Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

BACKGROUND Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enterprise Services (ES)–Technology Strategy Management (TSM) plays a unique, differentiated role in IRS Information Technology (IT) and promotes integration ... BACKGROUND Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enterprise Services (ES)–Technology Strategy Management (TSM) plays a unique, differentiated role in IRS Information Technology (IT) and promotes integration management, which helps translate strategies to the execution level by driving IT enterprise-wide platform-based solutions across the IRS. TSM oversees major low-code/no-code platforms such as Salesforce, Pega Systems, and Service Now that are widely used across the IRS technology landscape to automate and modernize several business operations across IRS domains, including Customer Service, Internal Management, Case Management, and Compliance. REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION The IRS desires to hire contractors to perform Platform Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Setup and Support for automating development processes, configuring service-level objectives (SLOs), creating fixes and workarounds to avoid overrun error budgets, analyzing vulnerabilities, or building self-healing and observability into applications and infrastructure. The desired support will contribute to refining IRS strategizing capacity through equipping personnel with the tools, data, and capabilities they need to drive modern development and innovation tackling complexities resulting from the new growth of technologies, languages, platforms, and tools in cloud-native delivery. The period of performance will be a One Year. HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORRMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response: Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact specialist listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice. Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI). State if your company is the manufacturer of the identified equipment or is a retailer or wholesaler that normally sells the identified equipment. If the latter, indicate whether the manufacturer authorized in writing for your company to sell the identified equipment on behalf of the manufacturer. Discuss whether the equipment that your company sells and which you describe in your response to this notice may be customized to specifications and indicate any limits to customization. Describe how soon after award you can begin shipment of the specified equipment. For the NAICS code listed in this notice: Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business. See the SBA Size Standards and the associated, pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information. If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. Describe warranty services that are available with the purchase of the aforementioned equipment from your company. Describe standard terms and conditions of sale offered by your company for the aforementioned equipment such as: delivery time after your company accepts the order; FOB shipping terms: manufacturer warranty (including details regarding nature and duration); if available, description(s) of available extended warranty. Provide a copy of manufacturer standard terms and conditions that typically relate to the sale of the specified equipment, if available. State published price, discount or rebate arrangements for aforementioned equipment and/or provide link to access company’s published prices for equipment and services. State whether the equipment is manufactured in the United States and, if not, state the name of the country where the equipment is manufactured. If the aforementioned equipment and related services are available for purchase on any existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts against which the IRS may be able place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information. Identify any customers in the public or private sectors in which you provided the aforementioned or similar equipment. Include customer(s) information: company name, phone number, point of contact, email address. Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the IRS to know as part of its market research for this requirement. State if you require the IRS to provide additional information to improve your understanding of the government’s requirement and/or would like to meet with NIST representatives to discuss the requirement and the capabilities of the identified equipment. Alternative Solutions: In addition to responses that meet the direct requirements, we encourage submissions from sources offering alternative solutions that may provide equal or superior performance in meeting the operational needs. Proposals should clearly demonstrate how the alternative solution meets or exceeds the stated requirements. Importantly, any vendor proposing an alternative solution should address whether their solution would require any modifications to perform effectively within the IRS operating environment. This includes detailing any changes needed to integrate with existing systems, processes, or infrastructure to ensure full functionality and compatibility. The technical POC is Cynthia Knight and can be reached at Cynthia.Knight@irs.gov or (619)274-0430 QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on December 20, 2024. Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline. IMPORTANT NOTES The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the IRS may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the IRS to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The IRS is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The IRS reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate. Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!