1D. LSJ.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture

Justification: Exception to Fair Opportunity

FAR 16.505

MVS QuickRef Software Maintenance FY25 Renewal

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

United States Department of Agriculture, Departmental Administration, Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Operations Division, 301 S. Howes Street, Suite 321, Fort Collins, CO 80521.

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The USDA OCIO DISC requires authority to renew the software maintenance and technical support of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software product from Chicago Soft, LTD for the period of performance 10/1/2025 – 9/30/26. Chicago Soft, LTD. is the manufacturer/owner/developer of these propriety software products and on-going software maintenance and technical support. Chicago Soft, LTD. provides maintenance and technical support services for active licenses (license agreement number 7111027).

3. Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

MVS/QuickRef is Chicago-Soft's online quick reference tool for ISPF and CA-ROSCOE users under the z/OS operating system. MVS/QuickRef enables you to invoke it over the active ISPF application, get a quick answer to a z/OS-related question, then terminate it without affecting the active ISPF application.

Chicago Soft, LTD. is the proprietary owner of these software products. MVS/Quick-Ref is a mainframe product that provides instant online access to message descriptions and programming information on MVS systems.

As licensed products, this software is proprietary and has various legal restrictions for use and maintenance. Only the software developer has the rights to the source code. The source code is required to make changes and corrections to the software. No other source is authorized for license, maintenance, and technical support of this proprietary software. In addition, only the developer has the expertise to provide the maintenance required for the software.

DISC currently utilizes COTS software products for operations of the mainframe computer system and customer application software supported by the system. The DISC requires this mainframe software maintenance and technical support of these products for the on-going support of the FAA on the mainframe platform order to support the DISC’s mission of providing information technology (IT) services to its customer agencies. It is necessary to renew the software maintenance and technical support of the software in order to operate with immediate access to technical support if required.

Renewing the software maintenance and technical support for the software will provide that access.

It is necessary to renew the software maintenance and technical support of the products in order to operate with immediate access to technical support when required. Without the renewal of support, the DISC and our customers will no longer have access to software upgrades and bug fixes cause the systems to be vulnerable.

Estimated Value: $66,743.35

4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale.

The following circumstance justifies the exception to fair opportunity/brand name under FAR 16.505:

FAR 16.505(a)(4) - Brand Name.

5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority.

At current, the program office has not been able to find a suitable product with the same componenent skills as the ChicagoSoft Product available for use on the USDA Mainframe without significant changes to other component items on the mainframe. This issue at this time has limited the options of other products available to DISC which could perform a similar role. Additionally, no other products are known to have the same processing speed for quick reference of multiple database users as the existing ChicagoSoft Product, thus making it unique and necessary for DISC to retain.

6. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer anticipates that the cost will be fair and reasonable based on acquit historical pricing for product from contract number 12314418P0199, 12314420P0009, 12314423P0088, 12314420P0114 and 12314424P0106.

7. Any other facts to support the justification.

Per IBMs website:

(https://www356.ibm.com/partnerworld/gsd/solutiondetails.do?solution=51392&expand=true&lc=en) under Competitive advantage.

Online reference information provides answers to z/OS® operators and programmers as they need it, while they work under ISPF. User's time is saved, and their productivity is boosted. Since IBM®'s BookManager is no longer supported by IBM, currently MVS™/QuickRef is the ONLY fully z/OS based online reference tool that provides descriptions of MVS messages, ISV messages, and other key z/OS-relative reference information for z/OS programmers and operators. Reference data is available for use in the context where it is most needed, without using an external Internet-based reference.

Additionally, contract file index titled 1C. 2025 Chicago-Soft Sole Source Letter indicates Chicago Soft does not offer the products to resellers. This significantly increases risk of the government to solicit to other vendors for competition.

8. Statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated.

N/A

Certifications & Approval

Supporting data that forms the basis for and included in this justification is certified accurate and complete.

Dan McCord Program/Technical Personnel

The information contained in this justification is certified accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Bryana Jordan Contracting Officer

DANIAL MC CORD Digitally signed by DANIAL MC CORD Date: 2025.07.23 08:47:59 -05'00'