Source Sought Notice - Corporate Registry Data to Support IRS Analytics.docx

Corporate Registry Data to Support IRS Analytics

1. INTRODUCTION/OVERVIEW

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires access to standardized, consistent electronic international data research services for all employees in both bulk and web-based access.

· The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires third-party, bulk corporate registry data to improve tax administration and enforcement. These data will be blended with IRS tax return data to fill data gaps and enable new analytical efforts related to large corporations, foreign entities, and transfer pricing. The objective of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) Source Sought Notice is to identify vendors who can provide third-party bulk corporate registry data that will enable new and high-value tools and processes to improve tax enforcement, particularly in the international space.

· IRS and CI employees will use these data to improve understanding of indirect and opaque ownership structures, enhance abilities in the identification and matching of foreign entities, and improve transfer pricing risk assessment tools.

· The IRS requires online access to an off-the-shelf International Business database. The objective is to obtain electronic international business data services, especially for APAC and European regions of the World, that provide a powerful tax administration tool for IRS. This international business data will be used by IRS employees to evaluate tax-related transactions and proposals and to develop a supportable tax position on these matters. The underlying data, the documents downloaded from BvD, and the IRS’ analysis on such data and documents will be shared with third parties, including but not limited to taxpayers and other tax authorities to support the IRS position. Similarly, the IRS will share the documents downloaded from the service provider, the data underlying those documents, and its analysis on those documents and data with international organizations and their members, to support analysis conducted under the auspices of such international organizations.

1. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES AND PRODUCTS

A. Bulk Data Services

The IRS is seeking to identify vendors who provide subscription bulk data delivery and services to support issue identification, case selection, issue resolution, and advanced analytics for global enterprise risk modeling. The success of these filing and post-filing activities depends on information that extends beyond legacy IRS information and regulatory filings. To keep up with the complex, interconnected, and dynamic nature of international taxation, including changing tax avoidance schemes and the legal and regulatory environment, the IRS must have access to the right data to address issues, including transfer pricing transactions which result in income shifting, foreign ownership in U.S. controlled corporations, money laundering, attributable country-by-country earnings and taxes, and details on global M&A activity.

Vendor data set must include corporate registry and financial data includes current and historical data related to nearly 450 million global companies, including details regarding their locations, shareholders, key personnel, and financial records.

Vendor must be capable of providing ownership and financial data compiled from corporate business filings and include most recent as well as all available historical filing data.

Vendor solutions must be capable of aggregating corporate metrics intended to estimate innovation portfolio value and strength as well as financial strength. Data via multiple vehicles including online portal, application programming interface (API), and as a bulk dataset.

Vendor solution will provide this data as a bulk data set available to the IRS.

Vendor solution will provide the most complete and robust source of information on global entities, both public and private, that can be paired with existing IRS data to achieve these objectives.

The IRS seeks the ability to effectively research international businesses, both public and private, as well as details about their assets, structures, ownership, and other information.

The IRS is seeking vendors who have the capability of providing the same or similar bulk data products as below, and seeks to understand what is commercially available for the same or similar products:

Orbis All Companies (Current and Historical Financial & Ownership Files)

Specific data elements must include:

The IRS has determined the following tools have historically meet the agency mission and needs. IRS is seeking to better understand what other products and services are available in the commercial marketplace that provide the same or similar results as the tools listed below:

· AIDA images (Private Company Source Documents: Italy)

· Source Documents: Banks

· BEL-FIRST Standard (Private Company Source Documents: Belgium)

· FAME C (Private Company Source Documents: UK)

· FAME Irish Images (Private Company Source Documents: Ireland)

· MARKUS G (Private Company Source Documents: Germany)

· SABI Images (Private Company Source Documents: Spain)

B. WEB ACCESS PRODUCT

The vendor must provide, at a minimum, the same or similar data elements in section 2A in a web accessible product. IRS requires vendor tools and data shall be available to all IRS employees via a high-speed Internet website. Initially, vendor will assign all IRS employees with a username and password. Only the IRS’ POC and IRS employees will have the ability to change passwords. Access will be available to IRS employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Search queries and results will not be tracked or stored on the vendor system or related systems. Query search results must be downloadable in a usable and acceptable format as determined by IRS.

3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

a) For both the bulk data solution and web access products listed in Sections 2A and 2B, IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing a dedicated Bulk Data Integration Support Team throughout the period of performance of the contract.

b) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing a dedicated customer support team to manage all deliveries, troubleshoot and resolve identified problems/issues and technical support for IRS inquiries on files and technologies.

c) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing advice and on-going support throughout the on-boarding process for the integration of the requested data and related data sets, to include files recommendations, file size recommendations to support a smooth transition, and advice on the structure of ingestion pipeline. Comment by Taing Amy: @Brian - should this phrase be more general vs. specific to Orbis? Comment by Raub Brian G: I think it should be more general and describe the particular data we need, not the brand

d) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing on-going customer support related to data content and additional data sets that are part of the Bulk Data delivery.

e) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing access to data schemas or available characterizations of the bulk data tables fields and structures.

f) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing expertise and support on identified use-cases or potential applications of bulk data based on industry best practices on identified use-cases. This support shall include proposed data uses and approaches for integrating bulk data into different IRS workstreams for maximum impact.

g) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of notify the COR at least 30 days in advance of any changes in operation or functionality of the research system.

h) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of certifying that future enhancements (products and services) provided to commercial customers at no cost shall accrue to the government at no cost. Future enhancements (tools and services) provided to the Contractor’s commercial customers at an additional charge shall be offered to the government at a rate equal to or less than the commercial rate. The government reserves the right to accept or reject each enhancement.

i) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing price reductions for those discontinued sources. Any price reductions shall take effect on the date the sources are no longer available online.

j) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing support for integration of bulk data sources as described above on an as-needed, on-ongoing basis. The data will be updated on a bi-annual basis.

k) IRS requires vendor tools and data shall be available to all IRS employees via a high-speed Internet website. Initially, vendor will assign all IRS employees with a username and password. Only the IRS’ POC and IRS employees will have the ability to change passwords. Access will be available to IRS employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Search queries and results will not be tracked or stored on the vendor system or related systems.

3. PERFORMANCE STANDARD

a) The bulk data is required to be transferred to IRS via secure file transfer (SFT) and will be accessible per IRS guidelines to Compliance Data Warehouse (CDW) environment users.

b) Vendor solution will be capable of providing access to its data and suite of tools (specified in Section 2 above) on a 24- hour 7-day basis. Any changes to the suite of tools follow the procedures outlined above. Any updates will be completed with the same frequency as available to normal commercial customers.

c) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of delivery the bulk data sources described above by secure file transfer or other mutually agreed upon technical solution within 30 days after contract award. The data will be updated on a bi-annual basis.

d) IRS requires vendor solutions to be capable of providing full access to their tools and data to each IRS user, including the data, allowing users to easily export all relevant information, save analyses, and search sets for future use. Vendor solution will allow IRS users to access tools which allow for the download of formatted workflow documents, including but not limited to, rejection matrices and comparable financial reports. Vendor solution will allow the IRS to share these documents with third parties, such as taxpayers and other tax authorities. These materials will be used as supporting documentation to the IRS’ analysis.

e) Vendor solution will allow the IRS to share its analysis performed using vendor provided data with third parties, including sharing source documents, when necessary, with taxpayers and other tax authorities to support the IRS’ tax position. Additionally, vendor will allow the IRS to share source documents and data downloaded from vendor with third parties, including but not limited to taxpayers and those authorities. Similarly, vendor will allow the IRS to share both downloaded source documents, the data underlying those documents, and the IRS’ economic analysis based on those source documents and data, with international organizations (such as the OECD) and their membership, to support economic analysis conducted under the auspices of such organizations.

4. USE

At the termination or expiration of an Order Form for any reason, and except as provided on such Order Form, the IRS shall cease all use of the Information under such Order Form and promptly purge all Information provided under such Order Form that has been stored in its computer systems, databases, or any data storage facilities owned or under its control, provided that the IRS shall have the right to retain:

(i) print or electronic copies of its presentations containing limited excerpts of data obtained from the Information and made in conformity with the license granted in Section 11 of this Agreement; and

(ii) portions of the Information that constitute electronic data that is generally inaccessible or that has been stored on the IRS’ backup systems in the ordinary course of business as part of standard backup procedures, but only to the extent that such data is only accessible by person(s) whose function is primarily information technology, and provided that such person(s) only have limited access to such data to enable the performance of such information technology duties. In addition, the IRS may retain one copy of any such data from the Information as is necessary to comply with applicable audit, legal or regulatory requirements, professional obligations and standards and internal document retention policies, provided any such data may only be accessed for such purposes and may not be used for any other purpose whatsoever (including, but not limited to, any commercial purpose).

5. HELP/SUPPORT

Vendor solution must have the capability to provide:

a) Assist users, in questions dealing with specifics of the data, accessing the data, use of any associated software, use of report templates and downloading of data.

b) Help/Support will be available 24/7

c) Provide requested training and support (at no additional cost).

d) Details of all updates will automatically be provided to users ASAP.

e) Include a series of introductory sessions, web-demonstrations, conference calls, and workshops as needed to inform users of tool capabilities and data specifics.

f) Assist users in questions dealing with specific elements of the data, accessing the data, use of any tools, use of report templates and downloading of data during normal business hours for the length of the contract.

g) Help/Support will be available to users from the contract award date.

6. TRAINING

The IRS uses an e-learning strategy, including virtual classes, in addition to the traditional classroom-based approach. This provides the benefit of continuous learning opportunities for all employees. The IRS’ objective is to provide sufficient training to enable users to achieve a level of comfort that allows efficient use of vendor provided tools and data. This will require ongoing work through the life of the contract to identify additional training needs and develop initiatives to address those needs.

At this time, the IRS does not have a specific training plan. The IRS is seeking to understand to identify vendors who have the capability of providing this service.