SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- Research Project - Non-Rational Behavior in the Financial Sector
- Notice Date
- 1/6/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), National Office Procurement (OS:A:P), 6009 Oxon Hill Road, Suite 500, Oxon Hill, Maryland, 20745
- ZIP Code
- 20745
- Solicitation Number
- TIRNO-09-Non-RationalBehaviorInFinancialSector
- Point of Contact
- Jeffrey S. Cornell,, Phone: 2022834965
- E-Mail Address
-
jeffrey.s.cornell@irs.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS - NON-RATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR. BACKGROUND - Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Wage and Investment Research and Analysis (WIRA) is primarily focused on increasing compliance with tax laws by improving the taxpayer experience and reducing taxpayer burden. Through its research, WIRA assists other Wage and Investment functions to increase taxpayer compliance through improved service. WIRA’s focus on improving taxpayer service is exemplified by its contribution to the Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint (TAB). Additional information can be found at http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=156394,00.html. TAB began in 2005 when Congress requested the IRS develop a five-year plan to address taxpayer service. The IRS implemented the TAB project as a two-phase effort designed to answer questions about the needs and preferences of individual taxpayers. TAB Phase 1 included preliminary research on taxpayer needs, preferences, and behaviors. The TAB Phase 1 report, delivered to Congress in April 2006, included a baseline of current taxpayer services and outlined key strategic improvement themes. The TAB Phase 2 Report included a careful analysis of a large body of research. Because of the extensive research completed for TAB, IRS now knows more than ever before about taxpayer needs, preferences, and behaviors. The next steps are to further the research on taxpayer needs, preferences, and behaviors and to improve IRS taxpayer service. This project will advance those objectives. WIRA REQUIREMENTS - WIRA requests vendor assistance to understand non-rational behavior as it relates to financial issues. Emerging social science has questioned the theory of the purely rational economic person and demonstrated that people may act illogically when faced with difficult or complex decisions. Similarly, some taxpayers may be confused or unsure of their tax obligations, and consequently less compliant. WIRA is seeking assistance to identify those groups, address their needs, and modify IRS operations to improve taxpayer service and compliance. The vendor will collaborate with WIRA to develop actionable research results that can be applied to current IRS processes and procedures, notices, publications, media outreach, telephone operations, and other taxpayer services. Based on its studies on non-rational behavior, the vendor will provide the IRS targeted recommendations to improve its communication programs and business processes to increase taxpayer compliance through improved service. STATEMENT OF CAPABILITY REQUIREMENTS - The IRS is requesting a Statement of Capabilities qualification package from interested vendors, including resumes. The qualification package will detail why the vendors are technically qualified to assist WIRA in its research projects on understanding taxpayer non-rational behavior with regards to financial issues, particularly tax compliance. The vendors may submit examples of their innovative research on non-rational behavior in the financial sector as part of their capability statement, such as published articles in business or academic journals. You are required to submit four (4) hard copies of the Statement of Capabilities with resumes and/or published articles attached. IN ADDITION YOU SHALL PROVIDE ONE (1) CD-ROM COPY INCLUSIVE OF ALL ATTACHMENTS along with the hard copies. The CD-ROM should be affixed inside page 1 of copy 1 of the Statement of Capabilities. Any firms submitting a Statement of Capabilities without a fully functional CD-ROM copy will not be evaluated further. There is a 10-page limitation (single-sided, Times New Roman 10 pt. font, 1-inch margins) on the Statement of Capabilities. The Statement of Capabilities qualification package will be provided using Microsoft Office products (ex., MS Word). Resumes and published articles will not count toward the 10-page limitation. A capable vendor would demonstrate extensive experience and background in research on non-rational behavior in the financial sector. A capable vendor will demonstrate the positive impact of their assistance to clients similar to the IRS. Positive impact can be defined as increasing market share, improving customer satisfaction, reducing operational costs, or enhancing any other significant measure. A capable vendor will have assisted clients with attributes similar to the IRS. For example, the successful vendor’s clients would have over $1 billion in appropriations, revenue and/or assets, have a national presence, and have significant impact on US financial services. Possible vendor clients would be other US federal agencies, large US corporations, or non-profit entities, and have significant involvement in US financial services. Firms interested in responding to this sources sought synopsis should submit a Statement of Capabilities package be to RECEIVED by the IRS no later than 2:00 pm EST on Thursday January 22, 2009, in accordance with the instructions provided above, to the attention of: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: Jeff Cornell – Contract Specialist, 6009 Oxon Hill Road, 9th Floor Studies & Analysis Section, Oxon Hill, MD 20745. Any questions should be directed to Jeff Cornell, ph: (202) 283-4965.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=496d80db10a43658ee4f4935404a06ba&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Record
- SN01727372-W 20090108/090106220217-496d80db10a43658ee4f4935404a06ba (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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