contractor to include:

3.2 Task 2 – Digital Asset Case (Basic Computation) Support

The Contractor shall provide examination and case selection support for diverse digital asset cases within Small Business Self-employed (SB/SE) and Large Business and International (LB&I) A digital assets case may have a variety of transactions that occur on one or more public ledgers (blockchains), non-public transactions facilitated through digital assets exchanges or other intermediaries or peer-to-peer transactions. The Contractor shall provide support for examination case support for up to 260 taxpayer digital asset examination cases. Examination case support includes, but is not limited to: ad hoc case discussions, bulk data analysis, data ingestion, data standardization, valuation in fiat currencies, and generating reports to support income, gain and/or loss computations for digital asset activities. A digital asset examination case may have up to 1.5 million digital asset transactions in one or more tax years, and up to 100 different digital asset classes.

3.3 Task 3 - Data Ingest Support

The absence of an industry standard for data formatting creates challenges for the IRS in interpreting and analyzing data generated by digital assets transactions. Contractors in the digital asset market have proprietary means to standardize data formats from diverse sources, making the information readable on IRS systems and available for analysis. The Contractor shall provide support for 440 volume enhancements. A volume enhancement is a case with over 1.5 million transactions that includes up to an additional 500,000 transactions, for a total of up to 2 million total transactions. Any one of the cases defined in 3.2 above could have one or more volume enhancements. Requesting support for 190 asset enhancements. In addition to volume enhancements, any one of the cases defined in 3.2 above could have one or more asset enhancements. An asset enhancement is a case with over 100 different digital assets that includes up to an additional 25 different digital assets, for a total of up to 125 different digital assets. The Contractor shall provide support as well to ingest data from 30 new sources that are in addition to the Contractor’s current ability to ingest data from third parties such as, any blockchain that is listed on a major exchange. A new source does not include (but, not limited to):

3.3.1 Data Ingestion and Staging

Taxpayer digital assets activity may involve thousands of digital asset transactions yearly. The transactions may cross multiple exchanges and digital wallets. For analysis, the transactions must be aggregated, and the assets involved valued, as an essential part of computing gains and losses. This includes but is not limited to transactions that are considered realization events under the Internal Revenue Code.

Specialized technology and infrastructure are required to digest, contain, and subsequently analyze digital assets data due to its unique requirements, including to decimal place precision, varying field characteristics and file formats.

The data ingested may include, but is not limited to:

a) Publicly available on-chain data and private off-chain data

b) Application Programming Interface (API) keys obtained through exchanges, wallets, or other sources

c) Comma Separated Values (CSV), Excel, or Portable Document Format (PDF) files from various sources

d) Data obtained through merchant electronic systems

e) Related data obtained by the Contractor for valuation purposes

f) Relevant data from evolving and yet unidentified sources

g) Digital asset lending activities, trading involving margin and foreign currency transactions

To initiate work, the IRS SME will, with managerial concurrence, send the relevant data and records to the Contractor describing the case(s) to be analyzed including the legal issues involved, the number and identification of relevant tax periods, the number of taxpayers or entities, and a description of the data including whether there are any anticipated challenges.

The Contractor shall provide an estimate of the number of hours to ingest all relevant data provided to the IRS, as well as any attendant or related data the Contractor collects through their systems, to produce the report described

3.4 Task 4 - Report Preparation, Summary Explanation, and Data Discrepancy Analysis The Contractor shall provide a report within 10 business days of the case intake presenting the information requested in the work order, including gain or loss computation for each year at issue, transfer analysis for each year identifying all nontaxable transfers between taxpayer accounts identified by Contractor during the analysis of records, and a summary explanation of the methodology used to produce the report. The Contractor will transmit all underlying data to prepare the report, and the report itself, to the IRS in a format specified in the work order. The Contractor will report instances where the taxpayer’s data deviate from expected values and/or from normal accounting practices. If the Contractor foresees the report output taking more than 10 business days to deliver, the Contractor will communicate reasoning and expected delivery date of the respective report. A case status report will be provided by the Contractor to the IRS COB the last day of the month, bi-monthly.

