RFI for IRS Specialty Calculators for Enterprise Case Management

This is a Request for Information (RFI) (hereinafter Notice) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10, Market Research. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, request for bids or quotations, nor, a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This notice shall not be construed as either a solicitation or the obligation on the part of Government. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain knowledge and information for project planning and market research purposes only. Any response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this notice, any follow up information response, or the Government use of such information. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The IRS will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this notice. Interested parties are solely responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. All data received in response to this notice that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary information will be fully protected from release outside the Government. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with all applicable Government regulations. All documentation shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned. Interested parties are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback with respect to any information submitted. Further, respondents will NOT be notified individually of the results of the analysis or their specific response. FAR Clause 52.215-3 --Request for Information (Oct 1997) (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (b) Although proposal and offeror are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. (c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of identifying information on Tax Calculators for IRS Examination/Audit Business Processes as listed below: Background: The Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in support of Enterprise Case Management as well as its business units (i.e., Large Business and International (LB&I), Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE), Appeals (A), Wage & Investment (W&I) and Tax Exempt & Government Entities (TE/GE)) is seeking information on potential solutions to automate calculations (calculators) and generate associated tax reports for IRS examiners in support of audits or tax collection of individual, business, pass-through and other tax entities. Although there are several technological and conceptual guardrails within which the solution would likely need to function, the IRS does not have a predefined idea of how a successful solution would need to function. The IRS has numerous specialized calculators, each designed for specific audit types (individual returns, business returns, estate and gift tax returns, etc.). IRS personnel currently perform calculations associated with audit of tax returns, collection of taxes, fees, and asset allocations. Calculations may include standard / frequent calculations based on individual forms, and ad hoc computations based on specific tax attributes. Currently these calculations are generated manually or through various applications and tools. The current IRS calculators have limited to no ability to interface with legacy case management systems, requiring the user to perform additional manual work. Although this concept is also related to the overarching ability of a calculator to limit manual or low-value work, it is an area of emphasis for the IRS due to the transition to Enterprise Case Management (ECM), which is currently PegaSystems and more than 60 legacy case management systems. The IRS is seeking a solution that will integrate (plug and play) with both legacy case management systems as well as ECM and has the capability to transition from legacy case management systems to ECM. It should be noted that this RFI is related to but separate from the RFI that was issued on November 13, 2020, Notice ID 2032H5-21-N-00001 RFI Tax Calculators for IRS Examination/Audit Business Processes.[1] The primary difference between that posting and this one is that RFI #2032H5-21-N-00001 focused on simple tax calculations. The reason that the IRS issued two separate notices for these capabilities is because the calculation needs in this RFI are specialized, unique and distinct. The goal is for a seamless user experience which, allows access directly from their case management system with minimal to no manual transitioning of data (i.e., cutting and pasting from the case management system to the calculator tool). Similarly, the user must be able to perform - what-if analyses and integrate the results into the case file that resides in the case management system. The IRS does not have a predefined idea of how the solution should work as there are numerous specialized tax computation software products, each designed for specific audit types (individual returns, business returns, estate and gift tax returns, etc.). The IRS is open to a single solution/provider but recognizes this may not be possible due to the number and types of calculations, and existing case management systems. IRS is looking for a solution/provider that addresses three overarching needs: 1) reduce the need to do manual calculations; 2) generate audit reports with tax calculation and supporting worksheets; and 3) maximize the ease of interface with IRS systems. The Government may issue an update to this notice highlighting non-proprietary, generic information around the information gathered (i.e., number of RFI responses) or updates to the program (i.e., the IRS anticipates pursuing X acquisition strategy through Y vehicle). Additionally, the Government reserves the right as a part of Market Research to contact and obtain additional information with all or some of the firms that respond to this RFI. Responses: The IRS is seeking the submission of technical capabilities relative to the questions provided in this notice. Although the IRS has myriad and specific questions in regard to particular processes and forms, the questions below are fairly broad in nature. If your firm is familiar with specific situations for which a calculator is useful, please consider including evidence of that in your response(s). The IRS understands that