Request for Information (RFI) for Tax Exempt & Government Entities (TE/GE) THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IS RELEASED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10, MARKET RESEARCH. Disclaimer – This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. This notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose other than market research. This announcement does not commit the Government to any contractual agreement. The Government is not seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The Government reserves the right to have further oral presentations and/or conversations with a subset of respondents. The Government at its sole discretion will determine the subset for further conversations. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. Respondents will NOT be notified of the results of any analysis that the Government may perform. All data received in response to this RFI 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 response documentation shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned. Introduction: The purpose of this RFI is to gain insight into available vendors and products in the marketplace and to explore technical approaches and capabilities related to user centered design and development available to the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) business operating division’s mission is to provide service to and ensure compliance with applicable tax laws for a wide range of organizations . TE/GE customers include, but are not limited to, charities, small local community organizations, municipalities, major universities, large and small retirement plans, local and state governments, participants in complex tax-exempt bond transactions and Indian tribal governments and tribal associations. A critical activity for TE/GE (as mandated by legislation) is to make copies of all Forms 990 series and related forms available to the public. Tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and Section 527 political organizations file Form 990 to provide the IRS with the information required by Section 6033 of the United States Code. Today TE/GE makes these 990s available to the public via the Tax-Exempt Organizational Search (TEOS) user portal (https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/). To do this, certain private and sensitive information must be removed or redacted from the 990 series returns to ensure that no controlled data is unintentionally released to the public. Today this process is performed by a mix of human actions and legacy systems. TE/GE believes the data redaction process can be improved. The current process requires labor intensive efforts to mitigate risk of improper disclosure. To address these concerns, TE/GE is seeking new innovative solutions for redacting Forms 990 series returns prior to publishing on the web portal. TE/GE expects the eventual solution will highly leverage modern technology but is open to all potential solutions that augment or replace existing business practices. Through this RFI the IRS seeks to accomplish the following goals: Identify potential sources. Obtain comments, suggestions, and other forms of constructive feedback on the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO), specifically the Objectives. Identify any small business concerns, i.e. 8(a) business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, or service- disabled veteran-owned small business that can perform the required services independently or through partnering with a large business. Identify which, if any, Best in Class (BIC) contract vehicles ((as designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)) your company has a contract with. Response Format: All interested parties are invited to submit a capability statement. The capability statement shall specifically address the firm's ability to provide the services described in the SOO and below questionnaire. Responses shall be submitted in the attached Microsoft Excel. Length of response will be limited. Responses shall be complete and sufficiently detailed. Please do not submit marketing material. Responses shall include the following information: Company name Address Point of contact Telephone number Email address DUNS number CAGE code NAICS code Small Business status Socio-economic classification Best-in-Class vehicles you have a contract with Questionnaire Request: Describe your firm's level of experience and qualifications to provide the desired services (i.e., user centered design and development)? Describe your firm's ability to meet the criteria in the attached Statement of Objectives (SOO). Specifically, are you able to provide solutions to the Objectives stated in Section 3.0 of the SOO? Provide three examples of your firm’s experience with projects similar in size, scope, and complexity. Projects can be with other government entities or commercial organizations. If given the attached SOO, what is your expected rough order of magnitude (ROM) pricing to deliver the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) within 6 months of award and then continue development post MVP. If done in phases, what would the scope be of each phase, the expected dollar value, and the expected timing? Provide up to three hyperlinks to examples of relevant solutions your team has developed and implemented. These can be publicly facing web portals, software demonstrations, or videos of working software. All links shall be publicly accessible and have been created by your team. What software languages do your developers commonly work in? What low-code development platforms do you have experience with? Do you have any concerns with the IRS intent to apply technical guardrails (described in SOO) to this and future digitization efforts? List possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace based on the attached SOO. Provide comments, suggestions, and/or any insights you may want the Government to consider. THIS INFORMATION IS BEING REQUESTED FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY . All contractors please submit your response to this RFI via email to Rebecca Katz at
[email protected] and Michael Abney at
[email protected] before the submission deadline. Vendors shall reference “RFI TEGE Form 990 Redaction” in the subject line of their response as well as in the subject line of any other e-mail correspondence referencing this notice. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. The deadline for submission of information is April 10, 2024, 5:00PM, EST . DISCLAIMER This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposals (RFP), Request for Quote (RFQ), Invitation for Bid (IFB) or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any services. Responses to this RFI shall not serve as proposals, bids, or offers. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to determine how it shall proceed as a result of this notice. Response to this notice is not a request to be added to a bidders list or to receive a copy of a solicitation. THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF THIS RFI. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of the requested information. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and any follow up information requests. Responses to this RFI may be considered in the future determination of an appropriate acquisition strategy for the program. The Government may not respond to any specific questions or comments submitted in response to this RFI or information provided as a result of this request. Any information submitted by respondents as a result of this notice is strictly voluntary. Thank you for your interest. Attachment: Statement of Objectives (SOO) RFI Response Template (Microsoft Excel Format)