Budgetary constraints, the resulting increase in the number of bid protests, and an insufficient acquisition workforce have seemingly conspired to propel the use of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) evaluation criteria by the Department of Defense (DoD). Under LPTA, the government agency awards the contract to the offer or submitting the lowest price proposal that meets the technical requirements.
Its expanded use has been met with opposition from segments of the contractor community,particularly those that provide high-end, complex services for which a thorough examination of“trade-offs” between cost and non-cost factors is often more suitable. These contractors assert,and rightly so, that they are offering better value to the government—which may come at a higher price.