Nat’l Defense Magazine: DoD’s LPTA Contracts Up 10% Between FY 2009-13

The Defense Department’s increasing use of “lowest price-technically acceptable” procedures to buy information technology systems and services has raised some concerns among some IT defense contractors, National Defense reported Wednesday.

Sandra Erwin writes DoD’s use of LPTA bids to award contracts rose from 26 percent of total awards in fiscal year 2009 to 36 percent in fiscal year 2013.

Kevin Kelly, CEO of LGS Innovations, told the publication may not be suitable for programs that require high-end technology platforms, which usually demand costly testing and security clearances.

The prevalent use of LPTA methods has “driven companies like us to inform our customers that we won’t bid on any LPTA work going forward,” he added.

Steve Omick, president of Vencore Labs, said the use of LPTA bids for applied research projects “depends on the customers” and the government should exercise balance between value-driven and cost-driven approaches to contracting.