Final_ Bailment RFI_ 061424.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS)

IT/ APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT (AD)/ DATA DELIVERY SERVICES (DDS)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION/SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE FOR:

“AD Bailment Agreement for COBOL Conversion Tool”

RFI Release Date: June 14, 2024

RFI Closing Date: June 28, 2024, 12 noon EST

Primary Point of Contact: proc.apmo.mr@irs.gov (ATTN: Shontae Harley)

Secondary Point of Contact: Joseph.A.Hernandez2@irs.gov

NAICS Code: 541511

PSC Code: DF10/ 7A20

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

This is a Request for Information (RFI), not a purchase order or a commitment to purchase. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) and does not commit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to award a contract now or in the future. This document shall not be construed as a request or authorization to perform work at government's expense.

Any expense incurred in and associated with responding to this RFI shall be the responsibility exclusively of the respondent. No costs shall be charged to the government for any reason.

The government may issue an RFP later for substantially similar services as those described in this document. There is, however, no guarantee that the government will issue an RFP. The information provided in this RFI is accurate to the best of the government’s knowledge but is not guaranteed to be complete or remain the same.

Any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in the respondent’s response should be clearly marked ‘PROPRIETARY’ or ‘CONFIDENTIAL.’ Reasonable precautions will be taken to safeguard any information identified by the respondent as being proprietary or confidential. Submission of a response constitutes acknowledgement that the respondent has read, understood and agrees to be bound by the provisions herein.

II. BACKGROUND

IRS IT has experienced a severe attrition of critical skillsets where the majority of IRS COBOL developers have retired. COBOL is a 60-year old programming language and a diminishing skillset to be found in the current labor market. At present, there is 40+ year old software developed in COBOL that is still in IRS production environments. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for current legacy developers to understand the complicated COBOL logic and continue maintaining those legacy systems. IRS would like to perform a $0 trial on a COBOL conversion tool to help legacy developers understand the existing legacy COBOL system and business rules to support IRS modernization.

III. PURPOSE

The Government is seeking to establish a $0 bailment agreement with a vendor or vendor(s) who can provide a product (software tool) that can support IRS developers in converting legacy COBOL systems, perform reverse engineering to derive system logic, and perform transformation of the legacy source codes.

IRS would like to perform a Proof of Concept (POC) trial on a COBOL conversion tool for a period of up to six (6) months. The 6 months would allow IRS employees to install a tool within the IRS firewall, conduct self-guided training/learning as well as testing and validating tool capability as described by the vendor.

Additionally, it would be very helpful (although not required) if the tool was accompanied with a User Guide, limited coaching or other instructional means to help expedite the “learning curve” for IRS developers who will be the exclusive users/testers of the tool.

IV. REQUIRED (MINIMAL) TECHNICAL FUNCTIONS

The tool needs to provide the following major functions:

1. Scan and investigate a COBOL system o The tool shall input COBOL source codes and related software components of a legacy system to identify potential missing items, which are not included in the input source.

o The tool shall produce an overview system process flow and demonstrate the complexity of this legacy system with detailed dependencies among its programs and sub-programs

2. Reverse Engineering legacy system to derive system logic o The tool shall perform data analysis on application input, output and system generated reports to demonstrate the legacy data flows, data structures, data relationships and data operations.

o The tool shall perform source code analysis to generate legacy application control flowcharts, sequence diagrams and identify obsolete functions, inefficiencies, bugs, and security vulnerabilities.

o The tool shall perform business rule analysis to analyze data variables, and generate a report to demonstrate legacy rule requirements, data relationships, as well as to produce a data dictionary and data model.

3. COBOL source code transformation o Perform code conversion to transform the legacy COBOL codes to modern languages.

V. REQUESTED INFORMATION

Responses to this RFI are requested in two (2) parts as detailed below. All responses to this notice shall be emailed to the attention of both the primary and secondary points of contact by the stated due date and time listed in this notice on page 1. Note: The subject line of the RFI email response must be: ATTN: Shontae Harley – [company name] MR RFI Response – AD Bailment Agreement 061424. Responses shall be in either MS Word or PDF format. Responses shall be limited to 2 pages and should be concise and comprehensive. Responses shall not be submitted if any of the technical functions described in section IV cannot be met. This Notice will not have a Q&A period. Questions or phone calls will not be accepted in response to this Notice.

The Government reserves the right to contact one (1), some (2 or more) or none of the RFI respondents for further discussions regarding their response/product. The IRS will reach out to the point of contact listed on the response should we choose to contact any vendor(s). This discussion is for clarification, for further information gathering or to establish said bailment agreement. This exchange should not be misconstrued as the Governments interest to pursue or enter into any present or future contractual agreement or obligation.

1. Provide the following information about your company:

Company Overview

Name of Company

Address

City, State, Zip

Point of Contact Name

Telephone Number

E-mail Address

Number of years your company has been in the application development industry

Provide an overview of your company

Company size and socioeconomic status (if applicable)

2. Provide information about the proposed tool:

a. Name and description of tool.

b. Identify the capabilities and features of the tool.

c. Identify if the tool can provide each of the required functions listed above.

d. Identify if the tool will be accompanied with instructional guidance.

e. Describe the system topology, hardware and software requirements, and provide installation package/guideline.

f. Describe the steps and/or provide a copy of document (i.e. Order Form) needed to establish bailment agreement.

g. Identify any bailment agreement or tool limitations.