SSN Draft SOW - Tax Law Research.pdf

Tax Research Services – DRAFT SOW

Table of Contents

C.1 Executive Summary C.2 Notification of Changes to Content or Service C.3 IRS Computing Environment C.4 Description of Award Group C.5 Tax Research Service C.6 Managing and Supporting the Contract

C.1 Executive Summary

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is committed to providing standardized, consistent electronic research services to employees throughout the country. The acquisition and management of these research services are centralized under the Office of Servicewide Policy, Directives, and Electronic Resources (SPDER). The objective of this Statement of Work (SOW) is to obtain, through competitively awarded fixed-price contracts, a tax research product to meet the agency’s tax research needs.

The IRS has a wide range of diverse users with different and unique tax, legal, business and news research requirements. The principal use of electronic research services is to complete a full analysis of a tax return, whether as part of the audit process, collection process, or assistance process. This improves the quality of cases, assists in the fair application of the laws, and helps frontline assistors resolve taxpayer questions. Users of these research materials are primarily: Taxpayer Resolution Representatives, Customer Service Representatives, Revenue Officers, Revenue Agents, International Agents, Attorneys, Employment Tax Personnel, Tax Compliance Officers, Appeals Officers, Estate and Gift Tax Attorneys, Employee Plans Specialists, Exempt Organizations Specialists, and Librarians.

The IRS will purchase services for a fixed number of users which can be increased or decreased at negotiated intervals, which will occur no more than twice a year. Approximately 15,000 IRS employees are users of tax research services.

Contractors shall fully describe how their offering will satisfy the diverse population of users and research requirements. This includes not only a description of content and functionality, but also shall include a detailed implementation and operation plans as described in section C.6.

Contractors will be evaluated on how well their proposal meets the requirements and objectives of this SOW along with their completeness and clarity in addressing the Government’s requirements.

C.2 Notification of Changes to Content or Service

C.2.1 Standardization is a significant component of the IRS electronic research strategy. The IRS understands that content is continually being added and deleted to the commercial research services, but it is the intent of this Statement of Work (SOW) that all sources of content proposed by the contractor to satisfy either mandatory or highly desirable criteria in this solicitation will be continuously available and kept current throughout the life of the contract. The contractor shall provide a response for each of the below requirements, agreeing to and/or explaining any deviations.

C.2.2 The contractor shall provide monthly notification to the Contracting Officer and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) of all sources being added and all sources being dropped that are within the scope of this contract. If third party negotiations prevent monthly notice, the contractor shall advise the IRS as soon as it is permissible to provide such notification.

C.2.3 If the IRS determines that a dropped source is essential, the COR will request from the contractor a list of comparable offered replacement sources.

C.2.4 The government reserves the right to approve offered replacement sources. If the comparable sources offered by the contractor are not acceptable to the Government, the contractor shall propose price reductions for those discontinued sources. Any price reductions shall take effect on the date the sources are no longer available online.

C.2.5 The contractor shall notify the COR at least 30 days in advance of any changes in operation or functionality of the research system. If such proposed changes are unacceptable to the IRS, the COR will initiate discussions with the contractor to resolve the situation.

C.2.6 The contractor shall not charge the IRS for any system or product upgrades, new functionality, or expanded content that are already part of the library purchased by the IRS, and/or are part of the contractor’s continual product development and enhancement.

C.3 IRS Computing Environment

C.3.1 Background Information

C.3.1.1 A web browser currently serves as the end-user interface for Government office workers accessing Internet-based commercial services. A few employees access research sites through mobile computing devices such as smart phones.

C.3.1.2 Offsite Government users typically conduct research by logging into the IRS network using virtual private network (VPN) communication software.

C.3.2 Technical Requirements

C.3.2.1 Any research service offered as a Windows or web-based system shall run under all the following:

Windows 10 or Windows 11 operating systems Microsoft Edge web browser;

All successor Microsoft operating systems and web browsers adopted by the IRS during this contract.

C.3.2.2 Any external web-based service shall be implemented in a manner that eliminates any reasonable security concerns regarding the use of Java applets, ActiveX or similar client-side processing. If any such add-in applications are used, the contractor shall work with the COR for security testing and implementation.

C.4 Description of Award Group

C.4.1 The government’s objective is to obtain the full range of content and products to meet the requirements of each award group. The contractors shall list and describe all offered databases, sources, and products. This listing is not subject to the pagination limitations of this request for proposal.

C.5 Tax Research Service

C.5.1 Overall Requirements

C.5.1.1 This is a comprehensive tax library containing a full range of tax related authorities, administrative and judicial interpretations, tax legislation, and IRS documents, as well as a citator that provides the history of the case, a listing of other authorities, and judicial decisions. Approximately 15,000 IRS employees will use this library.

