DRAFT PWS EHSS IRWorks O and M.pdf

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE,

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICE MANAGEMENT (ITSM)

IRWORKS OPERATIONS SUPPORT

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1. General: This is a contract to provide the services outlined in this PWS to the IRS Information Technology Operations Command Center Division (ITOCC) IRWorks Program Management Office (PMO). Services shall include providing operations and maintenance (O&M) support for legacy applications until those applications are migrated to their new environment, including any possible upgrades and O&M for the current Service Now application.

In addition, services shall include project management and technical support for the promotion of developed solutions by the IRS or 3rd party entities.

1.1. Background: Currently, there are two legacy applications within the Service Manager (SM) application, E-Help Support Services (EHSS) These are in the pipeline to migrate to a new platform; along with continued O&M support for Internal Revenue Workflow Optimization, Request and Knowledge System (IRWorks). This includes the ability to assist the continuing integration and improvements to the ServiceNow platform via the integration of custom workflows to support additional capabilities. During this period, the government will need support from the contractor to help maintain both the current ServiceNow application and the legacy applications on the current platform.

1.2. Description of Services/Introduction: The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, material, supervision, and other items along with the non-personal services necessary to perform the support for the legacy applications (OpenText Service Manager) and ServiceNow 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.

1.3. Objectives: The goal is for the contractor shall provide O&M for the current ServiceNow application and for the legacy applications until these applications are migrated to the new platform(s). In addition, 3rd party solutions will be developed for the ServiceNow platform. The awardee, working hand in hand with ITSM must ingest, normalize, and promote in the Enterprise ServiceNow Instance known as IRWorks; the solutions developed. The potential ingestion rate could be as little as two-to-three-week sprints. The awardee, working hand in hand with ITSM will ingest, test, and validate the code, address User Acceptance (UI) and promote to production partnering with the 3rd party developers, which includes update sets, repositories, and ServiceNow mechanisms as required. The awardee, working hand in hand with ITSM will manage all instances of ServiceNow that the IRS initiates. The awardee working hand in hand with ITSM will be required to attend all meetings 3rd party developers hold with the customers during the discovery and requirements phases to assist with ensuring out of the box functionality is leveraged where possible.

1.4. Scope: The scope of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) encompasses services in support of OpenText software and the Service Management Platform and related Enterprise System Management (ESM) tools and applications at the IRS. Specifically, support for the development of related applications, support for application upgrades and providing robust troubleshooting related problems in existing and future systems. These would include but not limited to:

• E-Help Support System (EHSS)

• Internal Revenue Workflow Optimization Request and Knowledge System (IRWorks)

• ServiceNow Platform

• Information Technology Operations Management (ITOM)

• Information Technology Software and Hardware Asset Management (ITAM)

• Discovery and Configuration Management System/Configuration Management Database

(CMS/CMDB/CSDM)

• Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)

• Reporting and Analytics, DevOps Security Operations, Governance

• Risk and Compliance

• Telecommunications Service Operations Management

• Operation Technology Management

• HR Service Delivery

• Workplace Service Delivery

• Safe Workplace Suite

• Legal Service Delivery

• Customer Service Management

• Field Service Management

• Creator Workflows

• and all other purchased ServiceNow applications.

2. Requirements: Specific Tasks

2.1 Planning:

The IRS has many Stakeholders that will need to be informed and involved in the projects and have mutual understanding of the goals, status, outcomes throughout the Upgrade/O&M application lifecycle.

• Per 3rd party project, the Contractor, shall work hand in hand with ITSM with provided project management that includes but not limited to the development of schedules, Identification of risks and issues, status reports of the progress and schedule regular meetings.

• Contractor shall work hand in hand with ITSM is responsible for the integrations with all 3rd party systems following IRS IRM security requirements as requested by the IRS throughout the duration of this contract.

• Contractor shall work hand in hand with ITSM, via project management will track and perform all required security checks; PCLIA updates.

• The Contractor shall work with the Enterprise Operations (EOps)/Information Technology Operations Command Center (ITOCC)/Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) staff to coordinate and collaborate with stakeholders in holding focus groups and other teaming meetings related to strategy, business process improvement and impact to the successful delivery of the requested services.

• The Contractor shall communicate and share information regarding business process methodologies that support the requested services via various venues, such as executives, stakeholders, process owners, development teams, Enterprise Operations (EOps)/Information Technology Operations Command Center (ITOCC)/Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) team, etc.

• The Contractor shall be responsible for working with ITSM in aligning multiple stakeholder expectations to common agreed outcomes at the start and throughout the contract.

• The Contractor shall need to identify clear, measurable success metrics and establish baselines and communicate to ITSM any risk, expectations mismatches and course remediation options based on those metrics.

