41 U.S.C. § 3701: Basis of award and rejection

An executive agency shall evaluate sealed bids and competitive proposals, and award a contract, based solely on the factors specified in the solicitation. All sealed bids or competitive proposals received in response to a solicitation may be rejected if the agency head determines that rejection is in the public interest. It shall be the policy of the United States Government to avoid using lowest price technically acceptable source selection criteria in circumstances that would deny the Government the benefits of cost and technical tradeoffs in the source selection process. an executive agency is able to comprehensively and clearly describe the minimum requirements expressed in terms of performance objectives, measures, and standards that will be used to determine acceptability of offers; the executive agency would realize no, or minimal, value from a contract proposal exceeding the minimum technical or performance requirements set forth in the request for proposal; the proposed technical approaches will require no, or minimal, subjective judgment by the source selection authority as to the desirability of one offeror’s proposal versus a competing proposal; the executive agency has a high degree of confidence that a review of technical proposals of offerors other than the lowest bidder would not result in the identification of factors that could provide value or benefit to the executive agency; the contracting officer has included a justification for the use of a lowest price technically acceptable evaluation methodology in the contract file; and the executive agency has determined that the lowest price reflects full life-cycle costs, including for operations and support. information technology services, cybersecurity services, systems engineering and technical assistance services, advanced electronic testing, audit or audit readiness services, health care services and records, telecommunications devices and services, munitions response services, or other knowledge-based professional services; personal protective equipment; or knowledge-based training or logistics services in contingency operations or other operations outside the United States, including in Afghanistan or Iraq. The term ‘executive agency’ has the meaning given that term in section 102 of title 40 , United States Code, except that the term does not include the Department of Defense. The term ‘contingency operation’ has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10 , United States Code. The term ‘appropriate congressional committees’ means the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability] of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.” eliminate procurement procedures and practices that unnecessarily inhibit full and open competition for contracts; promote the use of contracting opportunities as a means to expand the industrial base of the United States in order to ensure adequate responsive capability of the economy to the increased demands of the Government in times of national emergency; and foster opportunities for the increased participation in the competitive procurement process of small business concerns and small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.”