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Request for Information: Artificial
Intelligence
Request for Information (RFI)
Definition: Request made typically during the
project planning phase where a buyer cannot
clearly identify product requirements,
specifications, and purchase options. RFIs clearly
indicate that award of a contract will not
automatically follow.
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RFI AI-pilot
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Contents
Table of contents
Request for Information: Artificial Intelligence............................................................................ 1
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Purpose of this RFI ....................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Who should respond ..................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Related RFIs ................................................................................................................. 3
2 About the Norwegian Tax Administration (NTA)................................................................. 4
2.1.1
2.1.2
3
4
5
6
Directorate of Taxes ................................................................................................................... 4
The operative NTA..................................................................................................................... 4
About our potential partners .................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Difi ................................................................................................................................ 6
3.2 Lånekassen .................................................................................................................... 6
Our current AI vision ............................................................................................................. 7
4.1 AI-terminology ............................................................................................................. 7
How to Respond ..................................................................................................................... 8
5.1 When and where ........................................................................................................... 8
5.2 Scope............................................................................................................................. 8
5.3 Format ........................................................................................................................... 8
5.4 Content .......................................................................................................................... 8
5.5 Non-binding RFI ........................................................................................................... 8
5.6 You May Require Confidentiality ................................................................................ 8
5.7 Costs ............................................................................................................................. 9
5.8 Schedule for RFI ........................................................................................................... 9
Content: Areas and questions to be addressed ..................................................................... 10
6.1 Benefits ....................................................................................................................... 10
6.2 Platform ...................................................................................................................... 10
6.3 Content and learning ................................................................................................... 10
6.4 Communication........................................................................................................... 10
6.5 Connection to live data ............................................................................................... 10
6.6 Resolution of data ....................................................................................................... 10
6.7 Security and privacy ................................................................................................... 10
6.8 Operation .................................................................................................................... 11
6.9 Commercial................................................................................................................. 11
6.10 Initial project ............................................................................................................... 11
6.11 Customer references ................................................................................................... 11
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Introduction
1.1 Purpose of this RFI
The Norwegian Tax Administration (NTA) is currently investigating the possible applications,
costs and benefits of AI technology in providing information and services to the public sector.
The term AI – Artificial Intelligence – has been chosen as the term currently closest to our
thinking, but the AI-term should be understood in a wider context, see 4.1 AI-terminology later
in this document.
We are issuing this RFI because:

We are interested in learning how AI might, in an affordable way, improve the customer
experience for citizens. An intermediate goal might be 24/7 availability of consistent,
understandable answers for an extremely diverse range of individuals and topics. An
ultimate goal might be to not just answer questions, but decide and resolve issues.

We are interested in learning how AI might be applied in order to improve the speed,
quality, consistency and cost efficiency of the work that public servants perform to
interpret, apply, document and communicate government laws and regulations.

We are interested in collecting ideas for how to use AI to improve the public sector in
ways we might not have thought of yet.

We are interested in suggestions for alternative commercial models and/or partnerships.

Our current thinking is to propose an internal pilot beginning first half of 2017. In order
to create a solid proposal, we need a realistic commercial understanding of the AI/Public
sector market. The time scope of the internal pilot could be from 9 to 18 months.
1.2 Who should respond
We are primarily interested in hearing from suppliers and/or system integrator equivalents who
can reference existing in-the-field pilots or functioning implementations.
To the extent that you wish to describe future offerings, please be very clear about what is
available as of Jan 1 2017, and what is futureware.
1.3 Related RFIs
Previous related and relevant RFIs (for info only)

"RFI - Advanced analytics and scoring".
The intention behind this RFI was to get the suppliers and service providers' perspective
on the future direction of analytics related to NTA's challenges and needs. Equally
important, we wanted to get a better understanding of the products and services available
to include a more efficient and pervasive use of analytics and knowledge in core business
processes.
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
“RFI – Market survey – Data warehouse and/or data management solution for analytics
(DMSA)”.
That RFI was conducted to prepare the practical and technical foundation for a
replacement of the NTA’s current data warehouse platform with a new hardware and
software DBMS solution.

