USG Requests BAFO After Requesting Certified Cost or Pricing Data

[Old3044]

3 minutes ago, ji20874 said:

I spoke of competitive LPTA.  Cost or pricing data are prohibited in a competitive LPTA acquisition.

Have you seen "Best Value with LPTA" used before?  If so, can you explain the rationale for what appears to be contradictory evaluation criteria?  When I was trained, it was Best Value or LPTA, indicating the priority of the evaluation.  If the priority was brand-name, delivery schedule, or quality you would use best value.  LPTA was the simplest expression of "we need this particular widget, cheapest offer wins".

 

I'm still not sure how combining those two really makes sense.  Perhaps our resident philosopher may have some insight....

[ji20874]

Old3044,

I think you were trained in error.  The two most common best value approaches for FAR part 15 competitive acquisitions are LPTA and tradeoff.  But don't feel bad, as that error is widespread.  See FAR 15.101.

[Don Mansfield]

45 minutes ago, Old3044 said:

Have you seen "Best Value with LPTA" used before?  If so, can you explain the rationale for what appears to be contradictory evaluation criteria?  When I was trained, it was Best Value or LPTA, indicating the priority of the evaluation.  If the priority was brand-name, delivery schedule, or quality you would use best value.  LPTA was the simplest expression of "we need this particular widget, cheapest offer wins".

 

I'm still not sure how combining those two really makes sense.  Perhaps our resident philosopher may have some insight....

My guess is that you were trained before 1997.

[joel hoffman]

1 hour ago, Don Mansfield said:

My guess is that you were trained before 1997.

When Part 15 was rewritten, they took what were essentially two distinct source selection processes and created a “Best Value Continuum “, where the trade off method was at one end and LPTA was at the other.

Having been a member of some industry organizations such as the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the Society of Military Engineers ( SAME) and associated with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the industry has interpreted the term “Best Value Acquisition”  to mean that the selection of a contractor or award of a contract considers both price and qualifications and/or price and  other technical criteria, as opposed to selection or award based upon price only or qualifications based selection (no price) .  Thus,  industry and the FAR are pretty well aligned on the meaning of the term “Best Value”.

Since both trade-off and LPTA consider price and non-price criteria, it makes sense to call them both forms of “best value” source selection methods.

Price only (low bid) has been around for years in private, Federal, State and local contracting.

Qualifications Based Selection is commonly used for A-E contracting, especially since the passage of the Brooks Architectural-Engineer Act in 1972. All of the professional design organizations endorse and advocate QBS selection of engineers and architects. I believe that most if not all States have what are referred to as Mini-Brooks Act QBS legislation.

The use of QBS is being encouraged for Design-Build by the D-B industry and the DBIA.  And QBS is commonly used in private contracting. 

Didnt mean to get into such a deep discussion about the terms but they are commonly understood terms for the various selection approaches used in the US.