Glossary / Evaluation, Acquisition
Lowest Price Technically AcceptableLPTA
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) is a source-selection method under FAR 15.101-2 in which the award goes to the lowest-priced offeror whose proposal meets all stated technical acceptability criteria. No trade-offs between price and non-price factors occur. LPTA is appropriate only when the requirement is well-defined, low risk, and when additional technical quality provides no value. Congress has restricted LPTA use in DoW since the FY2017 NDAA (DFARS 215.101-2-70), and for other agencies FAR 15.101-2 lists conditions that must be met before using it.
Why it matters to your pipeline
LPTA rewards operational efficiency over technical brilliance. If you're bidding LPTA, the main question is how to price aggressively without falling below acceptable technical quality? Winning LPTA regularly requires lean cost structures, automation, and strong contract execution. Losing LPTA work when you're the high-quality incumbent is a common, frustrating outcome of an agency's decision to recompete on lowest price.
When this term shows up in an opening GovSmith finds for you, your vCM explains what it means for that pursuit and does whatever it calls for. You decide; we do the work.
Example
A base-operations services recompete is issued LPTA. The incumbent, priced at $14.2M, loses to a new entrant at $12.6M. Both meet technical acceptability; no past-performance trade-off is considered. The incumbent rapidly re-engineers its cost model for the next cycle.
Find out what applies to you
Some terms will matter to your business right away and some won’t for years. A vCM can tell you which are which.