RFI Kontaktsenter bemanningsløsning og sentralbord (Contact center, staffing solution
and switchboard) (Norwegian only).
2
About the Norwegian Tax Administration (NTA)
The Norwegian Tax Administration consists of the Directorate of Taxes, the regional tax offices
as well as the Norwegian National Collection Agency. We have about 6400 employees, currently
in 105 offices throughout Norway. The NTA's main functions are:







maintain a national population registry
issue tax deduction cards and calculate tax
check the basis for tax returns and other statements from payers of tax and other charges
and from third parties
check and determine tax on wealth, income and national insurance charges
determine and collect value-added tax, investment tax and a number of excise duties
assume technical responsibility for the municipal tax collectors' tax collection
perform collection functions on behalf of the Norwegian government administration
2.1.1
Directorate of Taxes
The Directorate of Taxes reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and is headed by the
Director of Taxes Hans Christian Holte.
The Directorate of Taxes consists of:


The strategic directorate, which is responsible for technical and administrative
management of the NTA, and
A service organization (SITS), which is the NTA's supplier of IT and administrative
services.
2.1.2
The operative NTA
The tax offices, organized in five regions, and an additional group of specialized offices make up
the bulk of the NTA. This part of the organization has the majority of our employees and
performs all of the main functions.
Here are some examples of the volume and type of work:

The Tax Information Office (SOL) has more that 300 employees with a possibility of
calling on additional 360 support service employees in heavy duty periods. SOL responds
to questions over telephone, e-mail, chat and Facebook. SOL annually receives around
1.800.000 calls, with a clear majority over telephone, followed by e-mail.
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
Members of the public are also helped by in person at tax offices by the Public
information service. This service has 770 000 conversations annually.

The NTA also receives approximately 300 000 digital communications, some of which
are requests for information and some related to cases that must be resolved.

Specialized offices for the petroleum industry, very large companies, and foreign workers
also have support services, but their total volume is small compared to SOL and the
Public information service.

Large numbers of our employees work in resolving specific cases. For the area Value
Added Tax (MVA) in 2014: 510 996 determinations were made by our employees, and
over 1,7 million letters were sent out.

The Norwegian National Collection Agency answeres 315 000 telephone queries
annually, and deals with 115 000 pieces of written or digital correspondance.
NTA – Organization chart
Figure 1: Norwegian Tax Administration
More information (Norwegian only): http://www.skatteetaten.no/no/Om-skatteetaten/Om-oss/
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About our potential partners
This RFI is issued by the NTA. However, at this stage we have an informal contact and
potentially future cooperation with two partners in the Norwegian public sector, the Agency for
Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) and the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund
(Lånekassen). The intention is that this informal contact will be further developed and
formalized in the coming months.
3.1 Difi
You can see more about Difi's role and tasks here: https://www.difi.no/om-difi/about-difi
3.2 Lånekassen
You can see more about Lånekassen here: https://lanekassen.no/nb-NO/Languages/About-theNorwegian-State-Educational-Loan-Fund-/
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Our current AI vision
Our overall vision is summed up (in Norwegian) in the document "Fremtidsbildet- Skatteetaten
2025" (http://www.skatteetaten.no/globalassets/skatteetatens-strategier/fremtidsbildetskatteetaten-2025.pdf ). We strongly believe AI technology can contribute to and catalyze
development and offerings that will help us achieve this vision. We also envision the NTA as a
public sector pioneer in harvesting AI-technology benefits. Our first step is to understand the
actual AI-solutions that exist and to what relevant problems these are applied.
At this time we see the likely progress described below. However, we are very open to changing
our understanding of what is possible and desirable. We are actively seeking responders' input as
to what our AI-vision could be, and how it could be concretized in terms of examples and cost /
benefit.
Outline of possible activities:
Phase 1:
2017: An internal pilot to learn about the technology and create a solution that will let the
Norwegian Public Sector enhance its understanding of the possibilities. The pilot could be set up
with NTA employees as users, and the pilot AI installation supplying correct answers,
references, precedents and interpretations for questions about the many laws, rules and routines
we apply.
Phase 2:
Iterative development and launch of a taxpayer-facing AI service that enhances our brand and
gives good cost-benefit. Starting with an information-supplying service and growing to a service
that can give correct and legal answers to specific questions, and finally resolve and document
some cases.
Phase 3:
Expanding in several possible dimensions, both to provide more taxpayer service and to consider
the use of AI in qualified case handling or risk identification or both. Perhaps working toward
the ultimate goal of a single shared government customer service entity.
4.1
AI-terminology
Our use of the term "Artificial Intelligence," AI, in this RFI should not be understood as
excluding products or services described with other related terms. Gartner Group refers to Smart
Machines; we have come across other terms such as Machine Learning, Cognitive Computing or
the Cognitive Era, and Deep Learning.
This field is undergoing rapid development, and without trying to clarify all terms we have
chosen AI as the name for this study, and believe the possible responders will understand what
we intend with this study, whatever terms might be used at this point in time.
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How to Respond
5.1 When and where
Please submit your response by 15.Sep.2016. See section 5.8 Schedule for more dates of interest.
Send responses by e-mail to [email protected], with the subject line: "<supplier name>
response RFI Artificial Intelligence". We will acknowledge by e-mail. You may choose to
submit your response in Norwegian or in English.
5.2 Scope
The market survey has a narrow focus. However, the NTA encourages suppliers to describe their
preferred alternative solutions where our suggested vision appears too limited.
5.3 Format
Standard file formats are welcome. Feel free to check with us if you are in doubt.
5.4 Content
Please see section 6 Content: Areas and questions to be addressed.
Please include a cover letter. You cover letter should contain:


