What is best value in government contracting, and how do I write differently for LPTA?

Best value in government contracting means the government evaluates proposals based on both technical factors and price, while Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) means the government awards to the offeror with the lowest price among those whose proposals meet all mandatory technical requirements.

For the base contract, where technical is more important than price, you are right to focus on the technical volume. You want to show how your approach provides a superior solution that justifies a potentially higher price. This is a best value tradeoff evaluation, and the FAR Part 15 describes this process. You need to write to the evaluation criteria in Section M of the RFP, demonstrating how your technical approach and past performance exceed the minimum requirements.

For the LPTA contract, "technically acceptable" means your proposal must meet all stated requirements without exception. If you exceed the minimum requirements, that extra effort will not give you a competitive advantage on the technical side because the award goes to the lowest price among all technically acceptable offers. You need to put enough effort into the technical volume to clearly demonstrate compliance with every requirement, but not more. The evaluation will be a pass/fail on the technical aspects, and then price becomes the sole discriminator among those that pass.