IRS Offering Up to $7M to Develop ‘Data Mashing’ Tools In Support of Frictionless Acquisition

ioat/Shutterstock.com

Using its experimental multiphase Pilot IRS contract vehicle, the agency issued a quickturn solicitation to improve data collection for a governmentwide effort to improve procurement.

The IRS is using its relatively new, quickturn procurement vehicle—Pilot IRS—to support a governmentwide data collection effort in support of fixing pain points in the government’s acquisition process.

This summer, the Office of Management and Budget rolled out a new cross-agency priority, or CAP, goal entitled “Frictionless Acquisition,” with the aim of delivering “commercial items at the same speed as the market place and manage customers’ delivery expectations for acquisitions of non-commercial items by breaking down barriers to entry using modern business practices and technologies,” according to the goal statement on Performance.gov.

Part of that goal includes improving information collected about federal procurements and the ways that data is standardized and combined to gain insights—also known as “data mashing.”

IRS procurement officials were tapped to figure out how best to accomplish this task with regard to prices for goods and services and issued a request for proposals this week using its experimental contracting vehicle.

“There is a significant amount of data provided by government entities in this arena, including—but not limited to—information generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the General Services Administration, and annual reports on the prices the federal government pays for services. Similarly, there is a significant amount of data generated by private entities in this arena,” the RFP states. “Maximizing the use of existing labor/wage data will result in better acquisition planning, improved contract negotiations, and lower taxpayer costs. Furthermore, a solution that combines multiple data sources (the example sources included above and additional sources) in a user-friendly format will allow use of this data in a ‘just-in-time’ fashion to make smarter and faster decisions.”

The solicitation is seeking ideas for collecting this data, standardizing it for analysis, visualizing those analyses and managing access to the data and results.

Specifically, the project has three goals:

  • Automate the analysis of multiple data sets in an easy-to-use, plug-and-play tool that processes and learns from the data to provide comparison points for evaluating labor rates proposed for use in government contracts.
  • Promote use of this information by government personnel during the independent government cost estimating, source selection and contract negotiation processes—i.e. results in the use of the information by government personnel with limited manual input.
  • Achieve near-term and incremental improvements in the number of data sets included, rigor of the analysis, etc.

The RFP stresses that the agency is looking for innovative, holistic solutions, rather than standard off-the-shelf tools.

“We are seeking an automated solution that will analyze and learn from multiple data sets,” the solicitation states. “We are not seeking a solution that simply visualizes available data sets.”

While the IRS doesn’t have other transaction authorities or access to a Commercial Solutions Opening pilot, the agency has created its own contract vehicle for conducting phased, development-focused acquisitions: Pilot IRS.

As with those other research and development focused contracting methods, Pilot IRS uses a multiphase structure, with each subsequent phase moving a solution closer to full production while also increasing the dollar amount for the participating vendors.

That phased approach allows the IRS to experiment with untested solutions while limiting risk.

“Depending on results and mission priorities, the IRS will decide to fund all, some, or none of the project at each phase; it is important to note that there is no guarantee for funding for planned/future phases,” the solicitation states.

Initially, the program’s ceiling was $7 million for all solutions across all phases. That ceiling increased to $25 million earlier this year. But the latest solicitation takes a different tack, offering up to $7 million per solution across all phases, with the ability to fund multiple projects simultaneously.

“Rough scopes of work and funding ceilings for each phase will be established at the beginning of the Pilot IRS process, with the understanding that additional clarity will be established at the end of each preceding phase,” the RFP explains. “In other words, the specifics of the work/cost for Phase 2 will be established as part of the work completed in Phase 1, and the specifics of Phase 3 at the end of Phase 2, etc.”

The approach outlined in the RFP includes three phases, each with a not-to-exceed maximum funding level and duration: Phase 1 is capped at $50,000 and 120 days; Phase 2 at $150,000 over 150 days; and Phase 3 at $6.75 million over 4.25 years.

“As Phase 3 will occur over a longer duration, part of the Phase 3 proposal will focus on appropriate increments/funding amounts—i.e., six months, $700,000—based on the proposed solution, which will be tied directly to option periods,” the RFP states. “Additionally, the IRS expects expansion in the involved data sets, federal agencies, and requirements/reviews/processes, etc. throughout Phase 3.”

One feature of the Pilot IRS program is speed, and procurement officials are using that to its full in this procurement. The agency issued a request for information on August 4, a draft RFP on August 24 and held a listening session for the final RFP on Tuesday.

Interested vendors were given one week to submit bids, which are due by 8 a.m. Tuesday, September 8.

While the solicitation document is streamlined, the RFP package includes an additional 46 pages of required procurement clauses, including newer provisions like the Section 889 prohibition on vendors using telecommunication technologies from certain Chinese companies.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.