DRAFT Performance Work Statement for RFI_ Expert_2024Feb05_ Final.pdf

RFI Attachment 1 - (Draft) Performance Work Statement for

“Expert Services for Redesign of Notices”

1. AGENCY MISSION

To provide quick and substantial benefits to taxpayers as an agency priority under SOP Initiative

2.3, approximately twelve hundred (1,200) IRS notices and letters (hereinafter Correspondence) must be redesigned by calendar year-end 2026. This Correspondence must be redesigned to be clear, concise, and incorporate principles of human-centered design, accessibility, plain language and behavioral insights.

2. OBJECTIVE

The objective of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) is to provide expert services to the IRS employees and contractors redesigning twelve hundred (1,200) items of Correspondence so those redesigns are clear, concise, and incorporate principles of human-centered design, accessibility, plain language and behavioral insights. These expert services shall include reviewing the IRS’ current templates then identifying and recommending opportunities for improvement, developing a guide to inform the IRS employees and contractors redesigning Correspondence how to capture these recommendations, providing guidance and recommendations specific to certain items of

Correspondence up to 10% of the 1,200 items to be redesigned, and collaborating with IRS

Research Applied Analytics and Statistics (RAAS) on testing, focus groups and / or surveys to assess taxpayer response to redesigned Correspondence and further refine those redesigns.

3. SCOPE

The scope of this PWS is for expert services to support the redesign of approximately twelve hundred (1,200) items of IRS Correspondence.

The IRS intends to redesign its Correspondence so that it is clear, concise, helpful, accessible, and easily understood. To accomplish this, there is a need to identify and implement improvements in the design, style and content of such Correspondence. The Contractor shall critically review the

IRS’ current Correspondence guidance and templates for design, style and content and recommend improvements to those items based on principles of plain language, Section 508 accessibility, human-centered design and behavioral insights. Additionally, the Contractor shall recommend improvements to specific items of Correspondence, including up to approximately 10% of the

1,200 items of Correspondence to be redesigned. The Contractor also shall collaborate with IRS

RAAS to conduct tests, surveys and focus groups related to specific Correspondence items to determine how to refine and improve those items. Finally, the Contractor shall capture its recommendations for improving IRS Correspondence, including lessons learned from collaboration with RAAS, in a guide to Correspondence redesign. The guide should contain recommendations and instructions that are clear, detailed and well-supported. IRS employees and contractors will rely on the information in this guide to redesign approximately 1,200 items of

Correspondence by December 31, 2026, including at least 200 items accounting for 70% of total volume by December 31, 2024.

4. TASKS

4.1 Develop a Notice Redesign Process

The Contractor shall conduct a detailed review of the IRS’ current Correspondence design, style and content templates, business processes, and guideline documentation to identify issues and opportunities for improvement and recommend appropriate changes. Recommended changes shall ensure that Correspondence is clear, concise, compelling, and accessible. In recommending such changes, the Contractor shall incorporate:

o Elements of human-centered design o Plain language principles o Behavioral insights framework o Stakeholder feedback received via OTC’s feedback portal o Section 508 accessibility standards

(https://www.section508.gov/create/documents/ )

The Contractor shall also incorporate into this process the need to efficiently coordinate with IRS offices on the redesign of notices and letters on which those offices include subject matter experts.

4.2 Develop a Plan for Tests and Surveys for Certain Notices and Letters

In coordination with IRS RAAS, the Contractor shall develop a plan for appropriate tests, focus groups and surveys for certain Correspondence, amounting to approximately ten percent (10%) of the 1,200 Correspondence items to be redesigned. This plan shall also provide for converting the results of tests and surveys to actionable data, in collaboration with specified IRS employees and contractors. As part of such plan, the Contractor shall collaborate on appropriate testing techniques, questions, methods of delivery, time frames, and response options. Recommended techniques should be efficient, demonstrate how notices and letters can be improved, and reveal how effective redesigned notices and letters are relative to the original versions.

4.3 Develop a Guide for IRS Correspondence Redesign

The Contractor shall develop a comprehensive guide for Correspondence design, style, content and accessibility for the effective redesign of IRS Correspondence. This guide shall be delivered three (3) months after award for Government review. In this guide, the Contractor shall outline design specifications for all Correspondence. Finally, the Contractor shall update this guide as necessary to reflect lessons learned, including from Correspondence tests, focus groups and surveys.

4.4 Provide Guidance on Redesign of Certain Notices and Letters

The Contractor shall provide specific advice and guidance on the redesign of up to two hundred forty (240) or 10% of the twelve hundred (1,200) Correspondence items to be redesigned. For each such item, the Contractor will consider its design, style and content, collaborating with specified IRS employees to ensure the purpose of these items is accomplished and they remain legally sufficient.

https://www.section508.gov/create/documents/

The items on which the Contractor’s specific advice and guidance is required will be determined by the Government, spaced approximately evenly across the performance period, and generally correspond to the Correspondence redesign schedule. That is, of the twelve hundred (1,200) IRS notices and letters to be redesigned, two hundred (200) will be redesigned during the 2024 calendar year, 500 will be redesigned during the 2025 calendar year, and 500 will be redesigned during the

2026 calendar year. Of the yearly totals for each calendar year, approximately equal numbers of notices and letters will be redesigned during each three (3) month period. The Government will identify at least three (3) months in advance the notices and letters to be redesigned during each three (3) month period, as well as the specific Correspondence items requiring the Contractor’s advice and guidance. The Contractor shall submit that item-specific advice and guidance as soon as it is completed and no later than two (2) weeks prior to the beginning of the period during which the specific item is scheduled to be redesigned.