• The Contractor shall use creative and collaborative methods both virtual and physical to allow for a wide variety collaboration across various locations and user groups.

• The Contractor shall be responsible for following all IRS Service Level Agreements (SLA) and published Internal Revenue Manual entries.

DESIRED OUTCOME: A concise, consistent understanding across the organization to enable stakeholder engagement and align expectations for Upgrade and O&M activities.

Upgrade Deliverables:

• Strategic plan that includes outcomes, success metrics and working with EOps/ITOCC/ITSM on an approach for stakeholder alignment.

• Upgrade Architecture Diagram and Infrastructure Specs

• Upgrade Project Plan

• Upgrade Implementation Plan

• Ad Hoc Meetings

• Ad Hoc Reports

• Integrated Master Schedule

2.2 Organizational Readiness & Communications:

The IRS understands that bringing change to the organization requires laying the groundwork for success early and that it is important to prepare people with effective communication plans, marketing, training, enablement, policies, and procedures to achieve the program goals. This will create awareness, a shared understanding, adoption of the new solution, and ownership.

The Contractor shall:

• Develop and deliver comprehensive, timely, effective, and creative communications to the various stakeholders and communities to keep them apprised of activities that impact them, utilizing multiple media types and delivery methods.

• Encourage user adoption to the capabilities and features available in the current SaaS solution.

• Train users to maximize the capabilities of the tool based on IRS policies, process, and workflows to minimize impact to daily operations and improve performance.

• Track customer satisfaction and adoption metrics throughout the lifecycle of the project.

DESIRED OUTCOMES: Dynamic, creating, full-scale communications, marketing and outreach planning and execution to drive alignment, awareness, buy-in and excitement to increase adoption.

Deliverables:

• Organizational Readiness Strategy

• Communications Plan

• Communication Materials (Videos, etc.)

• Quarterly Adoption Progress Report

• Ongoing Communication Campaign to continue to drive value realization and adoption.

2.3 O&M Enhancement Design, Upgrade and Requirements Gathering:

For the ServiceNow application, we are committed to staying out of the box (OOB) and leveraging the “low code/no code” capabilities available in the ServiceNow platform. We are also looking to ensure that all enhancements are vetted within the tool to ensure that there is no impact with any other ServiceNow applications. For the legacy applications, we are looking to perform the normal day to day maintenance and if required, upgrade the legacy applications to the next version. In support of this goal, the contractor shall work with ITSM branch for all activities within this section to:

• Provide Project management for all 3rd party developed solutions.

• Collaborate with the 3rd party development teams to investigate and resolve issues/defects/conflicts.

• Perform Smoke testing and validation of the code or configurations received.

• Validate with the 508 office the 3rd party development teams have perform the required 508 validations and obtained approval from the 508 office for their solution.

• Validate the appropriate Cyber Offices that the solution from all 3rd party development teams have IRS Cyber approvals.

• Execute and report on the ServiceNow Automated Test Framework (ATF) results.

• Promote code to IRWorks UAT

• Load, validate and smoke test the code

• Execute and report on the ServiceNow Automated Test Framework (ATF results).

• Support IRS UAT processes for the 3rd party solutions. This includes providing “hands-on keys” support to the 3rd party teams during UAT (User Acceptance Testing).

• Include the approved code into the IRS IRWorks release management process.

• Represent the 3rd party projects in the IRS change/release management process.

• Provide the status of the build and release processes.

• Support the 3rd party projects in the IRWorks release calendar.

• Facilitate knowledge transfer (sessions, articles, etc.) from the 3rd party developers to the

IRS.

• Provide level one and two support for these 3rd party solutions at a platform and

ServiceNow application or module level.

• Provide support and “hands-on keys” assistance to the level three support (code level support) that will be provided remotely by the 3rd party teams when necessary.

• Configurate and provide incident/problem reports and agreed upon Service Level

Agreements (SLA) in the IRWorks system.

• Provide designated ITSM staff with the same rights/permissions as the contractors/developers in ServiceNow and across all applications.

• Provide a detailed proven approach to manage scope and complexity while adhering to a low code/no code design.

• Work with and participate in the Platform Owner and the IRWorks Steering Committee to identify any business cases that would require a deviation to the out of the box system, including but not limited to, options, risks, and benefits.

• Work with ITSM for requirement gathering for all enhancements.

• Provide the government regular reviews and documentation of the changes, updates, and revision implementations to ServiceNow Application to ensure accuracy, completeness, and compliance with organizational standards and maintaining the history of the application.

• Participate in Agile Sprint Planning based on enhancement priorities.

• Leverage multiple methods to capture and validate the enhancement requirements, such as prototypes, enablement, tool socialization, facilitated working sessions, etc.

