Congress Seeks to Measure LPTA Influence

A piece of legislation is advancing through Congress to observe lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) acquisitions. The Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act (H.R.5528) was introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds in September 2023 and unanimously passed the House at the end of last month. The bill calls on OMB to submit a report to Congress on the impacts of the LPTA process on national security.

As the name suggests, LPTA is when the government selects the lowest priced proposal over non-cost factors, primarily in circumstances where best value offerings have little effect. LPTA is typically used in purchases of goods versus heavily services-oriented contracts.

Should the proposed bill become law, it seems OMB has its work cut out for them. A look at IT obligations from FY 2021-2023 suggests the source selection process is significantly underreported by federal agencies. Obligations reveal that 48% of total IT contracts in the three-year period list “NULL” in the sources selection process field, with no way to tell how much of those could be LPTA from public data.

Total ($K)	FY 2021	FY 2022	FY 2023
NULL	67,995,150	53,535,899	40,166,679
O	18,319,879	26,628,074	35,205,190
TO	10,773,194	21,082,221	30,218,326
LPTA	8,284,054	10,389,860	13,035,352

Source: Deltek, FPDS

Acronym Key:

• LPTA: Lowest Price Technically Acceptable: Award used the LPTA source selection process.
• TO: Trade-off: The award used any type of best value tradeoff process using price/cost and non-price/cost factors to determine the successful offeror.
• O: Other: Award did not use LPTA or Trade-off process; includes noncompetitive awards.
• Null: Unreported.

However, a closer look at the data shows instances where LPTA procedures may have been improperly applied according to current regulation, potentially posing a risk to services deemed critical. Finalized guidance originating from FY 2017 and FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Acts stipulates that LPTA may not be used in source selection of IT services, cybersecurity services, engineering and manufacturing services for defense programs, personal protective equipment, and auditing services. See here for a complete list of mandates on LPTA processes.

A quick search through FY 2023 IT obligations found defense transactional data listed as LPTA with the following contract requirement descriptions:

• NORTHCOM MEXICO SPECIALIZED CYBER DEFENSE TRAINING
• EXERCISE OPTION YEAR ONE OF CYBER SECURITY SUPPORT FOR PENTAGON WA DC
• CYBER CDID N&S SUPPORT SERVICES
• BMC HELIX IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT SUITE
• PO# 8510010985 FLIS WMS IT AUDIT SUPPORT
• IT SERVICE DESK

Note however, the above line items were selected without further research into other task order specifications. Nonetheless, should the proposed law come to fruition, it will not be surprising if OMB identifies instances where federal agencies are not following regulations surrounding LPTA procedures, particularly in cases of national security.

Final Thoughts: Improper use of LPTA procedures is a longstanding debate in the contractor-acquisition community. The GAO previously reported on the topic as well. Assuming the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act passes, and OMB submits a report to Congress with findings of LPTA impact on national security, federal agencies will see additional oversight on the use of LPTA, boding well for IT services contractors.