Cost Benefit | The Contracting Education Academy

October 11, 2017 By AMK

Procurement may be trending toward value over price

The number of times federal agencies have requested lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) bids in contract solicitations has shot up over the past decade, an examination of Bloomberg Government data shows.

Federal contract solicitations stating that awards will be made on the basis of LPTA source-selection procedures have steadily grown, from 920 in fiscal year 2008 to more than 12,000 in each of the past two fiscal years, according to Bloomberg Government data.

But contracting industry groups and, increasingly, members of Congress have been agitating for a best-value purchasing approach in more cases, taking into account other factors, including whether the benefits of higher-priced proposals are worth the extra cost.

This renewed priority for best-value procurements has been reflected in the fiscal 2017 and 2018 defense authorization bills in Congress, which significantly narrow the range of types of procurements in which the Defense Department can use LPTA as a guiding philosophy.

Keep reading this article at: https://about.bgov.com/blog/procurement-may-trending-toward-value-price/

September 19, 2017 By AMK

Grassley: DoD audit plan ‘doomed to failure’

At least since the passage of the 1990 CFO Act, Congress has been hounding the Defense Department and every other federal agency to get their books into a condition that can be scrutinized by outside auditors.

But now that it’s finally come time for DoD —the lone holdout — to actually conduct the first full-scope audit in its history, at least one senator thinks it would be a terrible idea for the department to follow though with that plan, because the Pentagon simply isn’t ready.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has long been a critic of the department’s failure to achieve audit readiness, but also believes that trying to force one through now would be a monumental waste of time and money, since literally no one expects the department to earn a clean opinion on the audit that’s scheduled to get underway next fiscal year.

The costs, he told colleagues on the Senate floor on Sept. 12th, far outweigh the benefits.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/defense-main/2017/09/grassley-dod-audit-plan-doomed-to-failure/

January 10, 2017 By AMK

It’s time to bury A-76 — It worked once, but its day is past

Last month, Government Executive’s Charlie Clark posited the question of whether, in a Trump Administration, public-private competitions under the policy and methodology known as A-76 would be or should be revived.

stan-soloway As the article demonstrated, opinions on the issue, which was for many years the focus of harsh, often bitter debate, have not changed much.

But mine has.

Despite having long been, and continuing to be, an outspoken advocate of expanding the use of competition to drive higher government performance and greater efficiency, I believe A-76’s time has passed and it would be wise to let this sleeping dog lie.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2017/01/its-time-bury-76it-worked-once-its-day-past/134305

The number of times federal agencies have requested lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) bids in contract solicitations has shot up over the past decade, an examination of Bloomberg Government data shows.

At least since the passage of the 1990 CFO Act, Congress has been hounding the Defense Department and every other federal agency to get their books into a condition that can be scrutinized by outside auditors.

Last month, Government Executive’s Charlie Clark posited the question of whether, in a Trump Administration, public-private competitions under the policy and methodology known as A-76 would be or should be revived.

The “pay for success” movement in the non-profit world is starting to take hold at the federal, state, and local levels. But a prerequisite is having some way of measuring success — and ensuring that funding models encourage it.

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