The IRS has unveiled a procurement tool it will be using which uses data analytics to predict when a contract will be signed, easing requisition management at the agency, said CPA Practice Advisor. The web app called Projected Contract Award Date uses historical data of contract awards to forecast when an IRS requisition will be turned into a signed contract. This will allow the IRS and its internal customers to work more efficiently by being able to better understand when forecast needs will be fulfilled, adjust standards by redefining requirements like solicitation procedure or dollar value, and evenly distribute workload to contracting personnel and others. This has implications not only for the $2.5 billion worth of IRS contracts per year but the entire federal government, as the tool will be available to other agencies as well.

The IRS will also be speeding production on their Tax Pro Account program, available only to tax professionals, according to Accounting Today. The program is a rare example in the pandemic of when the IRS has sped up a timetable rather than delayed it, as it was originally meant to launch sometime next year; due to how much easier it would make practitioners' jobs during the pandemic, however, the IRS now intends to release it in the third quarter of this year. The tool will offer real-time processing while entering data into the system, which will automatically identify information that needs to be fixed. Given the stepped up timetable, though, some functions will have to be added at a later date.

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