Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, the gentleman's legislation, H.R. 5528, the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act, would require the Director of OMB to review the procurement management practices of Federal agencies to determine whether the use of acquisition procedures focused exclusively on costs known as Lowest Price Technically Acceptable, or LPTA, poses any national security risks.

Since our committee reported this bill last September, I appreciate that Mr. Donalds and the majority sought and incorporated feedback from the administration, and also earned bipartisan support with the cosponsorship of Mr. Connolly, a longtime expert in Federal operations. With these updates, I am happy to lend my full support to this legislation.

When Federal agencies purchase goods or services, they strive to achieve the best value for the American people. In the words of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, best value means that the acquisition should provide ``the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement.''

Under LPTA procedures, price is the controlling factor in awarding a contract with no consideration given to any other factors. This contrasts with the more frequently used tradeoff approach which looks at the bigger picture and considers additional factors beyond just cost, perhaps assessing elements like quality and performance, or a bidder's technical or managerial expertise.

This bill, and the tradeoff approach to Federal contracting, take into consideration that focusing on contract price alone can actually increase the overall cost to the Federal Government and the people.

For example, cutting costs in the short term can lead to expensive project delays, or might result in taxpayer dollars flowing to adversarial nations that threaten our national security.

If no consideration is given to the strength and integrity of a bidder's supply chain, cutting costs in the short term could lead to inferior products or disastrous supply shortages at key moments.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source