• Support the creation of system and data architecture.

• Provide a data architecture and data model based on ServiceNow’s recommended best practices.

• Work with the IRWorks project office to transition new work into O&M and include the ITSM

Branch to provide the control over the platform integrity and enablement of the new users with the transition. This includes maintaining same level of access and providing a citizen development scenario’s outside of ITSM where they have the ability to develop model of expertise only and not the ability to develop enhancements that are platform wide or impact other modules.

• Work with ITSM Branch to create a DMO process to vet the enhancements to ensure that the request is not new work and should go to the IRWorks Project Office for implementation.

• Provide EHSS upgrade support.

o DESIRED OUTCOME: leverage flexibility of new modernized ITSM platform while adhering to a low code/no code design. Provide bi-weekly status of all solutions to maintain synchronicity with the IRS Production instance and progress will be reviewed on a recurring basis; Provide program management of all development efforts; provide level one and two support to all solutions in the ServiceNow platform;

attend all meetings with all developers as outlined in Section 1.3.

Deliverables:

• Agile User Stories catalogued in the ServiceNow Agile Management Module

• Architecture Design Documents

• Integration Design Documents

• Sprint Definition and Plan

• Prototypes

2.4 Enhancements, Upgrades, Training and Enablement:

The IRS believes that the training and enablement for enhancements and upgrades process is a critical success to ensure that the users are fully enabled and ready to operate on Day one of the upgrade while minimizing the impact to their day-to-day work experience. In support of that goal and working with ITSM, the Contractor shall:

• Use creative and collaborative methods both virtual and physical to allow for a wide variety of demographics and consumption models to support IRS training, enablement, deployment, and post-implementation support.

• Develop, deliver, or arrange for training for users in the use of the IRWorks ServiceNow system and associated modules and concepts to allow users to maximize their effective and efficient use of the tool.

• Create and execute a detailed Deployment Plan

• Provide post-implementation support along with a detailed process and metrics.

• Create dynamic, multi-media events and activities to support a high level of awareness and buy-in within the end-user communities.

• Ensure that all training videos, multi-media events and user guides are at the same version as the IRWorks tool.

• Provide shoulder to shoulder support to ITSM Branch for knowledge transfer of the

ServiceNow Tool and all applications within.

• Partner with the ITSM Branch to develop and implement enhancements to the current

ServiceNow modules.

• Partner with the ITSM Branch to implement version upgrades to the ServiceNow platform.

DESIRED OUTCOME: Minimize disruption, improve user experience, maximize value, and improve the perception of our stakeholder groups.

Deliverables:

• As-Built Documentation

• Up to date End User Training Videos

• Deployment Plan (that includes but is not limited to Training, Deployment, Knowledge

Transfer and Post Implementation Support)

• Quick Reference Guides

• ServiceNow Guided Tours

2.5 Upgrade Go-Live and Post Upgrade Go-Live User Support:

We know that enhancements and version upgrades into production for applications is a critical success component to ensure that users are fully enabled and ready to operate after the upgrade is complete while minimizing the impact to their day-to-day work. To make sure that we meet that goal, the Contractor shall:

• Provide post-implementation support along with detailed process and metrics.

DESIRED OUTCOME: Minimize disruption, improve user experience, and maximize value and perception of success for all users.

Deliverables

• Upgrade Go-Live Summary Report

2.6 Knowledge Transfer (In and Out)

• Knowledge Transfer In is defined as the contractor shall acquire and understand the necessary documentation, information, and processes related to any work in progress. For ServiceNow, this task includes meeting with the IRWorks Program Management Office (PMO) Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and for the legacy applications, meeting with the IRS Subject Matter Experts frequently to gather any technical knowledge related to the Core Systems, Compliance, Traceability Requirement Document, Project Management Plan (PMP) and Architecture and Engineering tasks and identifying and documenting any programs that are in development phase. The government estimates this task will take approximately one to two months to complete after award.

• Knowledge Transfer Out is defined as the contractor shall share and review the necessary documentation, information, and processes related to any work in progress with the IRS and/or incoming vendor. For ServiceNow, this task includes facilitating knowledge sharing meetings with the new vendor and the IRWorks Program Management Office (PMO) Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and for the legacy applications, meeting with the IRS Subject Matter Experts frequently to share any technical knowledge related to the Core Systems, Compliance, Traceability Requirement Document, Project Management Plan (PMP) and Architecture and Engineering tasks and identifying and documenting any programs that are in development phase. The government estimates this task will take approximately one to two months to complete prior to end of award.

