IRS' blueprint has vision for portals
The IRS' latest blueprint for modernization will include plans for three portals to access its computer systems.
The Internal Revenue Service's latest blueprint for modernization will
include plans for three portals to access IRS computer systems.
The blueprint, to be released Dec. 18, will describe the use of single
points of entry — a model increasingly utilized by the government to provide
swift and secure access to information.
Paul Cosgrave, chief information officer at the IRS, said the blueprint
would reflect a Web-oriented approach that was not in place when the first
one was released in 1997. Now, "there is a lot more thinking around orientation
and using Web and portal technology," he said.
The blueprint includes plans for three portals: one for employees, one
for registered users — such as tax accountants filing returns electronically
for clients — and one for taxpayers.
"The blueprint itself is the technical vision of what the systems will
look like at the end of modernization," Cosgrave said. "It doesn't get you
down to where every nail gets hammered down." Although the blueprint does
not include a price for the massive project, it will lay out the strategy
for designing and implementing the next phase of the IRS' Prime modernization
program, which is expected to take five to seven years.
The overall project is a 10-year, multibillion-dollar effort to turn
the tax agency into a fully automated system. Computer Sciences Corp. is
the prime contractor. The IRS will continue to phase in new segments as
they become available, including an automated telephone system early next
year.
Meanwhile, Cosgrave said the $200 million Congress released Nov. 28
for the program would be tapped within the next few weeks to take some projects
from the planning stage to the design phase.
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