Mary-Louise Hoffman
A new Deltek report indicates that federal agencies’ use of the “lowest price-technically acceptable” methodology to acquire professional services and information technology offerings rose from 29 percent in fiscal 2012 to 32 percent during fiscal 2014.
Overall, the U.S. government adopted an LPTA source selection process in 5,740 acquisition activities last year, a 24 percent decline from the 7,540 purchases that agencies made in FY 2012 using the approach, Deltek said Friday.
The U.S. Defense Department accounted for 24 percent of all LPTA-related government procurements while federal civilian organizations accounted for 55 percent of LPTA implementations, the report states.
Deltek analysts also found that most agencies have no formal LPTA guidance in place and let contracting officers identify strategies to save money.
The research firm noted budgetary issues, technology standardization and a shortage of government acquisition professionals as among the forces that drive agencies to use the source selection methodology.