C.5.1.2 The contractor shall list all sources offered to meet the mandatory and highly desirable content. The contractor shall distinguish between databases that contain only abstract information and those that contain full text data.

C.5.2 Mandatory Content:

C.5.2.1 Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) - The IRM is the official source of all IRS policies, procedures and guidelines.

C.5.2.2 Legal and Administrative Content

Internal Revenue Code U.S. Tax Treaties Income Tax Regulations (Final, Temporary, and Proposed) Legislative History of Internal Revenue Code Sections Internal Revenue Bulletins and Cumulative Bulletins Revenue Rulings Revenue Procedures Announcements Notices Chief Counsel Guidance, including but not limited to:

Private Letter Rulings Technical Advice Memoranda General Counsel Memoranda Actions on Decisions Field Service Advice Service Center Advice

Industry Specialization Program (ISP) Coordinated Issue Papers

Market Segment Specialization Program (MSSP) Audit Technique Guides

All current IRS Taxpayer Publications Income tax guide or handbook Treasury Decisions and Orders;

Tax-Related Executive Orders

C.5.2.3 Full-Text Judicial Decisions are those decisions within the federal court system handed down by judges in tax matters that decide questions of fact or questions of law, including but not limited to:

Bankruptcy Court (Tax Cases) Board of Tax Appeals (Regular & Memorandum Decisions) Tax Court of the United States (Regular & Memorandum

Decisions) United States Tax Court (Regular & Memorandum Decisions) United States District Court United States Court of Federal Claims

United States Circuit Court of Appeals United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit United States Supreme Court

C.5.2.4 At least one commercial tax service.

C.5.2.4.1 Commercial tax services are commentaries on tax law and are generally categorized into two types:

Annotated tax services - organized by IRC section and are explanatory in nature.

Topical tax services - organized by broad topic or issue and are analytical in nature.

C.5.2.4.2 The contractor shall provide a listing of all the commercial tax services offered in their proposal.

C.5.3 Mandatory Features

C.5.3.1 Searching – The product shall allow the use of multiple search methods and have all the following search options available:

Boolean logic searches;

Proximity searches;

Exact phrase searches;

Conceptual or natural language searches and Search by citation

C.5.3.2 Help – The product shall have:

A comprehensive Help feature, and A comprehensive user guide or manual

C.5.3.3 A tax citator which provides the history of federal tax related judicial and administrative interpretations.

C.5.4 Highly Desirable Content:

C.5.4.1 Secondary Tax Research Material - The contractor shall provide detailed listings of content offered.

C.5.4.2 It is highly desirable that the contractor not display links to content that the IRS cannot access.

C.5.5 Highly Desirable Features

C.5.5.1 The contractor shall provide a detailed description of the features available in the electronic research system offered. The description shall include, but not be limited to, capabilities such as:

Searching;

Customization options;

Work log and search history;

Online help;

Delivery Options;

Navigating within a document

C.5.5.2 It is highly desirable that the product allow for a word search of legal and editorial sources without the selection of individual databases and arrange search results by category.

C.5.5.3 It is highly desirable that the product allow for filtering and retrieving citing references to a subsection within a statute or regulation.

C.5.5.4 It is highly desirable that the product offer assistance via a “chat” feature which allows real-time access to assistors.

C.5.5.5 It is highly desirable that the search engine has an artificial-intelligence component.

C.6 Managing and Supporting the Contract

C.6.1 IRS has centralized the selection and purchase of electronic research services under SPDER. Contractors are not permitted to directly market new services to the end users. All requests for new content and all requests to demonstrate products shall be coordinated with the COR.

C.6.2 All press releases referencing this contract shall be coordinated with the

COR.

C.6.3 The contractor shall submit an Implementation and Operation (I/O) plan for each of the following categories:

Customer Service Support Training Support Marketing Support Enterprise Access Solution Contract Reviews and Reports

C.6.4 Each plan shall address how the contractor will implement contract requirements, and will be evaluated as to how well it meets the requirements of this SOW.

C.6.5 Customer Service Support

C.6.5.1 Mandatory Requirements:

C.6.5.1.1 At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide standard support normally provided to commercial clients to assist in resolving technical problems. The contractor shall provide a description of customer service and technical support provided to ensure the customer's issues are resolved.

C.6.5.1.2 The contractor shall describe how it will provide instructions and guidance in the installation, configuration, and maintenance of any software for both the initial installation and for all software upgrades.

C.6.5.1.3 Support shall be available 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday.

C.6.5.2 Highly Desirable Requirement:

C.6.5.2.1 It is highly desirable that technical support be available via telephone 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

C.6.6 Training Support

C.6.6.1 The IRS has moved to an E-learning strategy to complement the traditional classroom-based approach. The contract shall specify how it will support e-learning for IRS employees.