• Transfer of knowledge and ensure all areas are accounted for. If desired, this can be the Project Manager (PM) or Project Scheduler. Prior to the transfer of knowledge, the contractor shall develop a draft Knowledge Transfer Plan (KTP) and present it to the Government within the first 15 business days after award. The KTP shall identify the contractor resources and roles involved in the transfer process, provide a list of risks and mitigation strategies for the transfer, and contain a detailed resource balanced project schedule developed with Microsoft Project. The project schedule shall identify tasks, dependencies, deliverables, and milestones. The project schedule shall be at a sufficient level of detail to track progress on a bi-weekly basis, (i.e., all tasks will be detailed to a level such that no task has duration of more than ten workdays).

• The Government will have 10 business days to review the draft KTP plan and provide comments to the contractor. Government and contractor representatives will/shall then meet to discuss the comments after which the Contractor shall incorporate the agreed-upon changes and deliver a final KTP within five working days of the government’s feedback.

• The contractor shall meet with the IRS bi-weekly (twice a month) at a minimum, to discuss the progress of the knowledge transfer in and/or out. The contractor shall show an updated MS Project Schedule and discuss any risks or concerns at this time.

DESIRED OUTCOME: The contractor shall provide a Ramp-up, Ramp-down, and Knowledge Transfer Plan that is accepted by the Government and successfully completes knowledge transfer in accordance with the plan.

2.7 Operations and Maintenance (O&M):

The Contractor shall share responsibility for the management and administration of the chosen SaaS platform and all related modules and integrations (including third party system integrations) with ITSM. To support that effort, the Contractor shall include, but not be limited, to the following:

• Provide knowledge transfer of technical skills and lessons learned to IRS staff upon completion of deliverables and work products.

• Monitor and report system performance and workload.

• Transfer of complete documentation for all delivered functionalities. Deliverables shall be in softcopy and hardcopy format and shall be the sole property of the federal government. The format of deliverables will be provided in a format which will allow the government to modify and update when/if necessary.

• Knowledge transfer of configurable data including usernames and passwords and application settings

• Support planning activities, staff management, schedule management, issue and risk tracking and reporting, report generation, configuration management, quality assurance, and management and technical review support.

• Include engineering support for the operations, including analysis of operational data, performance of special studies, and user group support.

• The Contractor shall provide the following within a Transition Plan:

• Training material, if appropriate

• All Technical support, activities and documentation will be transferred to enable Government personnel to effectively continue the current level of support and activities.

• Status report

• Planned activities.

• Issues encountered.

• Risks Identified.

• Updates to action items assigned.

• Contractor’s key representatives shall attend bi-weekly stakeholder’s meetings to discuss the status of the knowledge transfer. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Supporting team members and other IRS staff working on the assignment.

• Sharing information and considerations necessary for the decision-making process.

• Mentoring the assigned IRS staff in development of the skills needed to perform this scope of work.

• Maintaining documentation of standards and procedures for ongoing maintenance of the programs.

DESIRED OUTCOME – The Contractor shall provide a Transition Plan that identifies transition to support knowledge transfer from Contractor to Government personnel and, if applicable, to another Contractor, and executes Plan on agreed start date. Contractor shall provide support, without interruption in service that enables IRS staff and, if applicable, another Contractor to assume responsibility for the continued operations. The Contractor shall conduct training sessions with training materials, as required by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), during the transition period to ensure uninterrupted performance of the on-going support activities. The Contractor shall assure that IRS-identified staff receives the knowledge and skills needed to maintain the programs the Contractor has designed, maintained, tested and implemented. Knowledge Transfer is limited to on-site experience with the system by IRS-identified staff working with Contractor staff, as well as informal training which the Contractor shall perform during the contract.

• ITSM will need resources to maintain the ServiceNow, EHSS applications and identify configurable elements needed to leverage out of the box functionality.

• Specifically, ITSM infrastructure support will include program oversight/management, tracking and evaluation, progress status reporting, training curriculum development, configuration management support, system development, administration and maintenance, metrics support including development of quality measures as well as change management, transition management support and procedural adjustments.

• In addition, the Information Technology Operations Command Center Division (ITOCC) ITSM will work with the individual IRS IT organizations, Business and Functional divisions to communicate issues and identify work to be performed, monitor work in progress and help identify information technology funding requirements to support the work.

• The Contractor shall assist the government in evaluating these issues and assist in carrying out the Filing Season and IT program plan initiatives.

2.8 The Contractor shall provide the following Filing Season readiness activities:

• For the legacy applications, analyze health check findings (providing a health check was completed) and coordinate recommended actions.

• Participate in Disaster Recovery (DR) strategy and planning and testing in IRWorks.

• Coordinate and support an annual filing season readiness health check with ServiceNow.

