IRS clears final hurdle in $2B epayment tech award
Gettyimages.com/Yurii Karvatskyi
By
Nick Wakeman
The last protester has withdrawn its objections, which means the IRS can start building a new electronic payment system for taxpayers.
The IRS now appears able to move forward with a $2 billion electronic payment system contract now that the final protest has been withdrawn.
ACI Payments and Link2Gov Corp. won the Epayment Card Services contract in August 2023, but it was quickly followed by protests from NIC Federal and Value Payment Systems.
The contract entered a period of limbo after the IRS pulled the awards back to take a corrective action. The agency wanted to address the protesters' allegations that proposals were not properly evaluated and the best-value, tradeoff analysis was flawed.
Value Payment Systems returned on July 1 with a new protest but withdrew it on Tuesday. Companies are not required to explain why they have withdrawn.
But given the timing, it appears that Value Payment Systems withdrew after seeing the IRS response to its protest. Agencies are required to submit a report within 30 days of a protest being filed.
The Epayment Card Services contract will support the IRS' efforts to take in more electronic payments from taxpayers. They agency wants to bring in new capabilities for making estimated payments, installment payments, balance due payments and other tax-related payments.