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The purpose of this Special Notice / Request for Information (RFI) is to provide an update regarding and request industry partner feedback on a FY21 program support need for the Enterprise Digitalizat... The purpose of this Special Notice / Request for Information (RFI) is to provide an update regarding and request industry partner feedback on a FY21 program support need for the Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management Office (EDCM) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Specifically, this posting will: 1) Provide additional information on the acquisition strategy for the program support need; 2) Provide additional information regarding the scope of work, as well as context around the program support EDCM is seeking; and, 3) Request information and feedback on the information contained in the posting. This posting pertains only to EDCM’s Digitalization portfolio and associated program support needs. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts or quotations. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. This notice is for market research purposes only. Acquisition Strategy: In conjunction with the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, EDCM currently anticipates issuing a competitive solicitation under an existing multiple award vehicle. However, a full-and-open solicitation is still under consideration. Although, it is possible that there will be a short-term contract (i.e., 1-2 years) issued while a longer-term contract is competed, that is not likely at this point. If this strategy is pursued, there will be specific requirements within the contract(s) to ensure an effective transition. EDCM will leverage acquisition streamlining approaches (i.e., engagement with industry, oral proposals, etc.) to prudently accelerate the award timeframe. EDCM anticipates a hybrid firm-fixed price and time and materials (FFP/T&M) pricing approach, if only to account for the security clearance process during the initial 3+ months of the contract effort. EDCM anticipates using ‘surge’ options under each contract year/period that can be exercised at the unilateral discretion of the Government in the case of an unexpected need for additional support. Furthermore, EDCM anticipates using award incentive, award fee, or comparable procedures to incentivize industry partners’ performance. The period of performance will likely be five years but may include contract periods which are not 12 months long (e.g., surge options for three months, a 3-6 month T&M period for onboarding, etc.). Please note that the Acquisition Strategy is subject to change based upon the results of the Government’s Market Research. As part of this RFI, EDCM is looking for feedback regarding availability and experience of small businesses to support this effort. EDCM will be looking for multiple respondents within a given socio-economic category to help ascertain whether this requirement is appropriate for set-aside procedures. Although there are several existing industry partners who currently support some individual segments of this requirement at IRS, they do not support the entirety of the requirement (either alone or when taken together), nor are they providing support at the level/amount of this requirement. Therefore, EDCM does not categorize this requirement as a recompete or having an incumbent and is being as transparent as possible to communicate its sincere desire for industry feedback in order to finalize the acquisition strategy and requirements. Scope of Work and Additional Context: As noted in prior postings, there are four general efforts that make up the potential requirement. Additional context and information around those four areas are provided below. Consolidating and Distilling Opportunities for Digitalization Projects Across the Agency, Adhering to and Enhancing an Existing Strategic Framework: In general, EDCM is pursuing three major goals: 1) Reduce reliance on and costs associated with paper; 2) Increase amount of access to digital / machine-readable data; and, 3) Improve the taxpayer and IRS employee experience and shift staff from low-value to high value work. There is a significant level of interest across the agency, and EDCM continues to identify and receive proposed projects from stakeholders. EDCM categorizes these projects as business process, policy, and technology projects. Some projects are very specific to a particular process or office, whereas others may be obvious in their potential for scaling across the enterprise. EDCM must balance the nature of the projects, the level of effort required for each project, and be able to make substantive decisions about whether to continue pursuing selected projects beyond an initial period of roughly 30-120 days. In addition to ensuring the projects selected reflect the existing strategy, EDCM will also need to ensure that subsequent efforts and versions of the strategy are informed by the success and failure of selected projects. In brief, this portion of the anticipated requirement will assist EDCM in analyzing and selecting pilot projects for resources within existing strategy frameworks, and will update those frameworks based on the results of the pilots. Supporting Program and Project Management Needs for Multiple Near-Term Pilot Projects and the Finalization and Application of Performance and Return on Investment (ROI) Metrics for the Purposes of Portfolio Management, as well as Scaling and Expansion Activities for Successful Pilot Projects: EDCM currently has four pilot projects underway, and anticipates beginning roughly five more pilots in FY21. Some of these FY21 pilots will be internal, and some will require procurement actions. For those that require procurement actions, test and learn procurement vehicles (i.e., Pilot IRS) will be used. There are numerous logistical efforts required to support these pilots, including stakeholder engagement, briefing materials, development and monitoring of performance and ROI metrics for specific pilot projects, demonstrating the portfolio’s value proposition, etc. These efforts are similar to those highlighted in 1) above, but are distinct from them in that this