How bad is LPTA? Tell us
By
Nick Wakeman
We've launched a new research effort to examine the trends around LPTA contracts. Have they gotten worse? Better? And where is best value? Those are some of the questions we want you to answer.
You don’t really need to spell out lowest price, technically acceptable contracting, everyone knows what LPTA means.
In a WT Insider Report we conducted in 2014, we found that it was almost universally despised and a negative impact was felt by contractors and customers alike.
Since then…. Well, that’s what we want to find out. And you can help. We need you to take a short anonymous survey sharing your views about LPTA in today’s market.
While we don’t expect anyone to have fallen in love with the contract evaluation method, we are curious about shifts over the last three years and where people think LPTA is headed now.
There is a lot of talk in the market about whether LPTA is still a drag on contractors. But we want to get beyond the talk. Here is another link to take the survey.
Yes, we have seen policy directives, particularly from the Defense Department aimed at controlling the use of LPTA. Mostly, DOD says that LPTA should only be used for commodity purchases with very well defined requirements.
The emphasis is on best value, not low price.
But it is important to note that LPTA is on the best value spectrum so a best-value procurement can be decided on price.
We’ve seen that with several bid protests where the losing bidder had a higher price and complained to the Government Accountability Office that they should have won because it was a best-value procurement.
But they lost the bid and the protest because their technical proposal didn’t warrant a higher price. The resulting complaint is that best value contracts are best value in name only.
It is an interesting dynamic and one that puts plenty of price pressure on companies bidding on government work.
And that’s what we want to dive into with our research and survey, so please make your view heard. Share your opinions. Don’t be shy.
The survey is anonymous. The results will only be shared in the aggregate. We don’t identify respondents or their companies.
Once the data collection and analysis is completed we’ll publish our Insider Report sometime in April.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.