Identity is not a feature. At IRS scale, it is national infrastructure. This post examines what it takes to operate secure, resilient Identity, Credential, and Access Management for more than 60 million users, where designing for peak demand, not average conditions, is essential. It explores the operational realities of running ICAM under constant pressure and how, through the eA3 program, the IRS has evolved identity from a collection of tools into a stable, continuously operating platform that supports trust, performance, and mission delivery.
Modernizing identity at the scale of the IRS is not a theoretical exercise. It is an operational challenge measured in uptime, throughput, recovery time, and public trust. Identity systems must perform reliably during filing season surges, policy changes, fraud spikes, and continuous scrutiny from taxpayers, Congress, and oversight bodies.
Through the eA3 program, Makpar has supported the IRS in operating and evolving one of the largest ICAM environments in government, helping the agency sustain secure access for more than 60 million users while maintaining performance and resilience under constant demand. This work is less about introducing new identity concepts and more about making identity services dependable at national scale.
Why ICAM at IRS Scale Is an Operational Discipline
Modernizing identity at IRS scale is measured in uptime, throughput, recovery time, and public trust. At this volume, ICAM behaves less like a security feature and more like core infrastructure. Every authentication request, access decision, and identity signal contributes to system load, where even minor latency becomes visible to millions of users.
Operating identity at this scale requires discipline across architecture, engineering, and operations. Systems must absorb peak filing season demand, recover quickly from disruption, and deliver consistent access without degrading the taxpayer experience.
Through eA3, Makpar has supported the IRS in evolving ICAM from a collection of tools into a stable, continuously operating platform designed for national scale.
Makpar’s Role and Differentiators
- Identity as Mission Infrastructure: Designed and operated as a core dependency for digital services, not a standalone security capability.
- Peak-Season Resilience Engineering: Architected to perform predictably under filing season surges, policy changes, and elevated fraud pressure.
- Consistent Access at Scale: Ensures reliable authentication and authorization across dozens of applications and tens of millions of users.
- Operational Outcomes Over Tooling: Focuses on uptime, performance, and trust rather than one-time deployments or isolated technologies.
Scaling Access Without Scaling Risk
As the IRS expanded digital services, the identity surface expanded with it. More users, more applications, more access paths, and more opportunities for fraud. The challenge was not simply supporting additional users. It was maintaining consistent assurance, access control, and performance as volume increased.
Makpar supported the IRS in strengthening how identity assurance, authentication, and authorization operate together at scale, ensuring access decisions remain reliable even as demand fluctuates, and threat conditions evolve. This approach prioritizes consistency over customization and reliability over one-off optimization.
Designing for Peak, Not Average
Filing season exposes the true limits of identity systems. Traffic spikes sharply, concurrent logins surge, and tolerance for disruption drops to zero. At IRS scale, identity must perform reliably under the most demanding conditions, not just during steady state operations.
Through eA3, the focus has been on hardening identity services for peak conditions by reducing latency at scale, improving the clarity of fraud signals, enforcing consistent authorization across systems, and giving operators real time visibility into system behavior. This discipline allows identity services to remain invisible to users when they are working properly, even under extreme load.
ICAM as Mission Infrastructure
Makpar does not approach ICAM as a standalone security domain. We treat it as mission infrastructure that must be continuously available, auditable, and adaptable.
That means aligning to federal standards, supporting Zero Trust enforcement, and designing systems that operators can manage effectively over time. It also means making tradeoffs that favor stability, clarity, and repeatability over novelty.
Through eA3, the emphasis has remained on outcomes that matter operationally, including sustained uptime, consistent access enforcement, and predictable performance during peak demand.
What Success Looks Like
When ICAM is operating effectively at IRS scale, the results are quiet but meaningful.
- Taxpayers access services without friction.
- Fraud signals surface earlier and with greater clarity.
- Access decisions remain consistent across systems.
- Operations teams spend less time firefighting.
- Trust in digital services strengthens over time.
The lesson for agencies beyond the IRS is clear. Scale enforces discipline. Consistency beats customization. Systems must be designed for the worst day, not the average one. And success should be measured not only in dashboards, but in what operators and users experience when demand is at its highest.
Looking Forward
As the IRS continues to expand and evolve its digital services, identity will remain a critical operational dependency. Future enhancements will focus on adaptability, automation, and stronger integration between identity signals and access decisions.
Makpar remains committed to supporting the IRS as identity systems continue to mature from foundational capability to resilient, mission-ready infrastructure.
If your agency is wrestling with identity reliability, modernization, or peak-season performance, contact Makpar to discuss how we support secure, resilient ICAM operations at scale.
