Sole Source Justification-signed.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture

Limited Source Justification

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions

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. Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.

The USDA is purchasing a renewal of the maintenance and technical support services for

MVS/QuickRef license agreement number 7111027.

MVS/Quick-Ref is a mainframe product that provides instant online access to message descriptions and programming information on MVS systems. 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.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

Chicago Soft, LTD. is the manufacture/owner/developer of these propriety software products and on-going software maintenance and technical support. 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.

Since IBM®'s BookManager is no longer supported by IBM, MVS™/QuickRef is currently 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.

DISC currently utilizes COTS software products for operations of the mainframe computer system and customer application software supported by the system. 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 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 to operate with immediate access to technical support if required. Renewing the software maintenance and technical support for the software will provide that access. Without the renewal of support, DISC and its customers will no longer have access to software upgrades and bug fixes that can cause the systems to be vulnerable.

United States Department of Agriculture

Limited Source Justification

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions

4. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

A brand-name solicitation was issued through NASA SEWP and received no responses. A letter from the manufacturer revealed that Chicago-soft will not sell this software through a reseller at current.

5. Estimated price, including all options, if applicable.

Period of Performance: 10/01/2024 – 09/30/2025.

Estimated Cost – $58,038.00

6. Recommended source(s).

Chicago-Soft, LTD.

Certifications

Supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel and which form the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge.

Dan McCord

MSB Chief

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

Ben Alpers

Contracting Officer