Public-private competitions are now called "standard competitions" and will occur under one of four procurement methods:

a. Sealed bid method. This method matches FAR Part 14 for private sector offerors where a price is given and rarely challenged unless there is a question about a responsibility determination. For public sector offers, contracting officers must evaluate offers for responsiveness and cost realism, including a determination that there are no material unbalanced bids. The emphasis on evaluating "cost" rather than "price" realism, which more closely follows FAR 15.414 rather than FAR Part 14, reflects the government’s acknowledgement that current public sector accounting systems are incapable of collecting financial data with enough precision to allow for price analysis.

b. Negotiation acquisition method using the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) method of source selection. Under the LPTA and the CTTO procurements discussed below, all tenders are opened simultaneously. Exchanges may then occur between the source selection authority (SSA) and offeror representatives in accordance with FAR 15.306 that may include (1) clarification without discussions when the contracting officer intends to make a contract award without discussions (2) communications leading to competitive range determinations and (3) discussions after the competitive range has been determined.

c. Negotiation acquisition using the Cost/Technical Tradeoff (CTTO) method of source selection embodying the Integrated Evaluation Process. Under the CTTO method all offers are received and evaluated simultaneously in accordance with rules in FAR 15.101.1 when an agency desires to consider award to other than the lowest-priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror. In an effort to overcome the Defense Department’s constraint to make awards under public-private competition on the basis of lowest price, the OMB has come up with a hybrid approach called the Integrated Evaluation Process. Under the process, an agency offer may be eliminated from the competitive range on factors other than lowest price. Once the competitive range is established for all remaining parties, the SSA may make a decision based on low cost or other than low cost in which case it must summarize its decision, provide a narrative explaining the cost-technical tradeoff and a quantifiable rationale for the decision based on other than lowest cost.

d. Negotiation acquisition using the Cost/Technical Tradeoff (CTTO) method embodying the Phased Evaluation Process. Under the Phased Evaluation Process, the agency would solicit submissions of only technical proposals during Phase 1 and encourage the private sector offerors and the in-house MEO to propose performance standards that differ from the requirements stated in the solicitation. The SSA will determine whether any of the proposed standards are necessary within its budget limitations and if they are accepted the CO will issue a formal amendment to the solicitation stating the specific changes. Upon receiving the proposed revisions, the SSA will conduct negotiations in accordance with FAR 15.306. Then in Phase 2, all parties submit cost proposals based on the revised changes where the low cost proposal will be selected. (Editor’s Note. Some commentators have indicated this will not be viewed well by the private sector because it is precisely the enhanced performance standards and manner of achieving them that provides them competitive advantages under traditional best value competitions and release of such "proprietary information" to all will eliminate their advantage.)

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