Notice of Intent/Brand Name Justification

NOTICE OF INTENT / BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION - for TimeTrade Software and Maintenance The Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service intends to award on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 the use of TimeTrade software, technical services and expertise required to establish a pilot electronic, on-line appointment system. This purchase order will be made under the Authority of FAR Part 11.105 and FAR Part 52.211-6 - Brand Name or Equal. The IRS will require software support for the term of the pilot. This system must interface with IRS.gov as well as the Q-MATIC systems already in use within the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers. The IRS's objective is to increase control over taxpayer traffic and allow Field Assistant (FA) staff to meet customer demand during peak times. It will provide data that will allow managers to proactively manage traffic flow and avoid bottlenecks. The system will allow specific scheduling of appointments within the Taxpayer Assistance Centers providing the best possible service to taxpayers as well as better organization for the employees. The contractor shall provide both the labor and the material necessary to develop and maintain this system. Appointments in this system will, in real-time flow into designated Q-MATIC appointment queues. It will allow FA employees to check-in taxpayers as they arrive for appointments and activate the appointment into the designate queue. The contractor shall be responsible for repairing existing system software should any bugs and/or glitches occur in the software. The appointment scheduling application will be accessible via the World Wide Web 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An exception to this requirement may be granted for routinely scheduled maintenance and disruption caused by unforeseen acts of nature. The contractor shall follow Information Security guidance established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for systems classified as moderate risk. The contractor shall maintain the minimum-security controls identified in NIST Special Publication 800-53, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information, and NIST 800-53A, Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems, All applications, either housed on contractor provided web servers or IRS owned equipment are subject to IRS security requirements. Applications will be compatible with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. Any software installed on IRS owned computers must be compatible with the IRS common operating environment and subject to testing and evaluation by the IRS Idea lab. Questions can be e-mailed to Valerie.robinson@irs.gov.