After ingesting the data, the Contractor will provide a report summarizing the characteristics of the data including potential gaps in the completeness and/or accuracy of the data and resulting calculations. If possible and based on the characteristics of the data, calculated gains or losses will be provided for each asset for each of the years at issue and a summary explanation of the methodology used to produce the report. Any issues with the data that prevent an accurate or complete calculation will be summarized with recommendations to correct data, obtain more data as needed, or perform other steps to arrive at a substantially accurate analytic result. The Contractor shall be available to discuss in detail the data received/report as well as any standardization issues so they can be promptly addressed.

3.4.1 Report Technical Standards

The report computing gains or losses, must reflect the Contractor’s ability to:

2. Provide cost basis computations for digital assets lacking a USD analog or trading pair and support the computation with archived information suitable for introduction as evidence in litigation.

The summary explanation shall be in narrative form with both technical terms and acronyms defined.

3.4.1.2 Data Inconsistencies

The contractor shall report on instances where the taxpayer’s data are inconsistent with normal accounting practices and provide an explanation of the discrepancy.

3.4.1.3 Error Resolution and Report Revision

After creating the report described above, the Contractor will work with the IRS, through leadership, to resolve in the report any data that are inconsistent from normal accounting practices, for example, disposition of digital assets where no acquisition information of the assets is available. This work could include, but is not limited to, obtaining more information from the Case Agent or Subject Matter Expert (SME), or adjusting the data under the direction of the Case Agent or SME. Thereafter, the Contractor will produce a revised report reflecting the resolutions discussed with the IRS. This revised report will be delivered within 5 business days after resolution(s) discussed with the IRS.

The following performance standards will be met:

3.5 Task 5- Litigation Support

To the extent outside the scope of part 3.4 above, the Contractor shall provide to the IRS (including Office of Chief Counsel and Appeals) services during pending litigation. For the purposes of this paragraph 3.5, pending litigation means the period of time starting with the filing of a petition with the United States Tax Court (“Tax Court”) in a given case and ending with the filing of a decision document in that case.

3.5.1 Scope of Services

The Contractor shall compute gains, losses, ordinary income, and other items related to the taxpayer’s digital asset activities. The computations may at times require preparing multiple sets of calculations using varying legal assumptions; preparing calculations to verify computations provided by the taxpayer to the IRS; and comparing different sets of computations. Additionally, the Contractor shall prepare reports and testify in Court as a fact and/or expert and/or rebuttal witness regarding its computations as well as opining on the computations prepared by the taxpayer.

3.5.2 Timing of Services

The Contractor shall provide its services within reasonable time, except when the IRS informs the Contractor of specific deadlines, the Contractor shall provide its services on or before those deadlines, if feasible.

3.5.3 Testimony Before Tax Court

The Contractor agrees to appear and testify before Tax Court as a witness regarding the computations it performed. The Contractor shall, as necessary, explain its methodologies, assumptions, findings, and conclusions clearly and concisely, ensuring comprehension by all parties involved. If necessary, the Contractor shall also opine and, if appropriate, rebut and critique the methodologies, assumptions, findings, and conclusions of the taxpayer’s witnesses on the subject of computations of digital asset activities, providing detailed and substantiated arguments.3.5.4 Collaboration and Communication The Contractor shall collaborate and maintain open and regular communications with the IRS’s attorneys and other appropriate employees to ensure all of the taxpayer’s digital asset activities are accurately captured and understood by the IRS and presented effectively to the Tax Court.

4.0 DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

Delivery: To be delivered at or prior to Kickoff Meeting.

Updates: The Contractor shall provide any changes or updates to the COR prior to Contractor implementation.

Due Date: Weekly Tuesdays prior to 5:00PM ET

Due Date: The Contractor shall attend the Kick-Off Meeting within 10 business days of contract award.

Details:

• Government CO/COR is responsible for setting up meeting

Due Date: 10 business days following approval of interim staff-like access

Delivery: Submission must be noted in PM weekly report.

Due Date: As needed

Delivery: Varies Per Occurrence (Virtual, Telephonic, In Person)

Due Date: 10 business days after receipt

Delivery: Method of submission?