• Working in conjunction with ITSM, O&M Activities shall include but not limited to the following:

• On a quarterly basis, analyze the latest ServiceNow Health assessment with recommendations and do the following:

• Conduct meetings with ITSM to discuss the recommendations.

• Coordinate implementing the recommendations agreed upon by ITSM and the Contractor based on the meetings above.

• Perform day-to-day administration of ServiceNow and legacy Applications and its module to support basic end-user requests within defined SLAs.

• Manage Access Controls

• Support Disaster Recovery Plan

• Perform upgrade analysis and recommendations, present to ITSM and IRWorks PMO to support planning.

• Participate in IRWorks planning and status meetings.

• Maintain configuration documentation.

• Review and managed user entitlements for the SaaS solution.

• Contractor shall review and provide quarterly recommendations on ServiceNow license usage and optimization.

• Support all Incidents related to ServiceNow.

• Track all enhancement requests with ServiceNow and report on status.

• Initiate and represent changes related to ServiceNow.

• Perform code migration and updates.

• Create and maintain knowledge articles.

• Monitor availability, performance, and data quality of ServiceNow to make sure everything is working within acceptable ranges determined after discussions with ServiceNow, the Contractor and ITSM.

• Provide live reporting within ServiceNow that includes tasks, incidents, upcoming changes.

• Produce a Monthly status report with accomplishments, SLA Performance, and known risks.

• Support IRS 508 testing process for the ServiceNow platform.

• Provide how-to support to end users via phone, chat, or self-service ticket.

• Create step-by-step how-to with screenshots and update as necessary.

• Communicate wins to end user community.

• Communicate enhancements in a release note style timed to the agile sprints.

• Maintain reporting instance of Service Manager for the period of this contract.

• Work with IRS to define and report on Service Level Agreements (SLA) with penalties.

DESIRED OUTCOMES: A stable and flexible Legacy applications and IRWorks platform with proactive support and quick responses for our user community. This shall be accomplished with the Contractor working in conjunction with the ITSM Branch.

Deliverables:

• Weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports outlining SLA performance and activity.

2.9 Ongoing Configuration, Development, and Integration:

The current SaaS solution will need support to continue to make needed improvements and adjustments to stay in line with organizational goals and priorities. To support that ongoing enhancement activity, working with the IRWorks PMO and ITSM, the Contractor shall:

• Create a road map post-implementation for continuous roll out of new capabilities and scope expansion of ServiceNow. This roadmap shall be maintained and updated as the IRS matures and makes progress on its modernization plan.

• Create and maintain an agile backlog of IRW selected enhancements.

• Create a yearly enhancement plan for next 12-18 months.

• Organize and review the enhancement plan quarterly.

• Provide the flexibility and capacity to deploy and configure new capabilities on demand to continuously enhance ServiceNow platform and its solution.

• Provide capability to add resources during periods of heavy demand.

• Provide a method for rapid deployment of additional modules as requested.

• Provide one upgrade per year and maintain n-2 currency for the ServiceNow Platform.

DESIRED OUTCOMES: Ongoing enhancements to keep the current SaaS solution aligned with evolving IRS needs and priorities.

Deliverables:

• Three-year IRWorks strategic roadmap updated annually.

• Yearly enhancement plans updated quarterly.

• A yearly upgrade plan and recommendations.

2.10 Optimize & Analyze:

We require information to optimize our processes, mitigate risks, leverage all the capability of current SaaS solution, and uncover opportunities to improve our user’s experience. To support that objective, working with the IRWorks PMO and ITSM, our contractor shall:

• Provide product advisory and Strategic Planning by performing bi-annual workshops to review new capabilities released by ServiceNow and provide recommendations to utilize new features.

• Contractor shall develop and execute on a robust ongoing post-migration communication strategy that clearly communicates to all key stakeholders the impact and value of the implementation on their teams throughout the contract. This plan will function as a living document that will be continually reviewed and iterated on as needed.

• Run ongoing Communications campaigns to market new features of releases to IRS.

• Analyze new features and enable the IRS to understand how these features could be used to improve IRS capabilities.

• Develop and implement an annual communication strategy that aligns the agency’s vision of

ServiceNow and clearly articulate the value that is being created. This plan will be continually reviewed and adjusted as needed.

• Provide tools and processes to help process owners and managers understand how they are performing.

• Provide an overall health dashboard for executives to see how their organizations are performing.

• Perform annual health checks with results, remediation plans, if necessary, and the visualization of trends over time.

• Provide recommendations for improvement for the different processes that are being supported by ServiceNow.

• Provide on-demand Subject Matter Expertise, consulting and recommendations as required by the IRS.

• Report on current license consumption and make recommendations based on usage and future demand.

