FAR Part 15 for Small Businesses: What You Need to Know Before Writing Your First Proposal

Best Value vs. LPTA: these are not the same competition

The evaluation approach in Section M dictates your entire proposal strategy. Read it before you write anything. If the solicitation is Best Value (Tradeoff), evaluators will weigh your technical merit, past performance, and price against each other — a stronger technical approach can overcome a higher price. If it is LPTA, there is exactly one thing that matters: meet the minimum technical requirements and submit the lowest price. Writing a differentiated technical volume for an LPTA solicitation is wasted effort.

• Best Value: evaluators can award to a higher-priced offeror if the technical superiority justifies the premium — this is where your discriminators matter
• LPTA: lowest compliant price wins, period — no credit for exceeding minimum requirements
• Hybrid solicitations exist: LPTA on price, best value on past performance — read Section M carefully
• The evaluation approach is stated explicitly in Section M, not implied — find the exact language before scoping your proposal

Competitive range: what it means to be cut

After initial review, the Source Selection Authority can establish a competitive range — keeping only the proposals with a reasonable chance of winning. Proposals outside that range are eliminated before discussions even begin. If you are cut, the agency must notify you and provide a brief explanation on request. That explanation is useful. Request it, read it, and use it to diagnose what disqualified you — whether it was compliance, technical approach, or price.

Evaluation Notices and your Final Proposal Revision

When an agency opens discussions (FAR 15.306), they send Evaluation Notices — written questions, deficiency flags, and clarification requests — to each offeror in the competitive range. You must respond within the stated timeframe. Your Final Proposal Revision (FPR) is the last document the evaluators see before they make a decision. Most FPR failures happen because the team responded to the EN text without addressing the underlying weakness the evaluator was pointing at.

Get a debrief after every procurement — win or lose

You are entitled to a post-award debrief on every negotiated procurement above the simplified acquisition threshold. Request one within 3 days of award notification (FAR 15.505–15.506). Debriefs give you your evaluation scores, your significant weaknesses, and — if the CO is willing — insight into why the winner won. Small businesses that consistently skip debriefs are flying blind on every subsequent pursuit in that agency. It takes 30 minutes and it is free.