Request for Information - TCJA Modeling (beta.Sam) 04-14-2020.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) International Modeling Tool

1.0 Description

1.1 The Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in support of the Cross

Border Activities (CBA) Practice Area within the Large Business & International Division, is seeking information on how an interested contractor could provide a software tool that would enable IRS employees to model the application of international tax rules introduced by the Tax

Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, as well as pre-existing tax laws.. In addition to providing the tool, additional support would be needed in training IRS personnel on how to use the tool, maintaining the tool, and with the eventual goal of the integrating the tool into IRS operations.

1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the

Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the IRS is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the

U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future Request for

Proposals (RFP), if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the sam.BETA.gov website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

2.0 Background

CBA within the Large Business & International Division of the IRS has service wide responsibility for the tax administration of a majority of the international inbound and outbound cross border business tax provisions, including the new provisions under the Tax Cuts & Jobs

Act (TCJA) of 2017. Given the complexity of new and pre-existing tax law and the interdependency of those provisions, CBA would like to have a tool which would help IRS revenue agents in the field calculate the ultimate impacts of different potential adjustments on overall tax liability and understand how taxpayers might undertake tax planning to reduce their

U.S. tax liability over time. The tool would need to be compatible with IRS systems, and should allow for tax return data in IRS systems to be uploaded into the tool. The tool would need to ensure that taxpayers’ identity and tax return information is protected under IRC 6103 guidelines.

3.0 Requested Information

1. Does your firm have expertise in international tax provisions including TCJA and non-

TCJA provisions, and newly issued tax provisions?

2. What experience do you have in developing tools for modeling international tax provisions?

3. Can a modeling tool be developed within Microsoft Excel? What other software platforms or applications should be considered?

4. How flexible can the tool be for performing calculations for different taxpayers and fact patterns, and what are the limitations in designing such a tool for IRS agents?

5. How would you recommend structuring an engagement for working with the IRS to develop and customize the tool? For example, what resources in terms of IRS employees

(hours and skillsets) and technology would need to be made available?

6. Where will your services be located, and to what extent can they be provided remotely versus in-person?

7. Estimate the number of weeks and total hours to develop the tool and customize it.

8. What does your firm need to know about IRS systems in order to determine whether the tool can access IRS data?

9. Can the IRS own the modeling tool, or would the tool have to be licensed to the IRS?

10. What skills would be required for the IRS to maintain and update the tool?

11. What type of information can be provided to the IRS regarding existing commercially available modeling tools?

12. The IRS estimates that up to 2,000 LB&I revenue agents could be using the tool at any given time. Given this, are there any limitations on the number of users the software tool will support?

13. The IRS estimates that the tool would need to handle approximately 8,000 -10,000 records at any given time, with an average record size of 20 Gigabytes. Is there a maximum number of data records or amount of data the tool can process?

14. Please address the storage and retrieval of data and records as a result of using the tool.

For example, should data be stored on government owned laptops, servers, or cloud? Or, should data be stored on vendor servers or cloud? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?

15. Assuming the software tool will be customized for the sole use of the IRS, how does the

IRS obtain the rights to the software and follow on vendor support?

4.0 Responses

4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI.

4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word for Office 2000 compatible format are due no later than

April 27, 2020. Responses shall be limited to 3 pages for Section 1 and 15 pages for Section 2 and be submitted via e-mail only to Beverly.Johnson@irs.gov. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

4.3. Section 1 of the white paper is limited to 3 pages and shall provide administrative information to include the following as a minimum:

4.3.1. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact.

4.3.2. Recommended contracting strategy.

4.3.3. Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code

541512, Computer Systems Design Services.

4.4 Section 2 of the white paper shall answer the issues addressed in Section 3 and the attached SOO of this RFI and shall be limited to 15 pages.

5.0 Industry Discussions

The IRS representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

6.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Beverly

Johnson, Contracting Officer, at Beverly.Johnson@irs.gov. In the email subject line, please state

“Questions Submission TCJA International Modeling Tool”. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Response to questions will be posted to beta.Sam; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after12 noon EST on 04/20/2020 will be answered.

7.0 Summary

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide

Consulting Services to Develop International Tax Modeling Tool. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Internal Revenue

Service has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this

RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.