• Coordinate annual executive briefing center visit to explore new capabilities available in the upcoming versions of ServiceNow.

DESIRED OUTCOMES: To leverage the data and information provided by the IRWorks platform to establish trends, plan for new capabilities, identify opportunities for process and software improvement, and to enable our users. To ensure that the IRS is taking full advantage of the capabilities available in the ServiceNow platform.

Deliverables:

• Facilitate bi-annual product planning workshops.

• Annual communication strategy.

• Annual health check results and remediation plans

• Annual Process improvement recommendations.

• Annual License usage report with recommendations.

2.11 Program Communications & Support:

DESIRED OUTCOME: The IRWorks program is efficiently communicating and keeping the program aligned with stakeholders and the executive oversight team through the governance and product prioritization processes and related documentation and action tracking.

Deliverables:

• Product Backlog meeting Output and Follow-up.

• Exception Reviews and Output and Follow-up.

• Executive Status Briefing Materials and Follow-up.

• Product Roadmap Briefings.

• Meeting coordination and scheduling.

2.12 SLA’s

• Performance Measures & Objectives

• Contractor shall maintain an N-2 Version Currency of the ServiceNow Platform

• Contractor shall maintain 99.9 Service Uptime

• Contractor shall provide a penalty structure to compensate the IRS when SLAs are breached.

• O&M SLAs

• Contractor shall respond to O&M requests during business hours and will be acknowledged to the user in 2 hours or less (95%).

• Contractor shall perform routine maintenance checks to the systems/tools to make sure they are working properly. Contractor shall log and track such checks and 99% of the activities will be fulfilled.

• Incident Management SLA

• Priority 1 and Priority 2 tickets shall be assigned directly to the Contractor due to the urgency to get these issues resolved.

• Priority 3 and Priority 4 IRWorks tickets will be assigned to the ITSM team. ITSM will create and assign the incident task to the Contractors for resolution as needed.

• Severity 1 (Sev1): outage of the tool (not available) Support 24x7 and incident acknowledges in 15 minutes or less.

• Severity 2 (Sev2): Main software capabilities not working correctly and/or major performance degradation affecting most of the users. Support 24x7 and incident acknowledged in 30 minutes or less.

• Severity 3 (Sev3): Minor capabilities of the tool not working correctly and/or issue affecting a few users. Support during business hours and incident acknowledged no later than 1 hour.

• Severity 4 (Sev4): Non-critical, problems where it is not a work stoppage and there is a workaround. Support during business hours and incident acknowledgement no later than 2 hours.

• Contractor shall provide a summary of the incident and findings will be provided within 48 hours of resolution for Severity 1 incidents and within 5 days of resolution for Severity 2.

Changes required to resolve an incident will be performed in accordance with the IRS Change Management processes. If a change is required to address root cause following resolution of the incident, Contractor shall implement the change within the next 20 days (Sev1) or 40 days (Sev2) in accordance with the IRS change Management processes.

• Ongoing Configuration, Development, and Integration SLA

• Enhancements requests are attended to during business hours and are divided into two categories based on the urgency. They have different SLA’s:

• Urgent: 95% of the requests will be acknowledged and assigned within 1 hour after received

• Normal: 95% of the requests will be acknowledged and assigned within 4 hours after received.

• 95% of all requests will be completed by the agreed date.

3. Period of Performance:

The period of performance for this task order is for a thirty (30) day Phase-In Period through eleven months thereafter, with four (4) one () year options.

TBD

4. Performance Requirements Summary and Deliverables:

4.1. Performance Requirements Summary Table:

Performance Objectives

Standard Performance Threshold

Incentive / disincentive

Task 2.1 Planning

• Strategic plan that includes outcomes, success metrics and working with EOps/ITOCC/ITSM on an approach for stakeholder alignment.

• Upgrade Architecture Diagram and Infrastructure Specs

• Upgrade Project Plan

• Upgrade

Implementation Plan

• Ad Hoc Meetings

• Ad Hoc Reports

• Integrated Master

Schedule

=95% Accuracy Documentation and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.2 Organizational Readiness & Communications

• Organizational Readiness Strategy

• Communications Plan

=95% Accuracy Documentation and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

• Communication

Materials (Videos, etc.)

• Quarterly Adoption Progress Report

• Ongoing Communication Campaign to continue to drive value realization and adoption.