responding to RFIs requires significant effort on the part of our industry partners and is taking this approach in an attempt to be respectful of your time and limited resources. Responses should not exceed 10 pages and should not contain any brochures, advertising or any other type of extraneous, graphic literature or documents that have not been requested and are not relevant or essential in demonstrating the company's ability to provide the required services. Responses may provide links to relevant websites, as appropriate. Responses to this notice should address the above and include the following information: Company Name, address, DUNS number, and CAGE code, technical and administrative points of contact information, socio-economic status, etc. Possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts regarding the product or service in question. Especially in regard to custom/bespoke solutions versus COTS-like or configurable solutions. Provide the features of your solution regarding its flexibility and ability to handle unique and specialized calculations across multiple years. Examples of these unique calculators/situations that the IRS expects to see in some RFI responses are referenced below. Please note the below list is not an all-encompassing list, but rather a partial list of examples - if your firm believes it has a relevant example that falls outside this list, please feel free to include it in your response (additionally, please do not feel as though you have to address all and only the examples listed below in your response): Asset Allocation Calculation - Describe a solution to calculate allocations of income, expenses, credits, and taxes for Community and Non-Community property states. Automated Trust Fund Recovery Program - Discuss a solution that computes trust fund amounts and computes the amount of the penalty to propose. Bankruptcy Claims - Discuss a solution where IRS data is integrated to calculate prospective proofs of claim (POC) related to Chapters 7A, 11, 12, and 13 bankruptcies. Interest Calculator - Describe a solution for an imputed underpayment calculator that performs the calculation of interest on tax deficiencies. The solution should allow the user to enter due dates, payments, adjustments, deficiency, tax or penalty amounts. Provide the features of your solution regarding its flexibility and ability to conduct nuanced calculations and generate reports across multiple years. Examples of the types of forms / situations that the IRS expects to see in some RFI responses are referenced below. Please note the below list is not an all-encompassing list, but rather a partial list of examples - if your firm believes it has a relevant example that falls outside this list, please feel free to include it in your response (additionally, please do not feel as though you have to address all and only the examples listed below in your response): Employment Tax - Discuss a solution that computes multi-year employment taxes and penalties when adjustments are made and generates audit reports. Estimated Tax - Discuss a solution to perform the multi-year mathematical calculations for potential estimated tax and interest after incorporating refundable credits, federal tax withheld from a taxpayer's total tax liability. Include solutions to generate worksheets across multiple years of tax returns to show the amount and due date of the required installments of estimated tax for the succeeding year and the amount of overpayment required to apply to the unpaid installments of estimated tax due in order to avoid an estimated tax penalty. Specialty Taxes - Discuss a solution that is capable of computing complex tax, penalty and interest computations for Form 706 Estate tax, Form 709 Gift tax, Form 1041 Fiduciary Income tax, Form 5330 Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans, and Form 720 Quarterly Excise tax. The solution should include an option for users to create and generate reports across multiple years. Provide the features of your solution regarding its flexibility and ability to calculate outstanding balances and allows a taxpayer with a tax liability determine their eligibility of an Offer-In-Compromise. Examples of the types of situations that the IRS expects to see in some RFI responses are referenced below. Please note the below list is not an all-encompassing list, but rather a partial list of examples - if your firm believes it has a relevant example that falls outside this list, please feel free to include it in your response (additionally, please do not feel as though you have to address all and only the examples listed below in your response): Offer-In-Compromise (OIC) - Describe a solution for an application that allows a taxpayer with a tax liability and is unable to pay, to determine their eligibility for an OIC. The solution should also allow IRS users to generate reports. Payoff Calculator - Discuss a solution that will calculate the amount of any outstanding balances (calculated with penalties and interest), incorporates the Collection financial standards, and allow users to determine a taxpayer's ability to pay a delinquent tax liability for any type of tax form. Please provide a rough order of magnitude for a potential solution of this type, relative to the following buckets: Less than $1M Between $1M and $5M More than $5M Questions in response to the content of this this notice may be submitted electronically on or before February 17, 2021 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all, or none of the questions submitted and may combine similar questions. The deadline for responses to this notice is 5:00PM EDT, February 25, 2021. Responses should be forwarded via email to both the primary, ann.m.duncan@irs.gov and "cc" to kathleen.a.guyther@irs.gov. Vendors shall reference - RFI Specialty Calculators for Enterprise Case Management in the subject line of their response as well as in the subject line of any other e-mail correspondence referencing this notice. ** THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT RESPOND TO PHONE CALLS. ** Thank you for your interest. Primary Point of Contact: Ann Duncan, Management and Program Analyst, ann.m.duncan@irs.gov [1] Source website: beta.SAM.gov at https://beta.sam.gov/opp/47e19a8c721f4cb7a64a8b4804ccf3ee/view