Effective October 1, 2019, the Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a final rule restricting the use of lowest-price technically-acceptable (LPTA) solicitations in certain circumstances.

This rule implements statutory changes from the 2017 and 2018 NDAA that will greatly impact the use of LPTA procurements by DoD contracting officers.

For those who may not have been following our previous coverage of these changes, here is a quick summary. The 2017 NDAA established a new DoD policy of avoiding LPTA evaluations, when doing so would deny DoD the benefits of cost and technical tradeoffs.  The 2017 NDAA limited the use of LPTA source selection based on six conditions, and suggested that, for a majority of procurements, DoD should use best-value procedures.  The 2018 NDAA added two more requirements to the original six, and the echoed the 2017 NDAA in calling for limits to the use of LPTA source selection in DoD procurements. Until recently, DoD had not updated its regulations to reflect Congress’ intent to limit LPTA source selections, leaving contracting officers at DoD without detailed guidance.

DoD just issued a final rule amending the DFARS to reflect the relevant sections of the 2017 and 2018 NDAA, limiting the use of LPTA source selection procedures in DoD procurements.  This final rule, once implemented, will make changes to the DFARS and the relevant regulations reflecting these changes will be found at DFARS 215.101-2-70.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/statutes-and-regulations/dod-finalizes-restrictions-on-use-of-lpta-source-selection-process/