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

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.