Source Selection Step by Step

CHAPTER 5BASIC ISSUES IN SOURCE SELECTION

Historically, the government obtained best value—sometimes called greatest value—using what is now known as the tradeoff process. The acquisition regulations that preceded the FAR indicated that, while awarding to the contractor proposing the lowest price was the norm, factors other than price could also be considered for some specific types of procurement actions. The acquisition regulations gave as examples cost-reimbursement contracts and research and development (R&D) contracts.

During this time, the great majority of tradeoff selections, though not all, were for R&D efforts. This was an obvious use ...