5. CONTRACTOR ONBOARDING REQUIREMENTS

5.1 Paperwork Completeness and Accuracy

a. The IRS will provide the vendor POC with the Risk Assessment Checklist (RAC), along with other required investigative forms (details in section 1.5 below).

b. All forms must contain the full legal name that matches the applicant's identification (e.g. state issued id, passport, etc.)

c. Vendors should ensure fields requiring social security numbers and phone numbers have the correct number of digits.

d. The IRS will reject forms that are incomplete, illegible, inaccurate, and contradict other forms in the package.

5.2 Contractor Eligibility

All contractor/subcontractor employees submitted for staff-like access approval must be eligible for IRS contract employment to the best of the vendor’s knowledge. In order to be approved for interim staff-like access, IRS will confirm that contractor/subcontractor employees first meet the following initial eligibility requirements:

1.2.1 U.S. Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status: Subjects must be US citizens or LPRs (dependent on position risk level) to be eligible for staff-like access. a. No documentation is required as proof of U.S. citizenship for subjects born in the United States. b. If subjects are foreign-born, vendor POC MUST provide the subjects’ Alien Registration or “A” Number for verification of their status.

1.2.2 Selective Service Registration (for males born after 12/31/59): Vendor POC MUST provide the following documentation to the IRS:

a. Registered applicants: Official letters of verification can be obtained and saved via the Selective Service website at https://www.sss.gov/verify/proof/.

b. Non-registered applicants:

i. If the subject is foreign-born, vendors must provide a letter from the Selective Service stating the subject was not required to register or that the subject was required to register but it is too late.

ii. For US citizens or foreign-born subjects who were required to register but did not, the vendor must provide a written explanation as to why the non-registration was not knowing or willful.

1.2.3 Federal Tax Compliance: Subjects must be tax compliant and must remain compliant while actively working on IRS contracts.

a. IRS will check tax compliance – no documentation is required from the vendor POC.

b. Vendors are responsible for informing their applicants of this requirement.

5.3 Timeliness

a. Delays in any of the actions stated below will result in contractor/subcontractor employee onboarding delays and starting work on the contract.

b. All investigative forms and documentation are due to the IRS within 10 business days of receipt. If IRS approval is required to confirm the qualifications of proposed contractor personnel, i.e. key personnel, documents must be submitted within 10 days of receipt of this approval.

c. All individuals listed on the RAC should be fingerprinted within 5 business days after IRS sponsorship in USAccess. If an individual is not able to make an appointment within this timeframe, the vendor POC will provide documentation that an appointment was not available and provide the date of the scheduled appointment.

d. The contractor/subcontractor employee must accurately complete the eAPP application, if applicable, within 8 calendar days of receipt of the invitation. Failure to complete eAPP will result in not being permitted to work on the contract.

5.4 Investigative Forms/Documentation, Fingerprinting, and eAPP

a. Contract Profile: Following the award of the contract, the COR will need to submit this document to HCO Mailbox to establish the Contract within the Contract Management Module (CMM) system. This creates the record for contract and task order information in the CMM.

b. Master Survey / Position Designation Tool: Following this meeting, the COR will work with the Vendor POC to complete this questionnaire for each unique position type on the contract. This questionnaire asks the vendor POC and COR to identify the duties the subjects will be performing for IRS in order to determine risk level for the position. A separate Master Survey must be completed for each position type on the contract (i.e., Systems Administrator, Programmer, Clerk Typist, etc.). The results must be saved and sent to IRS PS. The Position Designation Tool is listed here- Position Designation System (PDS) and Position Designation Tool (PDT) (dcsa.mil)

c. Investigative Forms/Documentation: The IRS will provide the vendor POC with the following investigative forms for completion by each applicant requiring staff-like access:

i. Risk Assessment Checklist (RAC): The RAC is a summary Excel spreadsheet that captures information related to the subjects for whom the vendor is requesting staff-like access. The vendor POC must ensure that EVERY column in the RAC is completed accurately prior to submitting to the IRS. Failure to do so will result in a rejection of the RAC and a delay in the on-boarding process.

ii. OF-306, Declaration for Federal Employment (version 2023): Form must be completed and signed by each contractor/subcontractor employee requiring staff-like access.

iii. Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): Form must be completed and signed by each contractor/subcontractor employee requiring access to sensitive but unclassified (SBU) data. This form is not required to be submitted to Personnel Security. This form is for the COR records only.