Task 2.3 O&M Enhancement Design, Upgrade and Requirements Gathering

• Agile User Stories catalogued in the ServiceNow Agile Management Module

• Architecture Design Documents

• Integration Design Documents

• Sprint Definition and Plan

• Prototypes

• As-Built

Documentation

• Up to date End

User Training Videos

• Deployment Plan (that includes but is not limited to Training, Deployment, Knowledge Transfer and Post Implementation Support)

• Quick Reference Guides

• ServiceNow Guided Tours

=95% Accuracy Documentation and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of

Task 2.4 Enhancements, Upgrades, Training and Enablement:

• Upgrade Go-Live Summary Report =95% Accuracy

Reports and Training Materials reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.5 Upgrade Go-Live and Post Upgrade Go-Live User Support

• Ramp-up and Knowledge Transfer Plan

=95% Accuracy Documentation reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.6 Knowledge Transfer (In and Out)

• Transition Plan

=95% Accuracy Documentation reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.7 Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

• Weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports outlining SLA performance and activity.

=95% Accuracy SLAs and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.8 The Contractor shall provide the following Filing Season readiness activities

• Three-year IRWorks strategic roadmap updated annually.

• Yearly enhancement plan updated quarterly.

• A service catalog with standardized no-code offerings for common enhancements.

• A yearly upgrade plan and recommendations.

=95% Accuracy Documentation reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of

Task 2.9 Ongoing Configuration, Development, and Integration

• Facilitate bi-annual product planning workshops.

• Annual communication strategy.

• Annual health check results and remediation plans

• Annual Process improvement recommendations.

• Annual License usage report with recommendations.

=95% Accuracy Documentation and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of contractor performance in

CPARS.

Task 2.10 Optimize & Analyze

• Product Backlog meeting Output and Follow-up.

• Exception Reviews and Output and Follow-up.

• Executive Status Briefing Materials and Follow-up.

• Product Roadmap Briefings.

• Meeting coordination and scheduling.

=95% Accuracy Documentation and reports reviewed

The results for this performance objective will be used for reporting of

4.2 Delivery Table:

Deliverable Frequency Medium/Format Submit To

Strategic Plan

Architecture Diagrams

Infrastructure Specs

Upgrade Plans

Meeting notes

As requested by the government

Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or Adobe attachment.

TPOC and

COR

Task 2.1

Progress Reports

Communications

Task 2.2

Quarterly and as requested by Government

Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or

Design Documents

Sprint Definitions and Plans

As-Built Documentation

Deployment Plan

Task 2.3

As requested by Government Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or

Go-Live Summary Report

Task 2.4 by e-mail as an MS Word or

Ramp up/Knowledge Transfer Plan by e-mail as an MS Word or

Task 2.5

Transition Plan

Task 2.6 by e-mail as an MS Word or

SLA Performance and Activity Reports

Task 2.7

Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly

Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or

Strategic Roadmap

Service Catalog

Upgrade Plans

Task 2.8

Yearly Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or

Health Check and Remediation Reports

Usage reports

Meeting minutes from workshops and communications

Task 2.9

Bi-Monthly, Yearly Electronic file by e-mail as an MS Word or

Meeting Minutes and Briefing Materials and Documents.

Task 2.10 by e-mail as an MS Word or

5. General Information:

The Government is awarding an Operations and Maintenance Services Contract to support the ESM environment. The Contractor who is awarded the ESM O&M contract cannot compete for Development (DME) efforts that are awarded on this Task Order.

5.1 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 shall assure that the work complies with the requirement of the contract. After acceptance of the quality control plan the contractor shall receive the contracting officer’s acceptance in writing of any proposed change to this QC system.

5.2 Quality Assurance: The government will 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 will 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). The QASP is included as Attachment A to this PWS.

Recognized Holidays:

New Year’s Day Labor Day Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day Juneteenth Veteran’s Day President’s Day Thanksgiving Day Memorial Day Christmas Day Independence Day

5.3 Hours of Operation: The contractor shall be responsible for conducting business, between the hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings. For other than firm fixed price contracts, the contractor shall not be reimbursed when the government facility is closed for the above reasons.

The Contractor shall always maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce are essential.

5.4 Type of Contract: The contract type shall be Firm Fixed Price (FFP).

5.5 Security Requirements: Contractor personnel performing work under this contract shall have a Staff -Like Access Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) moderate risk level 2 7 at time of the proposal submission and shall maintain the Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) moderate risk level 2 of security required for the life of the contract.

Staff-Like Access Definition and Requirements

Only those contractors/subcontractors who require staff-like access to IRS systems, data, or facilities will follow the outlined process below. Those whose access is infrequent, or will not need staff-like access, and will be 100% escorted while in IRS space, will be managed by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). Escort access is only permitted for infrequent access to IRS facilities and is NOT permitted if subjects require sensitive but unclassified (SBU) data access or systems access.

