PSC Welcomes Final LPTA Regulation

Arlington, Va. (Jan. 15, 2021) The Professional Services Council (PSC) welcomes the release of the long-overdue and final Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that requires adherence to specific criteria in order for the federal government to use lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection criteria for services contracts across government agencies. 

“This is a critical development in PSC’s long-standing efforts to ensure that the federal government uses LPTA only when it makes sense. LPTA misuse leads to subpar results and increases long-term costs to the government,” said PSC President and CEO David J. Berteau. “LPTA is not suitable for many services or when contracting requirements are difficult to define with precision. PSC believes that compliance with the criteria in this newly-issued regulation can achieve desired outcomes for the right purposes.” 

On December 2, 2019, PSC provided comments on the proposed FAR rule now being issued.  This final regulation follows years of statutory requirements pursued by PSC and enacted by Congress, as far back as 2016.  

“The challenges will come in implementation, but the payoff can be significant. Government-wide adherence to these LPTA criteria will help all federal agencies use the best procurement approach to meet their needs,” Berteau continued. “Program managers and contracting officers will now have the consistent guidance they need to maximize value and improve acquisition outcomes. PSC will continue to work with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and federal agencies to make sure this guidance is properly applied.” 

Please click here for a PDF of this release. 

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Media Contact: 
Pheniece Jones 
Director, Media Relations 
703.875.8974/703.864.4556
media@pscouncil.org