Technical Acceptability + Past Performance + Price ≠ LPTA

Peckar & Abramson – Section 813(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act created a policy against using lowest priced technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection process in circumstances that would deny the Department of Defense (DoD) the benefits of a cost and technical tradeoff.  Under the LPTA source selection process, award is made to the offeror who submits the lowest-price as long as the offeror’s bid, proposal, or quote is technically acceptable and does not deviate from the solicitation requirements.  Section 813(c) provides that the LPTA source selection criteria only should be used by DoD in limited circumstances and should not be used for, among other things, the acquisition of information technology services and cybersecurity services.  On September 26, 2019, DoD issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement the restrictions on the use of the LPTA source selection process.