IRS preps seat management study

"Seat Management Sources Sought"

The Internal Revenue Service has taken another step in its competitive sourcing effort by asking for initial expressions of interest in the agency’s seat management function from private-sector companies.

The agency is preparing a competitive sourcing study for its End User Equipment and Services (EUES) division of the IRS’ technology shop. This division supports individual computers through desktop technology acquisition and refreshes, application management, and help-desk services. It employees more than 2,000 people.

The IRS’ posting on FedBizOps.com states that the agency wants declarations of capability from interested parties, either as prime contractors or subcontractors. Among the requirements bidders must satisfy is significant seasonal variation in the number of workers. Depending on how far the tax season – generally January to April – has progressed, the number of IRS workers can range from 90,000 to 120,000, according to the notice.

The seat management study is the only competitive sourcing study for the agency’s Modernization and Information Technology Services division that the IRS is planning. MITS recently underwent an 18-month restructuring process. As a result, the in-house bidding team of EUES employees is positioned to make a better competitive offer to private sector bids, W. Todd Grams, the agency’s chief information officer, has said in the past.

Some IRS officials have said that the agency was once reluctant to conduct competitive sourcing studies. Competitive sourcing encourages agencies to cut costs by competing with the private sector for federal jobs that are not inherently governmental. But once they realized there were savings to be had, the agency decided to do more.