In a recent blog post for Defense News, Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, Inmarsat’s SVP for Government Strategy and Policy, U. S. Government Business Unit, discusses the challenges associated with adapting the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) method and why it is not the right fit for the SATCOM industry.
Restrained federal spending is a reality the Department of Defense is facing, and as a result, agencies are under pressure to keep to traditional measures and adapt to LPTA policies for purchases.
Keeping to this traditional approach, vendors are selected by the lowest evaluated price proposed to industry decision-makers.
While there is a place for LPTA within the military community, satellite communications (SATCOM) is far from being the appropriate arena to adapt such assembly-line methods.
From security requirements to geographical requirements, each procurement purchase offers a list of options, essentially customising each purchase.
In a field where often lives are at stake, the adaptation of LPTA is a difficult one to justify. Utilising band capabilities (Ka, Ku, and L-band) offer far more options to the SATCOM industry.
Read the full article here.
