Accenture Federal Services Wednesday said it has won a “position” to compete on a seven-year Internal Revenue Service (IRS) modernization blanket purchase agreement with a $2.6 billion ceiling value.
Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of Accenture, joins Maximus, a government provider of IT modernization and technical services, which announced its participation in the $2.6 billion contract vehicle last week.
CRN reached out to Accenture Federal Services, which refused to comment on the contract vehicle and referred questions to the IRS.
CRN reached out to the IRS but had not heard back at press time.
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“This is a victory for both Accenture Federal Services and Maximus but it no way guarantees they will get any of the $2.6 billion in funding,” said Manuel Villa, president of Via Technology, a government IT provider based in San Antonio, Texas. “This just means they are invited to the dance. There is no guarantee that they will be awarded contracts. This just means these companies have the ability to submit modernization proposals to the IRS.”
Via said he expects the complex contract vehicle to result in IRS modernization improvements such as improving the ability to securely interact with the agency. “The IRS could, for example, release specs for a new cybersecurity platform,” he said. “They both will get the same specs and compete on the proposal.”
The IRS modernization effort comes after a March 27 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report that singled out the IRS Enterprise Case Management (ECM) System for not consistently meeting “cloud security requirements.”
“Control weaknesses within the ECM system can pose a substantial risk to taxpayer records currently residing in the system,” said The Treasury Inspector General Report. “The potential harm includes breach, unauthorized access, and disclosure of taxpayer information.”
Villa said he expects the IRS improvements to be implemented in a phased-in approach over many years. “The good thing is both these companies have been vetted and they will receive the task orders to submit modernization proposals,” he said.
The IRS Enterprise Development, Operations Services (EDOS) blanket purchase agreement contract vehicle brings all 400-plus systems in the IRS’s applications development portfolio under one contract vehicle to modernize existing systems, build out analytics, and improve cybersecurity, said Accenture Federal Services.
Under the terms of the EDOS contract vehicles, Accenture Federal Services said it will compete for “future task orders to support the IRS applications development office with creating new ways for taxpayers and tax professionals to interact with the agency.”LEARN MORE: Cloud Security | Cybersecurity
Steve Burke has been reporting on the technology industry and sales channel for over 30 years. He is passionate about the role of partners using technology to solve business problems and has spoken at conferences on channel sales issues. He can be reached at [email protected].
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