C.6.6.2 At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide the standard commercial training package normally provided to commercial customers. The Training Plan shall include a description of:

The contractor's standard commercial training package;

The training package designed for this award;

The support available to all end users;

Any other information demonstrating a commitment to train all end users (e.g. willingness to customize training to account for the needs of specific user groups);

The types of training materials available to each end user;

The number of hours involved with respect to each method of training; and The contractor’s schedule for updating training material whenever significant product changes are made.

C.6.6.3 The contractor shall not teach content, features, or enhancements that are not included in the contract.

C.6.6.4 Highly Desirable Requirement:

C.6.6.4.1 It is highly desirable that periodic electronic and print newsletters with tips for searching and using the system be offered.

C.6.7 Marketing Support

C.6.7.1 In addition to training, the IRS and Treasury may ask the contractor to attend special events (conferences. continuing professional education (CPE) sessions, national or regional meetings) to promote awareness of their products. Contractors may be invited to attend these events as exhibitors, presenters or as participants.

Contractors shall coordinate attendance at all such activities with the COR.

C.6.7.2 Mandatory Requirements:

C.6.7.2.1 The contractor shall submit a "Marketing Plan" outlining the type of activities the contractor intends to support, sponsor or promote. At a minimum, the plan shall include a description of:

The types of events the contractor is willing to attend/not attend, The geographic locations the contractor is willing to attend/not attend, The types of material the contractor is willing to provide for these special events, and

The lead time required for attendance at special events

C.6.8 Enterprise Access Solution

C.6.8.1 The IRS and Treasury seek flexibility in providing access to the contractor’s system. It is mandatory that the contractor propose an enterprise solution for managing user access that will be available no later than the contract start date. Examples of information to be included in the enterprise-solution description include, but are not limited to:

how access to their system will be managed both at time of initial roll-out to IRS and during ongoing operation;

the technical support offered to ensure problems are resolved, both during the initial roll-out phase of the contract and during ongoing operation.

The IRS will provide guidance to the contractor regarding any automated solution.

C.6.8.2 Mandatory Features

C.6.8.2.1 At a minimum, the following data are considered mandatory elements of any automated solution:

Name;

E-mail addresses; and IRS Business Unit.

C.6.8.2.2 The contractor shall provide IRS with the ability to create a report listing all users of the system, which includes all information that has been captured for each user.

C.6.8.3 Highly Desirable Features

C.6.8.3.1 If IDs must be generated, it is highly desirable that the proposed enterprise solution allows a cadre of IRS administrators (approximately 20) to create and manage ID's and/or passwords.

C.6.8.3.2 It is highly desirable that the enterprise solution allow administrators full access to all IRS users’ information through a single login.

C.6.8.3.3 It is highly desirable that the enterprise solution allow administrators to review and/or edit any IRS user’s information through a single search.

C.6.8.3.4 It is highly desirable that the proposed enterprise solution allows the ability to search by any user information, the ability to remove access for a user, and the ability to edit user information in the system.

C.6.8.3.5 If IDs must be generated, it is highly desirable that the proposed enterprise solution allow ID Administrators to download/export reports of users within their IRS Business Unit to a spreadsheet for internal use.

C.6.8.3.6 It is highly desirable that changes to the enterprise access solution be implemented at no additional cost to the government. (For example, changes to the IRS Organizational structure may require changes to the tool.)

C.6.8.3.7 If IDs must be generated, it is highly desirable that the tool allow for batch uploads of large quantities of ID requests (such as for new hires).

C.6.8.3.8 It is highly desirable that the system automatically cancel access for any user after one year of non-usage.

C.6.9 Contract Reviews and Reports

C.6.9.1 Mandatory Requirements:

C.6.9.1.1 IRS will meet with contractors for quarterly contract reviews.

Mutually agreeable meeting dates will be arranged to accommodate the needs of both the contractor and the IRS.

C.6.9.1.2 Statistical reports described below shall be provided electronically to the IRS within seven business days after the start of the quarter.

C.6.9.2 Mandatory Reports:

C.6.9.2.1 Quarterly Statistical information shall be provided for each IRS Business Unit for each month of the quarter on:

Total Number of IDs issued;

Total Number IDs Used;

Total Number of Searches conducted; and Ten Most Popular Databases

C.6.9.2.1.1 “Searches” reported in the Quarterly Reports shall include all methods of access or data retrieval including, but not limited to, key word searching, table of contents searching, document retrieval, etc.

C.6.9.2.2 Biannual reports of unique ID's not used in a six-consecutive month period for each operating division and function.