PSC Announces Final DoD LPTA Rule; Urges OFPP Action

The Professional Services Council (PSC) announced on Thursday that the Department of Defense’s issuance of long overdue final regulations prohibiting the misuse of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection criteria for certain services and IT contracts.

“PSC has repeatedly pushed for these regulations, as it is particularly ill-advised for DoD to apply LPTA shortcuts to complex professional or technical services where higher-level capabilities and innovation are needed,” said David Berteau, president and CEO of PSC and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient. 

“While LPTA may be appropriate on occasion, the practice has been widely abused and misused for years. Now that these regulations have been issued, program managers and contracting officers will have the consistent guidance they need to maximize value, access innovation, and improve acquisition outcomes,” Berteau continued.

These regulations, which stem from Section 813 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17 NDAA), will dramatically curtail that misuse, producing better results for DoD. Since the initial statute applied only to DoD, PSC worked with Congress to enact similar criteria for procurements for the entire federal government. Such legislation was included in the FY19 NDAA (Sec. 880). 

“In addition to the new DoD rule, the federal government should act expeditiously to put the final nail in the LPTA coffin by issuing the government-wide regulations,” Berteau continued. 

“All federal agencies should be required, as the statute mandates, to document that adequate consideration was given to the complexity of the mission needs and the range of available solutions that will provide the best value for the taxpayers, not just default to the lowest price.” 

About Professional Services Council

PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states.