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. 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. 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 Enhanced Paper Processing to support IRS as listed below: Background: The Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in support of its Digitalization Effort is seeking information on potential solutions to enhance paper processing through digitized paper using Datacap software or similar software, which is equal or better, for conversion/scanning, optical character recognition (OCR) capability, machine learning algorithms, data validation VPN portal, file creation, delivery and ingestion into an Modernized E-File (MeF) system. The IRS is seeking information to - Deliver enterprise reimagine of the entire paper forms ingestion process and supports the using modern optical character recognition (OCR), machine learning algorithms, and adaptive scanning technologies with the potential of increasing paper processing productivity and enhancing security and fraud detection. Deliver mature and proven document capture solution using Datacap Insight Edition software, applies advanced imaging, non-linear programming, and machine learning to extract structured content from scanned forms. Create a VPN to enable data entry clerks to review and validate scanned paper Create a Data Transcription Accelerator application using the IRS Modernized E-File (MeF) A2A Toolkit to leverage existing MeF APIs for ingesting the scanned files into electronic tax processing through IRS Modernized E-File systems. Including ability to provide acknowledge receipt, validate successful submission into MeF systems. Keep paper forms on a distinct path that converts it to digital but respects the unique business requirements for paper forms. Be hosted and managed by the contractors at a Government owned secured fenced facility with 24-hour perimeter security. Deliver these services 24x5 processing of minimum of 1 million returns a month Be scalable solution capable of growing to meet future needs Response: The IRS is seeking the submission of technical capabilities relative to the above description and questions provided in this notice. 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. Respond to above requirements including Datacap or similar software installation and configuration, document conversion / scanning / ingestion, and system engineering and architecture solutions Describe your company and current staff’s experience with paper forms ingestion process and supporting using modern OCR, machine learning algorithms, and adaptive scanning technologies. Describe your company and current staff’s experience helping government agencies with ingesting large volumes of scanned forms into electronic processing systems. Please provide a rough order of magnitude for a potential solution of this type, relative to the following: Less than $1M Between $1M and $5M More than $5M The deadline for responses to this notice is 12:00PM EDT, April 14, 2021. Responses should be forwarded via email to
[email protected]. Vendors shall reference “RFI for Enhanced Paper Processing - 2032H5-21-N-00006” 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.