Sector(s)
Beginning in 2020 and continuing through 2026, Nationwide IT Services (NIS) served as the prime contractor supporting the Internal Revenue Service’s Web Content Management System (WCMS), providing continuous operations and maintenance for IRS.gov and WCMS in a 24x7x365 environment. The platform supports mission-critical public-facing services, enabling the IRS to deliver timely tax guidance, multilingual content, official announcements from Congress and the White House, and other essential information to millions of taxpayers, businesses, tax professionals, and partners nationwide.
Given the high-visibility and dynamic nature of IRS.gov, the WCMS environment must remain highly available, secure, and scalable at all times. Supporting this platform requires close coordination across cross-functional teams, strict adherence to security and regulatory standards, and disciplined operational processes to ensure uninterrupted service. At the same time, the system must support ongoing modernization efforts to improve performance, scalability, and readiness for future IRS digital initiatives
About the project
Goals:
The goal of this effort was to ensure continuous, secure, and reliable operations for the IRS.gov Web Content Management System while modernizing the platform to support evolving mission requirements. The initiative also aimed to improve system performance, scalability, and operational efficiency while maintaining full regulatory and security compliance.
Requirements:
The effort required providing continuous operations and maintenance support for the IRS.gov WCMS, hiring and leading a highly skilled technical team to support mission-critical services, and executing platform upgrades, defect resolution, and ongoing software enhancements.
Because the mission was highly sensitive to web traffic fluctuations, particularly during peak tax filing seasons, the platform required an elevated level of operational attention. Significant increases in user demand made it critical that the entire IRS website remain fully functional, secure, and available at all times.
Additional requirements included delivering integrated development, testing, automation, configuration, and project management services. The team also supported Drupal platform modernization through PHP upgrades and a Drupal 10 roadmap covering over 200 modules. This work included identifying and reporting defects through automated testing, optimizing production infrastructure to reduce storage usage, and assuming administrative and operational responsibilities to help streamline IRS processes.
Outcome:
As a result of this effort, the team successfully hired a group of specialized project managers and subject matter experts to provide program management support. This work matured the program and improved system reliability, responsiveness, and scalability, while establishing a clear modernization path to support future IRS digital initiatives.
These efforts resulted in a 67 percent reduction in filesystem storage, decreasing usage from 96GB to 32GB, and significantly improving infrastructure efficiency. The team also managed more than 37,000 web pages and 250 unique landing pages, earning Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) ratings of “Very Good” across quality, schedule, cost control, management, security adherence, and regulatory compliance. In recognition of this performance, the team was acknowledged as a major contributor to mission success during a Deputy Commissioner Award ceremony.
Why Drupal was chosen
Drupal was chosen for its ability to deliver a secure, scalable, and flexible content management platform capable of supporting complex federal requirements. Its robust permissions model, modular architecture, and strong security posture enable large content teams to manage high-volume, mission-critical content while ensuring performance, accessibility, and compliance.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
These modules, themes, and distributions were selected to enable the IRS’s internal Online Services content publishing team to efficiently manage and publish content while delivering a visually consistent, user-friendly experience for U.S. taxpayers. They also support robust and accurate search functionality, ensuring taxpayers can quickly find the information and services they need when visiting IRS.gov.
