The IRS—like all federal agencies—is under several mandates to incorporate new and emerging technologies to improve its day to day operations and its mission of administering the nation’s tax code.

But the IRS doesn’t have a research and development office nor special acquisition authorities such as other transaction authority or a commercial solutions opening program. The IRS doesn’t even have funds allocated for R&D.

Instead, a team in the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer used parts 12 and 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to create Pilot IRS, a phased, incremental funding procurement vehicle that will let the agency test new technologies on faster timelines without added risk. If a solution fails to meet expectations, it won’t proceed to the next phase of funding.

The office kicked-off the project with a broad request for information back in December but is preparing to debut the first solicitation in August. The first cohort—or Solution Challenge—will focus on automating data reporting on contract spending, something a procurement office in the Treasury Department knows all too well.

“The quality of the data is inconsistent because different contracting activities use different approaches, use different systems and, frankly, as we in the IRS have experienced firsthand, the bulk of the obligations come in the fourth quarter and in September,” Harrison Smith, IRS deputy chief procurement officer, told Nextgov in an interview. “Last year, about 44% of our obligations came in the fourth quarter; that’s up from about 36% five years before that. Last year, we obligated about 25% of our contractual transactions in the month of September; that’s up from 13% five years ago.”

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