Supplier name and a short description of the supplier
The supplier's contact person(s), including name, role, and e-mail address and phone number
for each individual.
 A list of which files and documents you have transmitted, with title and purpose of each.
Longer documents should have their own table of contents.
We are aware that this RFI potentially may overlap with previous RFIs as mentioned in chapter
1.3. As this RFI must be a stand-alone response, relevant parts of previous responses may be
reused.
5.5 Non-binding RFI
It should be noted that responses to this RFI are non-binding for both the NTA and suppliers who
choose to respond. See section 5.8 for information about the process going forward. It should
also be noted that any projected requirements listed in this document in future RFIs and/or
procurements may have changed without notice.
5.6 You May Require Confidentiality
We expect to be asked to share information we receive with other interested government
agencies, not limited to our potential partners.
The NTA will naturally hold as confidential part or all of any response that you clearly mark as
confidential. Confidential material will only be available to those concerned with the project
within the NTA and our potential partners Difi and Lånekassen.
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5.7 Costs
Respondents must cover all their own costs relating to participation.
5.8 Schedule for RFI
No
Activity
Date
1
RFI distributed to suppliers on Doffin
15.Aug.2016
2
Deadline asking for a meeting
01.Sep.2016
3
Deadline questions from suppliers
09.Sep.2016
4
Meetings with suppliers
05.-12.Sep.2016
5
Response deadline (end of day)
15.Sep.2016
6
Potential meetings with suppliers
26.Sep - 14.Oct.2016
On expiry of the response deadline, we will review the responses received and consider inviting
suppliers separately for meetings to discuss their response. NTA's analysis of the responses will
be compiled into a report for executive management, who will assess and decide on the process
going forward. Given management approval, the next phase will include a more detailed Request
for Proposals.
Request for meeting
Suppliers may want a meeting for clarifications, questions etc. concerning the RFI. To request
such a meeting, please send your request as soon as possible, at the latest on the 1st of September
2016. The meetings will take place in the period 5th to 12th of September 2016.
Contact information
Any questions concerning the market survey should be sent by e-mail to:
[email protected]
All questions and answers will be published in an anonymized form on the public procurement
portal doffin.no.
Post-response meetings
The NTA will consider inviting the suppliers to individual meetings after the submissions have
been received and reviewed. These meetings would take place in the period from 26th of
September till 14th of October 2016.
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Content: Areas and questions to be addressed
In your response, we hope to find answers to the questions in this chapter. Please include a table
of contents that will help us to locate these topics. Feel free to add topics and questions that we
should have included.
Where possible and relevant, please refer to actual implementations, products, customers, cases
etc.
6.1 Benefits
What problems does your solution address? How does your offering differentiate itself from
other products/suppliers?
6.2 Platform
What technical platform or architecture is required? Or, an example of the architecture of an
existing implementation.
6.3 Content and learning
How does your offering absorb content initially? How is content maintained and enhanced over
time? What types of content are supported?
6.4 Communication
What channels of communication does your offering support? E-mail, written chat, spoken chat
with artificial presence, telephone, machine-to-machine, other?
Which human languages are supported? Is any form of Norwegian (Bokmål, Nynorsk) supported
now? Planned? Can several different languages be handled in parallel?
How is your product designed and monitored to ensure a satisfying user experience?
What is the user acceptance / satisfaction data for this offering?
6.5 Connection to live data
Please describe and give examples of how your offering can progress from providing general
information to accessing and leveraging user-specific data, for example, an individual user's
account or log of customer activity.
6.6 Resolution of data
Please describe and give examples of how your offering might be able to make and implement
decisions in response to a citizen. For example, changing the terms of a student loan by
interfacing with the loan database in accordance with set rules, and creating legal documentation
of the action.
6.7 Security and privacy
Possible considerations arising from security and privacy issues.
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6.8 Operation
What competence is required in order to implement your offering? To integrate it with other
systems? To train the artificial intelligence? How many human experts are needed to maintain
and monitor it? How will scalability be handled?
6.9 Commercial
How is your offering priced? Are there alternative commercial schemes such as partnerships,
outright purchase, annual license fees, volume-based pricing, transaction-based fees?
Can you describe the maturity of your product/solution/offering? What areas of risk are to be
expected and what models for risk mitigation and/or sharing are realistic?
6.10 Initial project
How might an initial project (NTA phase 1) be organized? Participation from NTA, supplier and
consultants? Experiences with similar projects?
6.11 Customer references
Customer references relevant to this RFI? If applicable, might the reference be visited?
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