Contractors/subcontractors are not permitted to have “staff-like access” to IRS facilities, systems, or SBU data until they are determined to be both eligible and suitable to perform work as an IRS contractor by IRS Personnel Security (PS). Each contractor/subcontractor assigned to work under an IRS contract shall undergo investigative processing commensurate with the risk level designation associated with the work to be performed, and comparable to that required for Federal employees who occupy the same positions and who have the same position sensitivity designation.

“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: contractors/subcontractors, 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.

Eligibility requirements Contractors must be eligible for IRS contract employment prior to submitting investigative forms/documentation used to determine their suitability. The vendor must communicate the eligibility requirements to their employees up front and state that only employees who meet the eligibility requirements should apply for IRS contract employment.

• Contractor employees shall be federal tax compliant and must remain compliant while working on an IRS contract. Tax compliance will be determined by a check of the contractor employee’s federal tax accounts by trained IRS employees, to ensure that the contractor employees are not currently delinquent on their federal tax obligations.

• Contractor employees shall be U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), based on their designated risk level. For foreign-born subjects requiring staff-like access, they shall provide their Alien Registration number, full name, and date of birth.

a. If designated as low risk, contractors must be U.S. citizens or LPRs.

b. If designated as moderate risk, contractors must be U.S. citizens, or LPRs with a minimum of three consecutive years of U.S. residency from the date of legal entry as an LPR.

c. If designated as high risk, contractors must be U.S. Citizens.

• Male contractors born after December 31, 1959, must be registered with Selective Service.

If they are not registered, or are exempt from the requirement, they must provide a Status Information Letter from Selective Service.

• Selective Service Registration Documentation – all male contractors/subcontractors requiring staff-like access who are born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with Selective Service (SS).

Registration can be verified at the SS website at www.sss.gov.

Requirements include:

1. If the subject is properly registered, he must provide an official letter of verification from the SS website to the IRS. Letters can be printed/saved from the SS website upon verification of registration.

2. If the subject is foreign-born, the subject must contact the Selective Service (SS) Office and obtain the following to provide to the IRS:

http://www.sss.gov/

a. a letter from SS stating the subject was not required to register; or,

b. a letter from SS stating the subject was required to register, but it’s too late. The subject must also provide a written explanation as to why his non-registration was not knowing and willful.

3. If the subject is a US Citizen and was required to register but is not registered, the subject must provide a written explanation as to why his non-registration was not knowing and willful and provide it to the IRS.

Suitability Screening Requirements

Once deemed eligible, contractors will be screened for suitability or fitness for duty based on their backgrounds. This process begins with timely submission of required investigative forms.

The vendor shall assign a Vendor point of contact (POC) to manage this process.

Contractors/subcontractors needing staff-like access are not permitted to begin work on the contract until the required forms and documentation have been completed and properly submitted to PS (incomplete/inaccurate forms will be rejected by PS); and PS has granted, at a minimum, interim staff-like access approval to the contractor/subcontractor. Only those needing staff-like access are required to submit the forms.

Investigative Forms/Documentation

The COR and vendor will work together to determine risk levels for each unique position type required by the contract as prescribed by PS, prior to or concurrent with submission of investigative forms. Once the contract is entered into the tracking systems, the IRS will send the assigned Vendor POC an email that will include the current investigative forms for all investigative processes, general guidance for completing documents, and instructions for properly submitting the completed documents. In addition, the Vendor POC e-mail will include instructions for what selective service registration and citizenship documentation is required from each applicant needing staff-like access. The e-mail will include the following forms, due 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 business days of receipt of this approval).

1. Risk Assessment Checklist (RAC) (this form provides PS with all required personal information about each contractor employee requiring staff-like access).

2. Master Survey / Position Designation Tool – This questionnaire asks the vendor POC and COR to identify the duties the subjects will be performing for IRS to determine risk level for the position. A separate risk assessment must be completed for each position type on the contract (i.e., Systems Administrator, Programmer, Clerk Typist, etc.)

3. Optional Form 306 (OF-306), Declaration for Federal Employment (investigative form used by PS to aid in determining subject’s eligibility and suitability for staff-like access).

4. Non-Disclosure Agreement (all contractors who will have staff-like access to Sensitive, but Unclassified (SBU) information is required to complete an agreement).

5. Form 13340, Information Provided Concerning the Disclosure and Authorization Pertaining to Consumer Reports pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) (provides consent for PS to check subject’s financial history).

6. Notice 1379, Tax Check Notice (provides subject with notification of IRS’ intent to check federal tax compliance).

Fingerprinting and e-QIP

Following submission of the required investigative forms, the Vendor POC must ensure the following: All individuals listed on the RAC are fingerprinted within 5 business days after sponsorship in US Access. If an individual is not able to make an appointment within this timeframe, the vendor will provide documentation to the IRS that an appointment was not available and provide the date of the scheduled appointment.