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November 3, 2017 By AMK

Can agencies seize the moment for modernization?

The coming shift to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions acquisition vehicle offers a tremendous opportunity for transformation of agency IT systems, several officials said at an Oct. 25 event — but only if agency officials commit to talking differently about IT modernization. 

Part of the problem, according to the General Services Administration’s Bill Zielinski, is that many agencies still try to scope out modernization projects with highly specific technical requirements. “We define not only the business outcome that we’re trying to achieve,” Zielinski said at the FCW-hosted IT modernization event, “but we have that tendency to say, ‘and this is explicitly how you’re going to do that.’”

Such specific solicitations tend to produce near-identical proposals from industry, he noted, which forces agencies to select based on “lowest price technically acceptable” criteria. Worse, he said, that prescriptive approach denies agencies the opportunity to benefit from new and creative solutions that might surface if they simply described the business capability that’s needed.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/10/25/eis-seize-moment-schneider.aspx

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: IT, LPTA, modernization, security

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/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: best value, cost benefit, lowest price technically acceptable, LPTA, NDAA, OFPP, quality, source selection, trade off

August 16, 2017 By AMK

Senate attempt to reduce protests misses the point

When it comes to federal procurement, the frequency and expectation of protests has had a palpable, costly, and sometimes deleterious effect on the process and those competing in it.

Most companies now add an extra six to 12 months to their revenue projections in order to account for possible protests.

There is good reason to believe (including surveys) that “low price/technically acceptable” (LPTA) procurement strategies are, with some frequency, driven by a desire to avoid protests, since protesting such procurements is near impossible.

And, of course, there have been cases where incumbents, having lost a re-competition, submit a protest and, as a result, effectively get a contract extension while the protest is decided.

All of these represent unintended and undesirable impacts of the protest process. As a result, many have believed for some time that significant remedial action is needed. This includes the Senate Armed Services Committee, which, for the second year in a row, has included provisions in the defense authorization bill that would require losing protestors to reimburse the government for the costs of a protest when none of the plaintiff’s allegations are sustained.

Keep reading this article at: https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2017/07/25/insights-soloway-bid-protests.aspx

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, award protest, bid protest, debriefing, lowest price technically acceptable, LPTA, procurement reform, protest, recompete

May 31, 2017 By AMK

LPTA: Still as hated as ever

Three years ago Washington Technology released a WT Insider Report on the impact of lowest price, technically acceptable contracts.

Those results were clear cut – folks hate LPTA. In fact, the report was called LPTA: A hate-hate relationship.

Washington Technology found very little redeeming qualities to LPTA.

Since that time there has been a lot of talk from the higher reaches of the procurement world that LPTA really should only be used when requirements can be very specifically and narrowly defined. In general, services contracts should not be competed as LPTA.

In the past few months, Washington Technology embarked on an update of the 2014 study to see if LPTA was waning as a force in the market place.

The news is not good. This latest report is called LPTA: The hate continues.

Keep reading this article at: https://washingtontechnology.com/blogs/editors-notebook/2017/05/lpta-special-report.aspx

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, LPTA, procurement reform, service contracts, small business

April 14, 2017 By AMK

Progress impeded, acquisition workforce anxious as bid protests continue to multiply

If you want to strike a nerve with federal acquisition managers, bring up bid protests.

The number of protests have all but doubled over the past decade, and that’s creating a significant amount of consternation among the ranks of acquisition personnel at the General Services Administration (GSA).

Janine Wilkinson, GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service national account manager for the Army, said that this was one of the main things federal customers need from industry during a Coalition for Government Procurement panel on April 4, and other GSA officials quickly piled on.

“It’s not just the Army, it’s across the spectrum of customers,” Mark Aucello, director of GSA’s Assisted Acquisition Services client support center for the Mid-Atlantic region, said. “We understand, if we do something wrong, and there’s a legitimate reason to protest, then protest. That’s what it’s there for.  But … [when] it’s ‘I want to keep it another six months because I’m the incumbent and I lost,’ I think that’s the sort of thing that creates a lot of work and expense on the government’s part.”

Tom Howder, assistant commissioner for AAS, agreed, noting that nationally, there’s been an increase in protests, which lengthens the acquisition time frame and impacts the workforce, who frequently have to be reassured that the number of bid protests are not a reflection on the quality of their work.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2017/04/progress-impeded-acquisition-workforce-anxious-bid-protests-continue-multiply/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: AAS, assisted acquisition services, bid protest, Coalition for Government Procurement, DoD, FAS, GAO, GSA, industry feedback, LPTA, NDAA, protest

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