area will focus on decisions to modify or scale pilots after the initial 30 to 120 day period. As pilot projects (or portions of them) are successful, EDCM is pursuing data-based and intentional decisions about where and how to scale the most promising efforts. In order to be successful in this space, an understanding of IRS stakeholders and the general processes/responsibilities is certainly beneficial, but disparate and divergent views are absolutely essential in order to be truly impactful. An ability to balance brevity and conciseness in generating briefing materials and other artifacts with in-depth analyses of complex and large-scale problems will be important. In summary, this portion of the anticipated requirement will assist EDCM in managing multiple pilot projects, as well as crafting ROI and performance metrics for those projects upon which decisions to scale (or not) will be made. Supporting Program and Project Management Needs for Broader, More Long-Term Acquisitions Led by EDCM: In addition to near-term pilots, EDCM will be taking the lead for several larger and more traditional procurements and acquisitions. At least some of that effort will support EDCM-focused support needs (similar to those anticipated in this potential requirement). Additionally, acquisitions and procurements which support enterprise-wide needs of the IRS (e.g., a replacement contract for the hard copy IRS files that are currently being stored with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)) will also be pursued by EDCM. Program and acquisition support services are needed in this space. In summary, this portion of the anticipated requirement will assist EDCM in more traditional, longer-term procurements and acquisitions, vice the incremental/pilot approach set forth in 2) above. Supporting Sequencing and Alignment Activities Relative to Case Management and Other Strategic Efforts: Although Digitalization activities are a priority for the IRS, they do not exist in a vacuum. For instance, activities to ensure that Enterprise Digitalization projects, as appropriate, feed into and reflect existing Case Management efforts, technology roadmaps, align with IRS-wide strategic goals and legislative requirement timelines, etc. are necessary. In summary, this portion of the effort of the anticipated requirement will assist EDCM in the ongoing strategic alignment of its efforts with broader IRS and government-wide efforts. Requested Information: Although EDCM has specific questions in regard to the capability and approach of industry partners in this space, the questions below are fairly broad in nature. If your firm is familiar with existing, comparable efforts in the private or public sector, please consider including evidence of that in your response. Similarly, if you believe that EDCM is ‘missing’ something in regard to its approach to this requirement, we would welcome that input. 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 resources. Please provide responses in a logical format which does not exceed 7 pages. Under the auspices of market research, EDCM plans to meet (virtually) with a portion of the respondents to this RFI, as well as other industry partners to continue to refine its requirements and acquisition strategy. All response should include the following: Company Name; Company Address; Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address; Company’s Business Size Status to include small business socio-economic status and applicable NAICS codes; Provide a list of suggested contract vehicles for this requirement (i.e. GWACs, FSS, IDIQs, and Single award contracts); Please provide a list of suggested contract types that have been efficient and could be considered complementary to the nature of the scope of work described herein. Based on the information provided within this posting, please discuss the experience of your firm in supporting offices that are approaching major digital transformational efforts in an agile and iterative process. What constructs or methodologies has your firm utilized to focus efforts, and make determinations about which pilot projects should be scaled and which should not? What approaches has your firm supported to garner internal and external stakeholder support, engage in change management efforts, etc.? The efforts of this office are fast-paced, and require the ability to shift from concept to concept and project to project quickly, while stitching together seemingly disparate ideas or projects in order to achieve the overarching goal. Simultaneously, there is an underlying need to be able to persuasively communicate the efforts of the office, ensure near-term efforts are supporting long-term, strategic goals, and perform data-driven analysis of the efficacy of projects. Please discuss your firm’s approach to or experience with projects similar to this. Based on the information provided within this posting, please discuss any areas that your firm believes EDCM can enhance within their requirement such as areas missing, or giving too much or too little emphasis. This could pertain to acquisition strategy, evaluation methodology, pricing, timeline, the requirements itself, or anything else of importance. For instance, what information would help industry respond most effectively to a solicitation? What BIC/SUM vehicles have numerous industry partners who could perform this effort, or would support EDCM’s desire for flexibility and appropriate/prudent speed in the selection of an industry partner? Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically no later than 12:00 pm ET, December 15th, 2020. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all or none of the questions submitted. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. The Government will update this posting with a high-level summary with any changes. Please continue to monitor https://beta.sam.gov for updates. EDCM will update this announcement with a high level summary of any major changes, edits, or additions to its strategy as a result of the responses to this RFI. It will also include the number of responses to this RFI in that posting. The IRS and EDCM appreciate your interest in our mission and look forward to engaging with you.