Defense Contracting: DOD Should Clarify Criteria for Using Lowest Price Technically Acceptable Process

Abstract

One way to award a competitive federal contract is to choose based on cost, when the cheapest option will suffice. But how does DOD decide when that's the case? While there are some general criteria for using this process, DOD's regulations don't provide specific criteria for making determinations. That will change when DOD updates its regulations as directed by a 2016 law. We found that some contracting officers were confused about how to apply 2 of the 8 criteria in the law, including how to assess the full cost to DOD over the life of the good or service being bought. We recommended providing more guidance on the criteria.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 13, 2018
Accession Number
AD1156774

Entities

People

  • Alyssa Weir
  • Jay Still
  • Jennifer Baker
  • Julia Kennon
  • Justin Jaynes
  • Khristi Wilkins
  • Lorraine Ettaro
  • Matthew Crosby
  • Roxanna Sun
  • Stephanie Gustafson
  • Timothy J. Dinapoli
  • Victoria Klepacz

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Commerce
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Life Cycle Costs
  • Life Cycles
  • National Security
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Procurement
  • Protective Equipment
  • Shelf Life
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Training

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Theoretical Analysis.