iv. Form 13340, Information Provided Concerning the Disclosure and Authorization Pertaining to Consumer Reports pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Form must be completed and signed by each contractor/subcontractor employee requiring staff-like access.

v. Notice 1379, Tax Check Notice: Provide to subjects to inform them of IRS’ intent to check their federal tax compliance at onboarding and annually thereafter while continuing to actively work on IRS contracts.

d. Fingerprinting and eAPP IRS will enroll each subject in USAccess based on the information provided on the RAC. The USAccess system will send an email invitation to schedule a fingerprinting appointment. Individuals should be fingerprinted within 5 business days of receipt of the sponsorship email. Note that the USAccess email may sometimes be marked as SPAM. Subjects are asked to check their SPAM folders for the email.

Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations (eAPP): If contractor/subcontractor employees do not have a current federal background investigation already completed and favorably adjudicated at the appropriate risk level, they will receive an email with a link to complete the eAPP form online. The email will contain instructions for accessing the system, and guidance to assist if issues are encountered. Contractors and subcontractor personnel must complete eAPP within 8 calendar days of receipt of the email.

5.5 Contractor Training Requirements

a. Contractor/subcontractor employees must complete Security Awareness Training (SAT) within 10 business days of receiving approval of interim staff-like access.

b. Contractor/subcontractor employees must certify completion using the Form 14616, Contractor SAT Certification, and the Form 11370, Certification of Annual UNAX Awareness Briefing and provide these forms to the COR.

4.6 Security Badges

a. Contractor/subcontractor employees must accurately complete Form 13716A, Request for ID Media/Access Card for Contract Employee, and submit as a PDF document (no photocopies or pictures).

b. Contractor/subcontractor employees are responsible for:

i. Safeguarding their ID/access card.

ii. Wearing ID cards/security badges at or above the waist with photo facing out in an approved cover with no obstructions to the card.

iii. Reporting lost/stolen cards immediately to their COR, the local Facilities Management & Security Services (FMSS) physical security office, the Situational Awareness Management Center (SAMC), Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), and completing Form 4589, Lost or Forgotten ID Card Record.

5.7 Contractor Separation

a. The vendor POC is responsible for notifying the COR no later than one business day of a contractor/subcontractor employee separating (notification may also occur prior to separation).

b. If the contractor/subcontractor employee works more than one contract or task order, notification to multiple CORs may be combined.

c. The contractor/subcontractor employee is responsible for returning the following to the COR on or before their last day of work on the contract. Note that laptops and equipment are assigned to the individual, not the vendor and therefore must be returned upon separation:

i. IRS-issued badge and/or proxy card

ii. IRS keys

iii. IRS- issued laptop

iv. IRS furnished documents

v. IRS passports

vi. Any and all IRS data

vii. Any other items furnished or identified by the IRS

viii. Any other items or materials issued by the Agency for the contract.

Note:

IRM 10.23.2: “Staff-like Access” is authority granted to perform one or more of the following:

• Enter IRS facilities or space (owned or leased) unescorted (when properly badged);

• Possess login credentials to information systems (IRS or vendor-owned systems that store, collect, and /or process IRS information);

• Possess physical and/or logical access to (including the opportunity to see, read, transcribe, and/or interpret) Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) data, wherever the location (See IRM 10.5.1 for examples of SBU data);

• Possess physical access to (including the opportunity to see, read, transcribe, and/or interpret) security items and products (e.g., items that must be stored in a locked container, security container, or a secure room, wherever the location). These items include, but are not limited to, security devices/records, computer equipment, Identification media. For details and further security requirements, see IRM 1.4.6.5.1, Minimum Protection Standards); or,

• Enter physical areas, wherever the location, that store/process SBU information (unescorted).

Staff-Like Access is granted to an individual who is not an IRS employee (and includes, but is not limited to: contractor/subcontractor employees, whether procured by IRS or another federal agency, vendors, delivery persons, experts, consultants, paid/unpaid interns, other federal employees, cleaning/maintenance employees, etc.), and is approved upon required completion of a favorable suitability/fitness determination conducted by IRS Personnel Security.

IRSAP Requirements - Submission of Security Forms and Related Materials (APR 2024) requires contractor/subcontractor employees needing staff-like access to IRS equities to be investigated by IRS Personnel Security (PS).

End of Contractor on-boarding requirements language