low bid | The Contracting Education Academy

January 26, 2017 By AMK

GAO ruling lets GSA buy the USDA steak, not the mystery meat

The General Services Administration (GSA) may have just put the first nail in the coffin that eventually will bury the widespread use of lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) contracts for services.

The Government Accountability Office’s decision to deny four protests of GSA’s Alliant 2 contracts for IT services could end up being a landmark ruling that is that first nail.

“Lowest-price technically acceptable has been disfavored among contractors for putting price over innovation. Now we have protesters who in essence claim that cost was only nominally and improperly considered in the Alliant 2 evaluation,” said Barbara Kinosky, managing partner of Centre Law & Consulting LLC. “We have seen DoD move away from LPTA. This is the first major requirement coming out of a civilian agency that is clearly saying, ‘Contractors, we are looking for smart over cheap. Give us the USDA steak, not the convenience store mystery meat.’ I am confident this is a trend we will now see more of since GSA has taken the lead in the technology area where we definitely need to excel.”

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2017/01/gao-ruling-lets-gsa-buy-usda-steak-not-mystery-meat/

January 7, 2016 By AMK

Viewpoint: Reverse auctions don’t help agencies or taxpayers

Dozens of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of America’s small construction firms— whether minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone or just plain old small business—agree: using reverse auctions to procure construction services for the federal government does not save money, does not encourage quality and does not help small businesses.

Reverse auctions do not guarantee the lowest price for a contract. Rather, like in “The Price is Right” game show, they guarantee that one business will underbid others by just one dollar. A bidder has no incentive to offer its best price and may never have to offer its lowest price. Nevertheless, business do offer their best price for low price technically acceptable procurements and other contracting approaches conducted through sealed bids, where competitors do not know their competitor’s price. Data reporting any bid savings is, therefore, highly questionable.

Reverse auctions do not make sense for the procurement of many contracts, particularly those for professional services and especially construction services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/12/viewpoint-reverse-auctions-dont-help-agencies-or-taxpayers/124791/

June 5, 2013 By AMK

‘Industry needs profits and margins to be successful’ — DoD deputy secretary

Lowest price will no longer rule the day in federal contracting at the Defense Department, as the latest iteration of its procurement strategy recognizes the need for industry to to make money, said Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a speech Thursday.

In comments made at D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Carter was referring to Better Buying Power 2.0, the Pentagon’s effort to be more efficient and productive in the way the department buys goods and services.

The first version, introduced by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates in September 2010, sought to increase affordability in defense programs, provide incentives for productivity and innovation in industry through profit and partnership, promote competition, improve the effectiveness of services acquisition and reduce nonproductive processes and bureaucracy.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2013/05/deputy-defense-seretary-carter.html?page=all

The General Services Administration (GSA) may have just put the first nail in the coffin that eventually will bury the widespread use of lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) contracts for services.

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