The House Oversight and Accountability Committee passed the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act of 2023 on Wednesday in a unanimous 43-0 vote.
The legislation – introduced by Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. – calls on the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to evaluate the national security risks associated with agencies leveraging the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection method outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
“These constraints recognize that LPTA criteria are not always appropriate for agencies seeking complex or technically innovative series,” committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said during the Sept. 20 markup of the bill. “For instance, this can result in agencies sacrificing long term value for short term savings. We also do not want LPTA to be used in a manner that jeopardizes national security.”
The bill would require the director of OMB to reevaluate this source selection process to determine whether agencies are using LPTA in a manner that creates any national security risk.
“This legislation is a useful step toward understanding the current methods Federal agencies are using for their source selection decisions,” Rep. Comer said. “It will uncover whether agencies are relying on LPTA when it is not appropriate.”
The committee’s ranking member, Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that while he did not intend to oppose the legislation, he also does not believe the director of OMB is the appropriate person to be conducting these evaluations.
The full committee passed the bill to the House floor unanimously.
“This bill is a great bipartisan opportunity to evaluate our nation’s self-imposed federal acquisition protocols [and] potential unintended national security risks,” Rep. Donalds wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the passing of his legislation.
