IRS previews its plans for $353M professional services competition

The IRS' headquarters in Washington, D.C. as seen in February.

The IRS' headquarters in Washington, D.C. as seen in February. Photo by Brendan Smialowski /AFP via Getty Images

A new draft solicitation details how this multiple-award contract will be for small businesses only and supports the agency's activities related to the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRS has given industry a first glimpse at how the agency plans to compete a potential five-year, $353 million contract vehicle covering acquisition support and professional services.

Questions and comments on the draft solicitation are due by March 25 and must be filled out as Attachment 11 directs in this Thursday Sam.gov notice.

Only small businesses are able to participate in this multiple-award effort for acquiring services that include consulting, program management, communications, planning, acquisition activities, data analysis and robotic process automation.

The IRS has broken out the requirements across three functional categories and will hold distinct, separate competitions across them simultaneously. Each category also has its own individual ceiling value with all of them adding up to the $353 million figure.

Category one focuses on optimizing the IRS' overall customer experience posture, while the second hones on the agency's overall acquisition function. The third category is all about IT and particularly on data management and governance.

In the draft request for proposals, the IRS touts this requirement as supporting its efforts to manage the influx of funding the agency received under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Contractors interested in this requirement will provide consultants and other personnel to work with the IRS on executing, tracking and reporting IRA spending activities and strategy-related activities.

The agency anticipates it will make awards during the second quarter of this calendar year.